Crystalate balls circa 1920

[DeanH]

Interesting post which brought back many memories! I worked for the composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd for 26 years. When I first started in 1964 the old Crystalate balls were still manufactured, and has already been said they were made from a powder containing crushed bones. The process was a lengthy one as the ball were pressed individually and made in fairy small amounts. |A shortage of materials led to the Super Crystalate balls being made in a similar way to the Vitalate balls. A phenolic resin chemical material which was reacted in stills and the "syrup" poured into flasks, much like a light bulb. These were made in much larger volumes especially to satisfy demand due to the game becoming more popular when colour TV came in, and more tournaments were televised. The syrup/flasks were hardened in ovens for approx 20 hours, then hand turned to shape in lathes and then going through grinding machines, before being hardened again for 42 hours, before being ground to their final size. They were then mainly individually hand polished, inspected and made into sets. The company then produced the Super Crystalate Deluxe balls which were slightly heavier and weight matched to be closer to the sets used in professional tournaments. The company was bought out by BCE around 1982 and many more automated machines were brought in which increased production, but sadly the quality suffered across the many sizes and types of balls produced. Remember all sizes of balls were manufactured from 1-1/2" up to 2-1/16" for snooker - 2" to 2-1/4" for pool and 61 - 62 mm for continental table games. Arimith balls took over the company in 1992 and all production was transferred to Belgium and the Cheshire factory closed. Crown Green and Flat Green bowls were also made from similar materials.

great inside info

[robbo mcs]

Interesting post which brought back many memories! I worked for the composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd for 26 years. When I first started in 1964 the old Crystalate balls were still manufactured, and has already been said they were made from a powder containing crushed bones. The process was a lengthy one as the ball were pressed individually and made in fairy small amounts. |A shortage of materials led to the Super Crystalate balls being made in a similar way to the Vitalate balls. A phenolic resin chemical material which was reacted in stills and the "syrup" poured into flasks, much like a light bulb. These were made in much larger volumes especially to satisfy demand due to the game becoming more popular when colour TV came in, and more tournaments were televised. The syrup/flasks were hardened in ovens for approx 20 hours, then hand turned to shape in lathes and then going through grinding machines, before being hardened again for 42 hours, before being ground to their final size. They were then mainly individually hand polished, inspected and made into sets. The company then produced the Super Crystalate Deluxe balls which were slightly heavier and weight matched to be closer to the sets used in professional tournaments. The company was bought out by BCE around 1982 and many more automated machines were brought in which increased production, but sadly the quality suffered across the many sizes and types of balls produced. Remember all sizes of balls were manufactured from 1-1/2" up to 2-1/16" for snooker - 2" to 2-1/4" for pool and 61 - 62 mm for continental table games. Arimith balls took over the company in 1992 and all production was transferred to Belgium and the Cheshire factory closed. Crown Green and Flat Green bowls were also made from similar materials.

Thanks for a very informative post

[Neil2726]

ITSNOTSOEASY - Hi - sorry I just dont know the answer to that - we never used lignum vitae for the bowls manufacturing although other manufacturers may have done so into the 80s. Old Lignum were still in use into the 90s as we used tom gert them in for bias testing.

[Neil2726]

Following my last post regarding Super Crystalate snooker balls:- I obtained a set around 1978 when I joined a friend and we visited a local snooker club. I stopped playing altogether when the factory closed in 92 and started a new career. The balls remained at home and following a house move 13 years ago, ended up in my shed subjected to all the variations in temperature. This week I dug them out and gave them a wipe over - all looked in good shape with no chips or scratches. A few weeks ago I began playing the game again with my son at our local club and took the balls along to see how they behaved after some 30 years. I'm happy to report they played as good as new, so we obviously made a good product under the old company.

[vmax]

Interesting post which brought back many memories! I worked for the composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd for 26 years. When I first started in 1964 the old Crystalate balls were still manufactured, and has already been said they were made from a powder containing crushed bones. The process was a lengthy one as the ball were pressed individually and made in fairy small amounts. |A shortage of materials led to the Super Crystalate balls being made in a similar way to the Vitalate balls. A phenolic resin chemical material which was reacted in stills and the "syrup" poured into flasks, much like a light bulb. These were made in much larger volumes especially to satisfy demand due to the game becoming more popular when colour TV came in, and more tournaments were televised. The syrup/flasks were hardened in ovens for approx 20 hours, then hand turned to shape in lathes and then going through grinding machines, before being hardened again for 42 hours, before being ground to their final size. They were then mainly individually hand polished, inspected and made into sets. The company then produced the Super Crystalate Deluxe balls which were slightly heavier and weight matched to be closer to the sets used in professional tournaments. The company was bought out by BCE around 1982 and many more automated machines were brought in which increased production, but sadly the quality suffered across the many sizes and types of balls produced. Remember all sizes of balls were manufactured from 1-1/2" up to 2-1/16" for snooker - 2" to 2-1/4" for pool and 61 - 62 mm for continental table games. Arimith balls took over the company in 1992 and all production was transferred to Belgium and the Cheshire factory closed. Crown Green and Flat Green bowls were also made from similar materials.

Thank you so much for this.
There have been reports on the forum that Aramith actually made SC balls (as they owned the patent with their purchase of the company) purely for the WPBSA for a couple of years after their takeover as they would only accept SC balls for their pro tournaments but this was changed when parent company Saluc made the decision to supply only their own phenolic resin to Aramith for ball production.
It would be very interesting to find out if this was true and when it actually happened and of course whether the WPBSA kept hold of their stock of SC balls before needing new sets of balls and then accepting the Aramith ball for their pro tournaments.

I know you're not in a position to know this personally but did any of your work colleagues make the move to belgium and are you still in contact with them ? I've asked world snooker through email and they just don't reply.

There were of course the black box SC balls produced in the 90's and available to the public, but these had 'made from phenolic resin' and 'made in belgium' written on the box in small print and probably weren't the real deal, I bought a set and they weren't the same as the SC's I was used to so I sold them on and bought an old set of genuine SC balls off ebay which I use rather than my clubs Aramith balls.

[Neil2726]

HI VMAX Arimith would I believe have just used their own balls in Super Crystalate boxes as they were basically both made from phenolic resin, but cant confirm this. I cant see them altering their chemical recipies just to supply a few sets for the WPSBA!

At this time they were a lot fewer tournaments and maybe the WPBSA had a few sets in stock but most were returned to us after tournaments for checking over and repolishing before being returned or replaced before the next tournament. I actually recall meeting two of the WPSBA officials at manchester Airport with three sets of SCs for them to take to Australia!

Non of our staff moved to Belgium and in fact all the workforce was made redundant when BCE sold out. I understood all the machinery was shipped to Belgium - whether it was used sold off or scrapped I wouldnt know - the factory is now used by a storage company!

The Arimith SC had made in Belgium on the boxes - the originals had Made in England - Fabrique en Angleterre - Composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd , Cheshire England, on theirs.
We did produce the SC Deluxe sets which were sold in black boxes with gold lettering.

Interesting point is that we had to manufacture special sets for TV with different shades of red, brown and pink as in the early days the colour cameras couldnt define the colours that well.

[DeanH]

Interesting point is that we had to manufacture special sets for TV with different shades of red, brown and pink as in the early days the colour cameras couldnt define the colours that well.

yep
we have a couple of sets of those down the club
they were all a much lighter shade IIRC

a guy down the club said they were a totally different make, I said no just an old TV set

[itsnoteasy]

HI VMAX Arimith would I believe have just used their own balls in Super Crystalate boxes as they were basically both made from phenolic resin, but cant confirm this. I cant see them altering their chemical recipies just to supply a few sets for the WPSBA!

At this time they were a lot fewer tournaments and maybe the WPBSA had a few sets in stock but most were returned to us after tournaments for checking over and repolishing before being returned or replaced before the next tournament. I actually recall meeting two of the WPSBA officials at manchester Airport with three sets of SCs for them to take to Australia!

Non of our staff moved to Belgium and in fact all the workforce was made redundant when BCE sold out. I understood all the machinery was shipped to Belgium - whether it was used sold off or scrapped I wouldnt know - the factory is now used by a storage company!

The Arimith SC had made in Belgium on the boxes - the originals had Made in England - Fabrique en Angleterre - Composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd , Cheshire England, on theirs.
We did produce the SC Deluxe sets which were sold in black boxes with gold lettering.

Interesting point is that we had to manufacture special sets for TV with different shades of red, brown and pink as in the early days the colour cameras couldnt define the colours that well.

The ones in the black box with gold writing are the best balls I have played with.

[Cue crafty]

The ones in the black box with gold writing are the best balls I have played with.

That's interesting mate, can you say why? I like the original SC's lovely ceramic like click on the contact and such a solid hit. They don't ping off like TC's do. Are these ones somewhere in between?

I still mainly play with TC balls because they are the standard with comps , league etc etc. Thanks 👍

[fkhan]

That's interesting mate, can you say why? I like the original SC's lovely ceramic like click on the contact and such a solid hit. They don't ping off like TC's do. Are these ones somewhere in between?

I still mainly play with TC balls because they are the standard with comps , league etc etc. Thanks 👍

May I know the weight of your SC's? Mine are heavier than the TC's.

[Cue crafty]

May I know the weight of your SC's? Mine are heavier than the TC's.

Sorry, I leave them down the club and never weighed them when I got them. Think they are supposed to be about 150g range. VMAX will know for sure, I reckon.

[vmax]

HI VMAX Arimith would I believe have just used their own balls in Super Crystalate boxes as they were basically both made from phenolic resin, but cant confirm this. I cant see them altering their chemical recipies just to supply a few sets for the WPSBA!

At this time they were a lot fewer tournaments and maybe the WPBSA had a few sets in stock but most were returned to us after tournaments for checking over and repolishing before being returned or replaced before the next tournament. I actually recall meeting two of the WPSBA officials at manchester Airport with three sets of SCs for them to take to Australia!

Non of our staff moved to Belgium and in fact all the workforce was made redundant when BCE sold out. I understood all the machinery was shipped to Belgium - whether it was used sold off or scrapped I wouldnt know - the factory is now used by a storage company!

The Arimith SC had made in Belgium on the boxes - the originals had Made in England - Fabrique en Angleterre - Composition Billiard Ball Supply Co Ltd , Cheshire England, on theirs.
We did produce the SC Deluxe sets which were sold in black boxes with gold lettering.

Interesting point is that we had to manufacture special sets for TV with different shades of red, brown and pink as in the early days the colour cameras couldnt define the colours that well.

I have never seen these only the Aramith made in belgium black box sets that also had gold lettering. I shall be on the look out for a set in the future, thanks again

[vmax]

May I know the weight of your SC's? Mine are heavier than the TC's.

How much heavier ? they should be the same within a couple of grammes or so as sets do vary but round about the 140g mark as they were about 10g lighter than the Crystalate balls they replaced.
Premiers are about 130g and vary wildly in their sets so if your TC's are around that then you've been had.

[itsnoteasy]

Quote not working, CC having read others posts and checking the box my black box set are made in Belgium, they were heavier than 1gs and as vmax said 145g sounds about right but you could easily move them around on the table, my guess was the extra weight kept the ball on the bed of the table and you didn't lose any spin because of ball bounce.
They have that definite click sound on contact but it's hard to say why they felt so good, it's like a cue, sometimes you just know it's better but it's hard to explain.

[fkhan]

How much heavier ? they should be the same within a couple of grammes or so as sets do vary but round about the 145g mark as they were about 10g lighter than the Crystalate balls they replaced.
Premiers are about 130g and vary wildly in their sets so if your TC's are around that then you've been had.

Post#78 has the details here:

https://www.thesnookerforum.co.uk/bo...e6#post1033965