The Mannock Taper

[MikeWooldridge]

Id suspect the anti grip would have to refer to the pearwood shaft

quite possibly, it's what a lot of people think.

but grip is not a word normal associated with shafts and how smooth they are, but is constantly used when referring to butts.

"my shaft feels too grippy" - never heard that said

"loosen your grip" - heard it a million times.

if it was shaft then surely they could have come up with a better word. friction for example would make more sense. anti-friction shaft.

also, ash was used so it makes no sense if pear wood was the reason behind name. not to me anyway.

like i said, i'd love to see any proof in black and white.

it's just occurred to me that, based on the 16" straight taper, maybe the anti grip referred to the cue not jamming in a loop finger bridge for masse shots? particularly as the cue was made shorter to make those shots easier (apparently)

although you're unlikely to need to be further away than 6" from cue ball for that shot so probably not that.

btw, what do you think the rubber band (or leather although he says in patent it might not work so well) was for?

'anti-grip' is my guess and i'm sticking with it until proven otherwise

[narl]

For gripping the cue though anti-grip sems a bit odd, the patent states along the lines of using indian rubber for a better grip, or to quote it directly :

"a covering of suitable material such as india rubber for the purpose of ensuring sufficient friction between the fingers and the butt of the cue to prevent slipping whilst making a stroke".

To me thats basically stating that he wanted improved grip on the butt hence the addition of the rubber. The ash and maple cues didn't come around till Burroughes & Watts bought the patent as far as im aware. From the stories ive heard of pearwood being difficult to work and very prone to warpage with it wouldnt suprise me if they just switched to other woods for convenience while keeping the same basic design.

For me the swinging point is defintely the pearwood shaft, the smoothness alone i think reinforces that was his intention.

Was just comparing my Mannock to a 10mm Burwat champion, quite a difference in the tapers, the mannock definately has a billiards taper to it:









Hooray for the clarity of a phone camera. Shaft does taper out before the 16" mark but not by very much, if this cue had its original 10.5 or 11mm tip i think the taper would have been almost non existant.

[MikeWooldridge]

For gripping the cue though anti-grip sems a bit odd, the patent states along the lines of using indian rubber for a better grip, or to quote it directly :

"a covering of suitable material such as india rubber for the purpose of ensuring sufficient friction between the fingers and the butt of the cue to prevent slipping whilst making a stroke".

To me thats basically stating that he wanted improved grip on the butt hence the addition of the rubber.

yes, but was the intention to enable a looser grip using that friction against rubber you talk about, thus encouraging a loose grip (correct way to hold a cue), i.e. anti-grip?

tbh, i just would like to know for a fact what it means. i'm surprised it isn't mentioned in the patent itself.

[100-uper]

Id suspect the anti grip would have to refer to the pearwood shaft, mainly for the reason of why else would he have gone with it when he had Ash and Maple readily available, the fact that steamed pearwood is very slippery through the bridge would also support that. In the time ive had my Mannock ive never had to wipe it down, the same thing can't be said of my 3/4 ash cue, the club i play in has a pretty warm snooker room and just about everyone complains about the heat, yet the cue shaft getting sticky in my hand has never been an issue with the Mannock.

The original cue was specifically designed to help players make a masse stroke. Hence the choice of wood to make it slide through the hand (anti-grip) and the parallel shaft. I have a copy of the original patent somewhere but can't immediately locate it. The original design (1891) was also quite short – there is a picture of Mannock using one in his book. It was advertised as being "two thirds the length of an ordinary cue" and at 17oz was very heavy for its time. The Burroughes & Watts production model is nothing like this. I can't find out exactly when the model changed, but suspect it was in the early 1920s when Mannock fell on hard times and was employed by Burroughes & Watts as the manager of their match hall in Piccadilly.

[MikeWooldridge]

The original cue was specifically designed to help players make a masse stroke. Hence the choice of wood to make it slide through the hand (anti-grip) and the parallel shaft. I have a copy of the original patent somewhere but can't immediately locate it. The original design (1891) was also quite short – there is a picture of Mannock using one in his book. It was advertised as being "two thirds the length of an ordinary cue" and at 17oz was very heavy for its time. The Burroughes & Watts production model is nothing like this. I can't find out exactly when the model changed, but suspect it was in the early 1920s when Mannock fell on hard times and was employed by Burroughes & Watts as the manager of their match hall in Piccadilly.

this is the patent i believe.

http://www.thecuecollector.com/JPMannocksPatent.html

it does not say two thirds the length, but just 2-3" shorter than standard.

however, there is no reference i can see to the anti grip statement.

if you can find anything written that defines this i would be grateful cos all i hear is what people think it is.

[narl]

Be interesting to find out exact details of this, suprising the design changed, it seems quite quirky having a cue thats taperless for 16 or so inches. Just wondering if a rigid 10.7mm or so maple mannock cue could be tapered in this way and not turn into a fishing rod. Be interesting to try it though im not sure if its worth doing that to an old cue.

[narl]

The original design (1891) was also quite short – there is a picture of Mannock using one in his book. It was advertised as being "two thirds the length of an ordinary cue" and at 17oz was very heavy for its time.

Are you sure that wasn't his masse cue he was also working with at the time? As Mike said, the Mannock patent refers to a cue 55.5 inches in length.

Its probable that the "Mannock patent cue" was the one that adhered to the patent designs, before being altered later by Burroughes & Watts with the registered badged cue. That is one incredibly flared out butt.

http://www.thecuecollector.com/MannocksPatentCue.html