Read Part 9

Simpson’s letter of April 7 arrived at the US Patent office and as usual wended its way through the mailroom, then down the majestic columned halls of the Patent Office until it came to rest in the pile of patent applications on Senior Patent Examiner, William Wilder Townsend’s desk.

Townsend had shown no sense of humor with respect to Simpson’s application for a mere game. It is possible that he thought games were beneath him, and the Patent Office, especially when there were so many more important patents to be granted.

He did however go through Simpson’s response and wrote one of the shortest responses ever to Simpson, possibly showing that he may actually have had a sense of humor. On April 20th he wrote:

Applicant’s statement that claim 1 has not been amended as suggested is not understood, unless it refers to the retention of the comma in line 4 of the claim, which could not possibly define a distinction over the references. The claim is still held to be substantially met in Miller, of record, and is again rejected.

For want of a comma a patent was almost lost!

One would hope that Simpson would see the humor in the rejection, however slight that might be.

About the author:

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.

Read Part 8

In what had to be one of the quickest turn-arounds possible, Simpson received the letter that Townsend had written on April 4 and responded on April 7, 1908. Simpson was either incredibly well prepared for what he knew was coming or more likely spent several long days drafting and finalizing his response.

In an attempt to not antagonize Townsend too much he made all of the changes to claims two and three and one of the suggested changes to claim 1, and responded to Townsend:

1st. by striking out word “to” line 3 – claim 1, and by substituting at.

2nd. by striking out in line 3 – claim 2 words “to” and by substituting word at, and by striking out in same line and claim words “and spaced from”,

3rd. by inserting in front of words “said target”, line 4 – claim 2 words and spaced from,

4th. By inserting in front of word “apertured” line 3 – claim 3 word elevated.

5th. by striking out word “to” line 3, claim 3 and by substituting word at,

6th. by striking out in line 4, claim 3, words “and above”.

He goes on to say:

…claim 1 has not been amended as suggested as it is believed that to do so would clearly put the claim in shape to be met by Miller, of record.

Attention is called to the fact that in Miller the targets, which are ordinary ten pins, are carried upon a board that is not spaced from the ball track but which is a continuation of this track.

In the Miller game the pins are not “elevated targets”, in the sense that my target is elevated, they are carried by the pin table and the ball is adapted to strike their tops so that it may not be impeded by the pins and the cords attached thereto. In my case the target is separate and distinct from the table or board along which the balls are rolled. Broadly speaking this target might not be perforated but it should be elevated above the leve of the ball table and entirely separate therefrom and it is this construction that I claim.

An exhausted Simpson sent the letter, hoping this time would be the final time–again–and that Townsend would finally understand that the ski obstruction and the elevated target were the key and uniquely related features of the game. Something that up until 1908 no one else had done, and something that would fascinate the players and be timeless. Something anyone who has played the game today knows, as do all of the imitators of the game.

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About the author:

Thaddeus Cooper is the co-author of Seeking Redemption: The Real Story of the Beautiful Game of Skee-Ball, a deep dive into the history of the game. You can find more information about Thaddeus, and his co-author, and their book, at: http://www.nomoreboxes.com/.