Playing Baseball with Rifles 



An amusement park device that will 

 enable a fan to play his own game 



SOME irate baseball enthusiasts would 

 like to frequent shooting galleries regu- 

 larly, provided the targets were umpires and 

 the rifles powerful enough to do real 

 damage. The game illustrated does not 

 offer that opportunity. It affords a means, 

 however, whereby one may exercise his skill 

 as a marksman and 

 engage an opponent 

 in a brisk baseball 

 contest with the rifle. 



The result of 

 every shot, hit or 

 miss, is flashed on 

 the board in base- 

 ball terms by a con- 

 cealed operator, 

 who can readily fol- 

 low the progress of 

 the game by means 

 of a system of target 

 blocks which are vi- 

 brated by the im- 

 pact of the bullet. 

 The baseball field is 

 placed in an upright 

 position in theshoot- 

 ing gallery. The 

 bases consist of 

 openings or slots 

 through which the 

 operator signals the 

 various positions of 

 the "player." 



The ball is a cir- 

 cular piece of card- 

 board held in position 

 by a metallic ring 

 fastened to a rod leading down and behind 

 the board. By means of a pantograph 

 arrangement (four light, rigid links joined 

 together in parallelogram form) the operator 

 from his position behind the board can 

 move the ball as he wishes. 



The target is located in the batter's posi- 

 tion. It is the same shape and size as the 

 ball, but instead of being in one piece it is 

 divided into seven blocks, each mounted on 

 a separate sleeve running through the 

 board to which is attached the signal 

 devices for the operator. The faces of the 

 blocks toward which the marksman aims his 

 gun are marked first base, second base, 



The baseball rifle 

 target. The operator 

 is shown in the rear 



The pantograph device 

 which moves the card- 

 board ball and signals 



third base, right field, center field and home 

 run. 



To play the game the gun is aimed at the 

 most desirable block — the home run block. 

 The shot must not be fired until the 

 operator has caused the cardboard ball to 

 travel toward the catcher. The object is 

 to puncture the ball 

 as it passes over the 

 batter's plate or tar- 

 get and hit the home 

 run block. If the 

 bullet strikes some 

 other block grouped 

 about the ho me 

 run block, the oper- 

 ator scores first base 

 or second base, ac- 

 cording to the block 

 which he succeeds 

 in hitting. 



Failure to hit the 

 ball as it passes over 

 the plate registers a 

 strike. If the ball 

 passes the catcher's 

 position without 

 being fired at, it is a 

 "passed ball." By 

 rearranging the tar- 

 get markings and 

 signals a game of 

 football, polo, 

 crosse, cricket 

 pinochle may 

 played with the 

 same apparatus. 



-t3 



TARGET INDIC 

 AT0R5 VIBRA-; 

 TED BY IMPACT; 

 OF BULLET 



'PIVOT INDICATES 

 POSITION OF BALL I 

 '0NREVER5E SIDE. 



CARDBOARD BALL 

 SUPPORT 



la- 

 or 

 be 



PANTOGRAPH 

 OPERATING ARM 



A River Which Keeps Warm by 

 Its Own Power 



ONE of the hydro-electric power plants 

 of the far north, which uses river 

 water to supply current for its electric gold 

 dredges, has devised a novel scheme to 

 make the river keep itself warm. Electric 

 heating units have been sunk in the bed of 

 the stream and the power generated by the 

 falling water actually raises the tempera- 

 ture of the flowing water enough to prevent 

 the river from freezing during the coldest 

 weather. Thus the stopping of the work 

 during the winter months is avoided. 



751 



