Does anyone know if any of the great players Brunswick had on their payroll had any say or strong imput on a particular tables design from the 1930's to today? Was it a particular player or in house table mechanic that designed the Gold Crown?
Brunswick Table Design
- Thread starter Island Drive
- Start date
Don't know specifically, but some info,
The main player spokesman was Mosconi in those days. I don't know if the "look of tables" was affected by players or not. The Crowns look to have evolved from the Anniversary and Centinnial tables, they appear to have evolved from the 20th Century table which used pocket irons.
The actual mathmatics regarding pocket design goes back to the 1800's when they pretty much all used irons. When they started using other pocket types they seem to have kept the same mathmatics. The pocket sizes didn't change much back then because balls were made different and cloth was much slower and players therefore less demanding. Today when they make the pockets smaller the math changes some. :smile:
GC design
Bill,
Here is what I think is the deal on the Gold Crown.
Not sure on the frame or legs etc. - but I heard the rail and blind design came about from this:
The earlier model Brunswick Sport King, Anniversary etc had a curved rail that Brunswick had tried to attach formica. (Centennial did not make any formica rails).
The problem came from the formica coming loose on the curve of the rail, so an engineer came up with a method of attaching the formica to the rail and designed the blind system to not allow the curve. That is how the chrome edge came about that locked in the blind.
This then caused the redesign of the corners etc.
Those blinds could be a real bit** to get centered properly, but the design was around for many years. I have not worked on GC 4's and 5's - so do not know if they use the came general system.
Mark Griffin, CEO
CSI - BCAPL - USAPL
Bill,
Here is what I think is the deal on the Gold Crown.
Not sure on the frame or legs etc. - but I heard the rail and blind design came about from this:
The earlier model Brunswick Sport King, Anniversary etc had a curved rail that Brunswick had tried to attach formica. (Centennial did not make any formica rails).
The problem came from the formica coming loose on the curve of the rail, so an engineer came up with a method of attaching the formica to the rail and designed the blind system to not allow the curve. That is how the chrome edge came about that locked in the blind.
This then caused the redesign of the corners etc.
Those blinds could be a real bit** to get centered properly, but the design was around for many years. I have not worked on GC 4's and 5's - so do not know if they use the came general system.
Mark Griffin, CEO
CSI - BCAPL - USAPL
I have no personal knowledge of Brunswick Corp., but I know how this stuff works in industry. The company has engineers and industrial designers on staff. The designers come up with the "look" of the product and the engineers detail it out so that parts can be manufactured. The engineers will do their best to stay faithful to the "look" of the designer's sketch, but there are always compromises for cost, packaging, structural integrity, etc. For instance, I can almost guarantee that those extension skirts that were used to cover up the drop pockets on the GCI were not the designer's idea. Those were added because the designer never considered the drop pocket in his original ideas.
It is unlikely that any player had any input at all into the design of the table aside from an endorsement after the design was complete.
What I personally find interesting and somewhat depressing from a design standpoint is that there has been no real update since the original design from the late '50s. The only changes to the design have been evolutionary, and the "look" of the table has suffered IMO. Where are the new designs, and I am not talking about retro updates. The Centennnial, Anniversary and GC were all beautiful original designs that still stand on their own.
It must be depressing to be a designer these days.
It is unlikely that any player had any input at all into the design of the table aside from an endorsement after the design was complete.
What I personally find interesting and somewhat depressing from a design standpoint is that there has been no real update since the original design from the late '50s. The only changes to the design have been evolutionary, and the "look" of the table has suffered IMO. Where are the new designs, and I am not talking about retro updates. The Centennnial, Anniversary and GC were all beautiful original designs that still stand on their own.
It must be depressing to be a designer these days.
Table Design
A number of years ago I delivered tables for a Brunswick dealer and we discussed the same thing one day. He told me that everytime there was a shake up or change of any size at the top of Brunswick he would expect a revamp of the tables within the next several months to a year. He explained to me that with each new group of management they wanted to put a stamp on what was being produced and marketed. I was unsure if this was totally true but not long after I started there in fact was a shake up at the top and several months later a new batch of table designs started trickling down. The guy seemed to be right in his conclusions.
A number of years ago I delivered tables for a Brunswick dealer and we discussed the same thing one day. He told me that everytime there was a shake up or change of any size at the top of Brunswick he would expect a revamp of the tables within the next several months to a year. He explained to me that with each new group of management they wanted to put a stamp on what was being produced and marketed. I was unsure if this was totally true but not long after I started there in fact was a shake up at the top and several months later a new batch of table designs started trickling down. The guy seemed to be right in his conclusions.
There were times when a table would get "named after" someone famous, and occasionally there were times when a famous player would "endorse" a certain brunswick product, or were asked for feedback about certain products. But generally speaking, the answer to your question is no. There is no indication or evidence of any players contributing to the design process.
Brunswick did have their own technical designers and "inventors" on staff, like Anthony Trieber, Jesse Matteson, Donald Desky, William Lawson and Robert Kennedy. But sometimes their table designs were also "bought out" from other individuals or companies.
Without doing a little more digging - I'm not certain about who actually designed the GCs. However, you might find it interesting that both the Anniversary and Centennial models were designed by the same two men: Robert I. Anderson and Bert Hoeker of Grand Haven and Muskegon, Michigan respectively.
see entire patent here
see entire patent here
Last edited:
You got my curiosity going so...I...I ....I couldnt help myself...:grin:
Here is the answer to who designed the GC
Here is the answer to who designed the GC