"Did you know?"

[BangkokMichael]

The term "poolroom" now means a place where billiards is played, but in the 19th century a poolroom was a betting parlor for horse racing. Billiard tables were installed so patrons could pass the time between races. The game of billiards and the poolroom became connected in the public's mind. Today, the two terms are used interchangeably.


Please feel free to add some of your own "did you know?".

 

[BangkokMichael]

Before the invention of celluloid and other new-age plastics, billiard balls were made out of ivory. The elephants can thank their present existence on the invention of plastics. Because billiard balls had to be cut from the dead center of a tusk, the average tusk yielded only 3 to 4 balls.

 

[Tramp Steamer]

Yes, indeed. And, did you know that cellulose is highly flammable? Gives new meaning to the expression, "He has an explosive break."

 

[GeoEnvi]

The term "poolroom" now means a place where billiards is played, but in the 19th century a poolroom was a betting parlor for horse racing. Billiard tables were installed so patrons could pass the time between races. The game of billiards and the poolroom became connected in the public's mind. Today, the two terms are used interchangeably.

The Rialto Room in Portland OR was set-up this way. I always thought it was a nice nod to a by-gone era...

 

[CreeDo]

Never tested this but I thought it was interesting....

When you hit the cue ball hard, for a split second at the moment of impact the spot you hit gets very hot... over 100 degrees. Especially with a phenolic tip on a break shot. It wears off right away but if you could somehow touch it just after impact, it'd probably burn like a lit cigarette.

This the cause of the white 'break tracks' you see on heavily used tables... it's not just that the sliding
action of the cue ball is wearing out the cloth, it's also that hot spot scorching it a little.

In this fascinating video they show the hot spot on a thermal camera, check out the shot around the 1:00 minute mark.

Also, those white tracks along the rails... they probably are not caused by the simple sliding or rolling action
of the cue ball when you do rail cuts. They happen because whenever a ball hits the cushion, it reverses direction
and spins in place for a second while rebounding off the rail. That split second of spinning in place wears the cloth
a bit, and after thousands and thousands of balls hitting the rail, you get a continuous white stripe
along all the cushions.

 

[Mr. Bond]

If it weren't for the invention of the telephone, we might not have ever used the word "hello".

True story.

 

[Mr. Bond]

There used to be two Brunswick pool table companies.
One founded by John Brunswick and one founded by his step brother Emanuel.

The rivalry sparked a bitter competition that lasted decades.
It got to the point where Johns company would have spies hang out near emanuels shop to write down who bought what, or even entice the customers to not go in.

Both parties flung lawsuits at the other, for everything from unfair practices to patent infringement...

Emanuel was on the losing end of it all and nearly went broke in the process.
In December 1892, after having moved to the west coast, he came back to Chicago for a visit and was accidentally struck and killed by a cable car while crossing the street.

 

[Ralph Kramden]

There used to be two Brunswick pool table companies.
One founded by John Brunswick and one founded by his step brother Emanuel.

The rivalry sparked a bitter competition that lasted decades.
It got to the point where Johns company would have spies hang out near emanuels shop to write down who bought what, or even entice the customers to not go in.

Both parties flung lawsuits at the other, for everything from unfair practices to patent infringement...

Emanuel was on the losing end of it all and nearly went broke in the process.
In December 1892, after having moved to the west coast, he came back to Chicago for a visit and was accidentally struck and killed by a cable car while crossing the street.

I heard John Brunswick also was a cable car operator in 1892.

 

[Mr. Bond]

I heard John Brunswick also was a cable car operator in 1892.

LoL that would have been some serious irony...
(John Brunswick was dead in 1892 )

Ironically, john brunswicks son in law (Moses bensinger) came to the defense of Emanuel when he was killed. The bensingers demanded an investigation of the accident, claiming that the cable car driver was at fault.

 

[rayjay]

The term "poolroom" now means a place where billiards is played, but in the 19th century a poolroom was a betting parlor for horse racing. Billiard tables were installed so patrons could pass the time between races. The game of billiards and the poolroom became connected in the public's mind. Today, the two terms are used interchangeably.


Please feel free to add some of your own "did you know?".

Many patrons (the poorer ones) of the betting parlor would "pool" their money together to make a bet and split the winnings and play billiards to pass the time waiting for results to come in, and this type of parlor became called a "poolroom". The game they played became known as "pool".