Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 40, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 June 1885 — Billiard Balls. [ARTICLE]

Billiard Balls.

We believe that all attempts to make billard balls of anything but ivory have been failures, though celluloid is used for pool balls. The material of which they are made is imported from Asia and Africa in tusk form. The principal ?oints of exportation are Zanzibar and Fest Cape. Ivory is steadily rising in price. As the elephant takes great pleasure in sticking his tusk in the earth, and uses it almost exclusively for rooting purposes, the original color soon gives place to a darkish brown. The natural color is preserved in the manufacture of certain articles, but is necessarily dispensed with in the manufacture of billiard balls. The tusk is sawed into blocks and then put into a lathe. Not more than a sixteenth of an inch is lost in turning the balls, and from every “block” are procured two rings. Billiard balls are divided into three qualities, “all clear,” “half clear,” and “season checks.” The first quality is entirely free from enamel, which forms the bark or outer covering. This enamel has just as much gluten and elasticity in it as clear ivory, and does not interfere with the efficiency of the ball, but merely shows a flaw in appearance. In a set of “halfclear” balls the two white balls are free from enamel, but from the colored balls the enamel has not been removed. The balls are colored with aniline dyes. “Season checks” are balls which have become cracked or “checked” in seasoning. The blocks, after being roughed, are allowed to season for six months. During this period many of them become cracked. The cracks are hot of consequence so far as use is concerned unless they are large. Ivory is extremely sensitive to weather changes, and balls often crack while exposed in show cases.— American Cultivator.