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I love it (+) bring some life back into your pool hall!! |
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I've tried quite a few times to locate a billiard ball
manufacturer and I just had another blitz at attempting it,
but so far i haven't had any luck... any thoughts... i want
to get a prototype set made... |
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I have a derogatory opinion about your 'p.s' - if you're going to post ideas here, don't try and stop people posting annotations.
Apart from that, I like this idea - the cue could also be musical - a tube of air inside the cue would be compressed when you hit the ball and drive air through a small kazoo (the 'cue kazoo'). So a typical shot, hitting a red ball into a pocket, for example, would sound like: clunk squeak BONG bong clunk. |
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Though I've always held the thwack clack clack of a pool break to be one of the most pleasant sounds, I like the idea. However, won't the balls have to be hollow to make the noise? And won't physical differences required to generate the different tones make the game that much more difficult to play? |
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He was just worried about what people might rhyme with 'chime ball.'
Chimes & bells 'ring' due to vibration. Tonal variety achieved by different wavelengths, due to variations in thickness, dimensions etc.
I imagine hollow steel balls could be forged to match the mass/size of pool balls. But optimizing for sound vibration would work counter to predictable response to impact.
Not to mention that different balls capable of vibrating differently enough to produce a scale's worth of tones would also behave differently. You'd have to vary the mass and physical characteristics too much.
Still, it's a very pleasant idea. Perhaps the sound effects could be created electronically? |
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The chiming tines inside the balls would cause them to roll/stop unpredictably. |
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...and that would be bad why? |
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Objects moving around randomly and chaotically, as though they had minds of their own? Completely undesirable. |
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Yes, it might level the playing field. Heh. |
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// ...and that would be bad why? // |
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Presumably this would be undesirable if one were concerned with the accuracy of one's game. However, using these balls would likely indicate one was not really serious about pool anyway. |
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// Tweaking the balls may actually help my game//
Is this what they call a 'feed line'? |
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Ever noticed that in this time of text editors the post script is an anachronism? Originally it was intended to allow a correspondant to add a information to a letter with out having to rewrite, or type (on an old type writer) the whole thing. These days of course, we can just move the insertion point to some appropriate place in the text and edit to our heart's contents. What a wonderful, technologically advanced world we live in. |
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[waug]'s right about the tines. That's what makes 'em ring. However, it may have less of an effect than supposed, as the balls are quite heavy and the tines rather light. |
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use budgy balls (no not those) but the little plastic ones with a bell inside and a hard final coat / layer |
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// post script //
You learn something new every day. |
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The trick will be to get both the mass and the polar moment of inertia just right. Assuming you have a hollow steel ball, if it's massed the same as a pool ball, because all of that mass is concentrated around the edges, the rotational inertia will be all wrong. |
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Pool with random-material balls could be interesting; some balanced, some not; some with hollow cores, plastic, etc. |
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Don't think you can modify pool balls without changing their behaviour. If you are after more interesting sounds whilst playing , why not put various sound-makers in the pockets? Sure, you'd have to retrieve your own balls now that the pockets are blocked, but imagine the possibilities.....your chinese chimes in one, a whoopee cushion in another, a nest full of baby mice in the next, etc. etc...... |
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You could bake this in this way: |
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Since poolballs are essentially a solid mass wrapped in clearcoat, you could, in the centre, place a freely rotating chime, the same sort of weight as one of those apple toys. In that way, the movement of the ball itself would not be affected, but the momentum would be a little different.. most times giving you extra power on impact if done properly. |
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This would be a great addition to the game :) |
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Thanks all for the really ultra cool responses, yep I had
wondered about the characteristics of the game being
altered... but then I thought about all those loveable
drunkards (like myself) who enjoy playing pool for the fun
of it... |
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I think in that social context that this idea could augment
the social experience... Thank you all you've given me
much to think about... I got some responses in the pursuit
of locating a manufacterer... apparently there's none in
my country, one point of contact told me that they're
located in Belgium and China... (sigh) |
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Oh and for all those who had issue with my p.s, tough
luck, I'm only interested in those who can communicate in
an intelligent and humane fashion. I'm certainly not asking
anyone to alter their opinion. If people's attitudes here
won't so shamefully bad the last time I was here I wouldn't
have felt the need. Enough said. And thanks again... |
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I like the idea but I would attempt it slightly differently. I would place a computer chip and speaker inside each ball so the sound could be programmed. Every customer could have their own magical assortment of sound effects. |
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As for the pocket noises, using a micro switch that sets off when the ball passes by would be easy and inexpensive. That is how they tally scoring for the skee-ball games. That might also make for a fun practical joke |
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Sadly, I once read a book on the history of plastic. So many hours wasted! Anyhow, one of the tasty trivia tid-bits I took from the reading is billiards were once made of ivory. When Ivory became scarce due to an elephant shortage and protective laws people thought the game was going to be lost forever. This is because the balls can't be made out of just anything or be modifed in any way! In the end, some guy of a similar name invented Bakelite. |
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No doubt the physical (more specifically, *inertial*) characteristics of chiming balls would exclude them from regulation play, but they might possibly make for a marketable novelty item.
Noting your previous comments concerning locating manufacturers and prototyping, if you wish to be more effective in locating manufacturers and key players in your industry or industries of choice, I recommend subscribing to access of your country's database of registered businesses. In the U.S., for instance, all manufacturers must be registered, and can be found in the Dunn & Bradstreet registry database. Incidentally, I did a quick search of the D&B for US-based manufacturers of billiards equipment and accessories (SIC #39490802) and found 52.
However, if you wish to seriously pursue marketing this product or any other, I would not recommend posting your *serious* ideas on the œB or any other site. Posting an idea on the web constitutes its public announcement, which forces that any applications for patent must be completed within one year from the date of posting. Additionally, industry being what it is, I would NOT approach a manufacturer or potential licensee without posessing a *minimum* of a filed provisional patent application in one hand, and a confidentiality and nondisclosure agreement in the other.
P.S.- I don't recall ever seeing the œBakery indulge requests for non-derogatory annotation... maybe you could post that as an idea? |
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Whilst we're considering unpredictable behaviour of the balls, why don't we put a gyroscope inside the cue ball? |
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This could be driven by a similar kind of cord that starts those "I'm Cherry - I Love To Dance" dolls speaking. |
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Imagine the kind of crazy, swirly, loop-de-loop break shots you could perform once you've mastered the dynamics of the gyroscopic cue-ball. |
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//just an interpretation of pool, imagine doing the break and getting a cacophany of chiming sounds on the break// |
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How about "kaPOW!" According to Ripley's, in "1870 John and Isiah Hyatt invented and patented a plastic made of cellulose nitrate and camphor that was used to make billiard balls-except the mixture was explosive and the balls often blew up in saloons!" |
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/P.s derogatory comments are not appreciated, just opinions plz// |
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This is the Halfbakery, requests like that attract derogatory comments. |
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[X2Entendre], that is one of the main reasons why I don't post more ideas. I start to write them, then go "Hey, this is possible". Just last month I applied for a patent office customer number. If any of my non-halfbaked-halfbaked ideas get bought, I will personally mail each and every one of you a croisant. From France. With a Frenchman to butter it for you. |
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I would get a provisional patent and I am aware of the
laws concerning patents, trademarks and copyrights, but
honestly I cannot afford to patent every idea, the last
time I tried it, well it cost me stacks... I almost made it
too... oh well... ce la vie... |
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but I'd prefer just to forge ahead anyway... its a pity cash
= justice... hmmm maybe there's a half baked idea... a site
where you can get currency conversion for justice... ie
India vs US... lol |
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[DemolitionMan], please don't send a French man over here to 'butter my croissant'. French maid? Maybe? |
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Zen pool ? The sound of one ball dropping ? |
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It won't woik properly. You can take away my annotation (again), but you can't take away my fishbone. |
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"They may take our lives, but they can never take our FISHBONES!!!!" |
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And that old Pool Table
Went jingle bloody jangle... |
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the sound occurs after contact and thus does not distract from your game unless you are very up-tight. |
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Slightly different spin (that's almost a pun, isn't it) on this idea, but probably not worth a whole new Idea in itself... |
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What if each ball made a different note when it was hit by the cue ball? The winner wouldn't be the one who potted the most balls, but the one who made the interesting (or maybe even just managed to play a recognisable) tune. |
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In fact, you wouldn't really want to pot any of the balls, as doing so would make it harder to form a tune. |
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[8th of 7] //The sound of one ball dropping ?// |
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Isn't that what's commonly referred to as a crack in the voice? ;) |
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brett, you are annoying, but i like your idea. Y'know
those meditation balls you roll around in your hand and
they make relaxing little chimey noises? Maybe those
would do. |
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How about WEEBLE WOBBLE Pool Balls that make noise ? |
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// 12 octave range // - you mean 12 note range? Most bats would have trouble hearing some of those chimes. But a + from me |
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