Rack Em ‘Up! The history of the billiard ball

What are billiard balls made of? What do the numbers on them mean? Why do some have a solid color and others have a stripe? Why are some bigger than others? How does a cue ball know where to go on a coin-operated pool table? Unbelievable, how many questions can you think of regarding a simple billiard ball?

History

So let’s start with the billiard ball story. The billiard ball dates back to the early 15th century, however it is unknown exactly when the pool table and billiard balls were invented. There are reports from the mid to late 1400s that King Louis XI owned the first pool table. The Duke of Norfolk is also said to have owned a pool table along with the earliest documentation of possessing pool balls.

The first balls were made of wood. As the years passed, different materials were used to make them. Clay was popular, but a highly sought after material in the 19th century was ivory. Elephants were being slaughtered at an alarming rate due to the high demand for their ivory. One tusk could produce 8. However, the billiard industry realized that elephants were in danger of extinction, so they came up with a challenge for the inventors to come up with a new material for them instead of ivory. John Wesley Hyatt invented a compounding material in 1869 called nitrocellulose (US Patent 50359). However, this was not the first artificial substance invented. In 1867, Sorel cement was marketed as “artificial ivory.”

In 1870, celluloid was classified as the first industrial plastic. Unfortunately, the nature of celluloid made it volatile during production. From time to time it is said that these balls would explode. Rumor has it that a Colorado salon owner wrote a letter to John Hyatt telling him that he didn’t care about the occasional explosion, but the fact that all patrons drew their guns when they exploded.

Later, since the exploding ball appeared to be a minor problem, the industry came up with different materials. Today they are made mainly of phenolic resin. Clear acrylic is also used.

Sizes

Billiard balls come in many different sizes.

• American Style Pool – 57.15mm (2 1/4 “)
• American Style Pool (Coin Operated Table) (2 3/8 “)
• 56mm (2 3/16 “) British Style Pool
• Snooker – 52.5mm (2 1/15 “)
• Carambola – 61.5mm (2 7/16 “)
• Russian Pool / Kaisa-68mm (2 11/16 “)
• Kiddie Pool – 51mm (2 “)

Colors:

They also come in different colors. Some sets are numbered while others are not. They were originally numbered so that “point” games could be played. Games like 9-ball and 8-ball use the numbering system. The numbers on them date back to the early 20th century.

American style pool uses 15 numbered balls and they are colored as follows:

1. Yellow
2. Blue
3. Red
4. Purple
5. Orange
6. Green
7. Brown or Burgundy
8. Black
9. Yellow stripe
10. Blue stripe
11. Red stripe
12. Purple stripe
13. Orange stripe
14. Green stripe
15. Brown or burgundy stripe

Sometimes they are referenced “ups and downs” depending on your designated number. They are also known as “stripes or solids”.

Snooker use 22 balls in total. 15 are solid unmarked and red in color, there are also six colored and a white ball. They are numbered and colored as indicated below.

1. There is no ball with the # 1 designation.
2. Yellow
3. Green
4. Brown
5. Blue
6. Pinkish
7. Black

Billiards:

• Red
• White cue (used for player 1)
• White or yellow cue with a dot (used for player 2)

Novelty

In recent years a wide variety of novelty balls have come onto the market. Now you can buy billiard balls with the logo of your favorite sports team, cartoon characters, movie stars, etc. There are also glow-in-the-dark balls, marble balls, practical joke balls (never roll straight), heavy balls, and even playing card balls.

Magnetic and oversized signal balls

Ever wonder how a cue ball returns to the player at a coin operated table? How come it doesn’t go with the rest of the balls? Well, there are two different reasons; either it is a large cue ball or it is a magnetic cue ball. An oversized ball is just that, a little bit bigger. When the ball falls into the pocket, there are two lanes the ball can go down, the large ball cannot go down the lane intended for the smaller balls. A magnetic white ball works by activating an magnetic detector.