Billiards

by William Broadfoot

RESTS

Rests are now usually made in the shape of a diagonal cross, the upper drawing of fig. 32, the old-fashioned pattern being very seldom seen.

Fig. 32

The chief objection to the cross pattern is that it is troublesome to manipulate in the neighbourhood of the cushions, and some years ago Messrs. Burroughes & Watts brought out a rest which gets over the cushion difficulty very cleverly. As will be seen in the annexed drawing (fig. 33), the height can be regulated at will, and a firm rest on the cushion can be made. For some reason or other this rest has never become popular, and the cross-shaped rest still holds the field.[^[11]]

Fig. 33

That a perfect rest is still to be invented I firmly believe. A point that has never yet been met is, that the friction over the bridge of the human hand is of a quite different character to that over a brass or an ebony cross-piece, and so a cue on a rest seems to run away from a player.