Pool Tables - Wikipedia
Billiards Table
A billiard table or billiards table (or more specifically a pool table or snooker table) is a bounded table on which billiards-type games are played.
In the modern era, all billiards tables, regardless of whether for carom billiards, pocket billiards (pool) or snooker, provide a flat surface usually made of quarried slate, that is covered with cloth and surrounded by resilient cushions, with the whole elevated above the floor.
Cushions
Cushions (also sometimes called “rails”, “rail cushions”, “cushion rubber”, or “bumpers”) are located on the sides of the tables’ rails. There are several
different materials and design philosophies associated with cushion rubber. The cushions are made from an elastic material such as vulcanized (gum or synthetic) rubber. The chiefly American jargon "rail" more properly applies to the wooded outer segments of the table to which the cushions are affixed.
The purpose of the cushion rubber is to cause the billiard balls to rebound off the rubber while minimizing the loss of kinetic energy.
When installed properly the distance from the nose of the cushion to the covered slate surface is 1 7/16"while using a regulation 2 1/4" ball set.
The profile of the rail cushion, which is the cushion's angle in relation to the bed of the table, varies between table types. The standard on American pool tables is the K-66 profile, which as defined by the BCA has a base of 1-3/16 inches and a nose height of 1 inch. This causes the balls' rebound to be somewhat predictable during game play.
On a carom table, the K-55 profile is used (with a somewhat sharper angle than pool cushions). K-55 cushions have cloth, usually canvas, vulcanized into
the top of the rubber to adjust rebound accuracy and speed.Finally, snooker tables may use an L-shaped profile, such as the L77 profile, because snooker uses balls of a smaller diameter and smaller pocket entrances than does pool.
Cloth
Billiard cloth (sometimes erroneously called felt) is a specific type of cloth that covers the top of the table's "playing area". Both the rails and slate beds
are covered with 21-24 ounce billiard cloth (although some less expensive 19oz cloths are available) which is most often green in color (representing
the grass of the original lawn games that billiards evolved from), and consists of either a woven wool or wool/nylon blend called baize.
Most bar tables, which get lots of play, use the slower, thicker blended cloth because it can better withstand heavy usage. This type of cloth is called a woolen cloth. By contrast, high quality pool cloth is usually made of a napless weave such as worsted wool, which gives a much faster roll to the balls.
This "speed" of the cloth affects the amounts of swerve and deflection of the balls, among other aspects of game finesse. Snooker cloth traditionally has a directional nap, upon which the balls behave differently when rolling against vs. toward the direction of the nap.
NOTE: If your table seems slow, the balls don't appear to roll fast enough, you can remove the rails and re-stretch the cloth to speed it up (or hire
someone to do it for you). Replacing a worn cloth will also speed up the roll.
Pocket billiards (Pool) Tables
Pocket billiards tables, sometimes called pool tables, are specific to the various pool games such as eight-ball, nine-ball, straight pool and one-pocket.
As the name implies, pocket billiards tables have pockets; normally six of them – one at each corner of the table (corner pockets) and one at the midpoint
of each of the longer sides (side pockets).
Dimensions
Pocket billiard tables come in different sizes, typically referred to as 9-foot, 8-foot, or 7-foot tables. In all cases, the playing surface (the dimensions
between the noses of the cushions) is rectangular with a 2:1 ratio. For a 9-foot table, the playing surface measures 100 inches by 50 inches with a
1/8th inch margin of error for either dimension. For an 8-foot table, the playing surface measures 92 inches by 46 inches, again with a 1/8th inch
margin of error for either dimension. These are the only two sizes authorized for tournament play by the World Pool-Billiard Association (WPA).The
playing surface
for a 7-foot table is 76 inches by 38 inches.
Pockets
Pockets, usually rimmed with leather or plastic, may have leather bags to catch the balls, common in home billiard rooms and pool halls, or
(most commonly in the coin-operated tables found regularly in bars/pubs) may lead to ball-return troughs inside the table, which channel the balls into a collection chamber on one side of the table (or, in non-coin-op models, on the racking end of the table).
"Pocket" can be used as a verb, meaning to send a ball into a pocket (as in, "He pocketed the 8 ball by accident.")
The Bed
For World Pool-Billiard Assocation (WPA) tournament play, the bed of the pocket billiard table must be made of slate no less than 1 inch thick. The
flatness of the table must be no greater than +0.020 inches lengthwise and +0.010 inches across the width.
Tables not for tournament play may often use a slate bed as well, but the slate may be less than 1 inch thick. Other materials used for pocket billiard
table beds include wood (typically medium-density fiberboard) and synthetic materials under various trade names.
Markings
Sights, or diamonds, are put on the rails to aid in the aiming of bank or kick shots. There are six along each long rail (with the side pocket interfering with where the seventh one would go) and three along each short rail. These divide the playing surface into equal squares.
Spots are often used to mark the head and foot spots. Other markings may be a line drawn across the head string and the outline of the rack behind
the foot spot where the balls are racked. In addition, in artistic pool, lines are drawn between opposite sights putting a grid on the playing surface.
Quality Pool Tables
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