For the next fifteen years the use of glass balls 
     
     as targets increased. Inventive individuals jumped on 
     
     the Portlock bandwagon and many variations and ideas 
     
     appeared. One individual had real feathers implanted 
     
     into the outside of the glass to better imitate a bird 
     
     in flight, another had glass balls manufactured with 
     
     the centres packed with goose down, which would "puff" 
     
     when hit, duplicating a perfectly centered field shot 
     
     at a fast rising quail. This particular target was 
     
     the product of Ira Paine who also, in 1876, was 
     
     granted the first American Trap Patent for his 
     
     catapult-like glass ball throwing device. Yet another 
     
     innovator filled his glass targets with a dye that 
     
     when hit, would burst in a colorful cloud of dust. 
     
     The big problem with all of these ideas was the total 
     
     inconsistency. There was no standard, and no 
     
     organization to dictate a standard. Some glass balls 
     
     were too big, others too small, too hard, too fragile 
     
     and, worst of all, shooting fields were accumulating a 
     
     large amount of broken glass. 
     
    
   
   
    
     a In spite of all the target problems, trapshooting 
     
    

    
     continued to grow. Competitions were few, and, from 
     
     an ability point of view, the only thing that was 
     
     being established was that who, on a particular day 
     
     and in a particular place, was the best shot. 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     VARIETY OF GLASS BALL THROWING DEVICES 
     
     USE IN THE MID, TO LATE, NINETEENTH CENTURY. 
     
    
   
   
    
     --4-—