The rough stock-strips for the alley “bed,” “leveling strips,” “return chute,” “post” and “kick-backs” are sawed out of certain of the logs. They are then shipped to a factory where they are seasoned, being kiln dried. The stock is next cut to the required sizes. The bed stock is cut into strips, planed on all sides, and tongued and grooved on the widest sides. When finished, the strips measure 3 x 1 inch. Part of the bed stock, however, is hard pine, shipped from the Southern states in the rough boards. This is finished similar to the maple strips. The “kick-backs” are the two partitions, shaped somewhat like a ship’s rudder, which form the two pit sides. Each consists of two facings of the best maple with a core of hard but resilient wood in the middle. They are built in this way to make the pins that fly side-wise spring back on the bed and knock down other standing pins, and also to withstand the exceedingly rough usage to which they are subject by the flying pins and rolling balls. The cushion forms the rear end of the pit. The frame is stoutly constructed, and the face thickly upholstered with scrap leather and a heavy but pliable covering. It swings on hinges which suspend it from the cross bar, running from each of the kick-backs across the pit end at the top. The cushion diminishes the force of the rolling balls and flying pins, permitting them to fall gently into the pit. The “gutters” are the concave boards that extend the complete length of the alley, from the foul line to the pit, on both sides of the bed. The purpose is to take care of the misdirected balls that roll off the bed before reaching the pit. The “return chute,” or “loop-the-loop return,” is the railway along which the balls travel in their return from the pit to the bowler. It is usually placed on the right-hand side of the alley, or between a pair of alleys. At the pit end, the chute is solidly constructed with a concave flanged surface placed on the top of the kick-back. It conforms to the downward curve of the latter, but the rail work begins at the top of the incline and extends back to the newel post at the bowler’s end of the alley. The flanges easily accommodate the balls when placed on the chute by the pin boy. The newel post is not made of a solid block, but is built up, being veneered on the inside, as well as on the outside, to make it impervious to atmospheric changes. The top contains a sponge cup to moisten the fingers of the bowler. [Illustration: CROSS-SECTION OF BOWLING BED SHOWING STEEL CLAMP]