New Rules for the Electric Epee
Item
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Title
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New Rules for the Electric Epee
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Date
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January 9, 1936
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volume
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1
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issue
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2
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pages
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1, 3
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content
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en
NEW RULES FOR THE ELECTRIC EPEE
The widespread adoption of the electrical epee apparatus for European tournaments has prompted the F.I.E. to adopt special regulations for its use. Similar rules will be adopted by the A.F.L.A. for the Olympic tryouts. Our technical adviser has prepared the following summary for your information:
1. The director controls the bout entirely.
(a) The apparatus manager must not touch the button which stops the bells and the lamps without the director's permission.
(b) Except as a penalty (S.3), no touch may be scored unless the machine records it, regardless of the breakdown in the apparatus.
(c) When a touch is recorded the director decides on its validity, with the assistance of one or two predesignated judges:
1. The director establishes that the touch has not been caused by a meeting of the two points or by a thrust which lands against the ground, or elsewhere than on the body or mask of the adversary.
2. The director also establishes that the apparatus is in good working order on the side of the fencer who has been touched.
3. On satisfactory proof of the two facts, the director announces that the touch is valid.
(d) A touch which lands elsewhere than upon the body or mask of the adversary, and is scored by the machine, is invalid and annuls any subsequent touch by either fencer.
(e) The director must annul a touch if he believes that the fencer who is touched has been the victim of a mechanical breakdown. Note: The disconnection at the plugs in the epee and the back of the fencer is not a breakdown.
(f) If a double touch is registered and is caused by a valid hit and an invalid hit which land simultaneously, the valid hit is alone scored.
2. The positions on the strip: If a contestant demands it, the director must have the fencers draw their places on the strip by lot. These positions are retained throughout the bout, unless the director rules to the contrary.
3. Penalty Touches:
(a) If a contestant believes the machine is not working, he may request the director to test it. But if this request is frequently made without foundation by the same fencer, the director may, after a warning, declare a touch against that fencer.
(b) If the director believes that one of the fencers is interfering with the normal progress of the bout (by frequently making hits elsewhere than upon the adversary or by neutralizing himself by touching the metallic strip with the point of his weapon), he must, after warning, declare a touch against the offending fencer.
4. Apparatus:
(a) For the double touch, the apparatus must be regulated to between 1/15 and 1/20 of a second, and must not be touched during the competition.
(b) In all official tournaments, the machines used must be of a type recognized by the F.I.E. They must be tested and regulated before the competition in accordance with the previous paragraph.
(c) The use of the neutralized strip is obligatory for all official competitions.
5. Specifications for Equipment:
(a) The spring of the button at the tip of the epee must offer a resistance at all times equal to a minimum weight of 250 grams before contact is made. A test must be made at the beginning of the bout and may be repeated at any time.
(b) The pronged tips must recede a minimum length of one millimeter before contact is made.
(c) The internal surface of the guard must be so arranged that it is impossible for the contestant's fingers, while he is fencing, to come in touch with the wires.
(d) If a fencer is forced to stop in a contest because his equipment is defective or has broken down and he lacks suitable replacements, he may be compelled to continue with equipment furnished to him by the Organizing Committee.
(e) Each fencer is responsible for his electrical equipment, and he may never protest the result of a competition on the ground that his own equipment was defective.
(f) The director has the right to confiscate temporarily any defective equipment.
6. The rules of the F.I.E. remain in force on all points which do not conflict with the above regulations:
(a) The regulations concerning (1) the points d’arrets external surfaces; (2) the total length of the epee; (3) length of blade, etc., are still strictly in force.
