Patent GB-190507733-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to Target Practice Apparatus and the like and in or relating to Targets for use in connection therewith -where no Projectile is Employed.
Filed: 1905-04-11
Granted: 1906-05-11
Abstract: 7733. Jones, T. L., and Auto-Electric Rifle and Target Co. April 11. Toy shooting-galleries; toy guns and pistols.- Relates to apparatus whereby a gun, pistol &c. may be aimed at a target, and the result of such aim indicated in the target without any missile being used. The apparatus may be fitted as a coinfreed machine, if desired, and either a real or simulated gun &c. may be employed. The particular position i n which the e gun is held causes, on the trigger being pulled, one of a series of electric circuits to be closed, and in this way a corresponding glow lamp in the target shows where a bullet would have hit. The following construction shows a coinfreed machine. The gun 1 is carried on a column 2, mounted so as to give both a rotary and a back-and-front tilting movement. The column 2 contains a rod 14, and through a slot in the latter passes an arm 21, which is fixed to an'arm 22 pivoted at 23. A nose 54, 54<a> on the pivoted arm 54 normally passes readily between the forked extremity 55 of the lever 22, but, when a coin 57 is dropped between the parts 54<a>, 55, connexion is made and, the arm 54 being lifted, the rod 14 is also lifted. The head 15 passes beyond the trigger latch 16 and serves to cock the gun. The column 2 is pivoted just above the arm 21, Fig. 4. A rod 24, attached to the arm 22, is connected with the contact-cup 30 by a chain 25 passing round a pulley 26. The cup is held on a sliding frame 27 normally pressed upward by springs 28. When the gun is cocked, the cup 30 is drawn downwards. The bottom end of the column 2 acts upon a rod 44 suspended by a flexible ball joint 47 and connected with an arm 37 through a flexible joint 45. The latter comprises a spring 46 connecting the rods 44, 37 and a sleeve 45. The rotational movement of the gun is communicated to the point of the arm 37 through an arm 53 on the column 2, a lever 49 forked at 52 and pivoted at 50, and an arm 48 in which the ball 47 is supported. The latter is slidable oh the rod 44, and the arm 48 is also adjustable on the lever 49, so that the apparatus can be adjusted for different-sized targets or for different distances between the gun and target. The target, Fig. 12, consisting of three circles 6, 7, 8, has in the example shown nineteen divisions, each having a glow lamp, which can be seen through an aperture in the target, or through the material of the target if it is made transparent. Outside the target proper, the "miss indicator part" 10 may have, for example, four lamps 9<a>, which show in which direction the marksman was off the target. The base of the contact-cup 30 has twentythree contacts corresponding with the lamps, and, when the trigger 18 is pulled, the rod 14 is released and the cup 30 strikes upwards, bringing one of the contacts against the point of the arm 37. The electric circuit is completed through a battery, the cup 30, rods 37,44, gun column 2, dash-pot 38, and the lamps, a separate lead 'connecting each lamp with its respective cup-contact. When the arm 54 is raised to cock the gun, the arm 42 presses up the piston of the dash-pot against a spring, but when the trigger is pulled, the piston is released, and, as the contact-spring 40 comes in contact with an insulated portion of the piston-rod 39, the current is switched off from the glow lamp. By this means, the duration of the glowing of the lamps is controlled. The gun having been cocked, the arm 54 is retracted by the spring 59, and the coin drops into a shoot 60 and thence into a box 61. Wire guides 58 are provided on the forks 55. Any suitable coin-controlled mechanism can be employed, bat, by having a fixed connexion between the lever 54 and the arm 22, it may be dispensed with. A hammer, operated by the cup 30 so as to strike the casing, produces a noise at the discharge of the gun. A clamp is described by which an actual rifle or other small-arm can be mounted, and also means whereby the rod 16 can be actuated by the trigger. A simulated weapon may also be made with the central part permanently fixed to the gun column 2, while different lengths of barrel or different types of stock or handle may be attached so as to represent any weapon.