A SIGNAL TRUMPET FOR INCREASING THE POWERS OF SOUND BY SEA AND LAND
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
FITZGERALD, late of the Temple, London, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,.:
the Twenty-third day of January, in the thirty-ninth year of His reign, did;
give and grant unto me, the said William Fitzgerald, my executors, adminis
trators, and assigns, special licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority,.
to make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, during the term of years therein expressed, my In-
vention of "A SIGNAL TRUMPET FOR INCREASING THE POWERS OF SOUND BY SEA
AND LAND;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe
obliging me, the said William Fitzgerald, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, to cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within one calendar
month next after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same (relation being thereunto had) may more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Fitzgerald, in compliance with
the said provisoe, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described.
and ascertained in the following Plan and description thereof, viz.-
A, Figure 1, is a pistol or other fire arm B. Figure 2nd is a segment
of a speaking trumpet of brass or any other suitable material.
e is a

page_text: male screw of the tube or barrel, of such fire arm, fitting into the female
screw of the trumpet B. C, Figure 3rd, is a mouth-piece, by which, when
added to the trumpet by means of the male screw e, a speaking trumpet
for ordinary purposes is formed. The piece D, Figure 4th, is the mouth-
piece to be fitted by means of it's male screw e into the female screw of the
piece B, whereby, when the trumpet is small, a bugle horn may be formed.
These fastenings by screws may admit of variations, such as fixing the piece B
to the barrel or tube A in the same manner as a bayonet is fastened, or
by any other expedient of connecting. 9, 9, are loops or brackets for the
purpose of slinging the engine when not used in action. The several parts
of this Invention, to be made of brass, copper, iron, or other material commonly
used for such purposes. I claim the application of this Invention, and of
such varieties in shaping, forming, fixing, or extending the same as cir-
cumstances may demand from time to time, in every case in which the
increase and direction of sound may be usefull and desired, for the fire arm
being loaded with a charge of gunpowder suited to its power, and the
trumpet being affixed, the discharge of such. fire; arm produces an explosion
and very material increase and direction of sound: The Figures 5 and 6
shew a variety of form as to the extremity of the trumpet, by which, where
the barrel or fire arm, Figure 6, is of a large size, the effect of the explosive
force of the gunpowder (which might otherwise act upon the sides of the
trumpet too strongly) is; by using the parabolic form of the piece Figure.5,
avoided. Figures 7 and 8 are intended to shew how this Invention may
be used in telegraphic stations or elsewhere, with great effect, and on.a:large
scale, by means of a piece of artillery. Let the Figure 7 be a piece of cannon
of any required size, having its muzzle formed cylindrical, to fit and slide
into the metallic tubefand hollow cylinder T of the trumpet, Figure 8, ‚which
trumpet may be fastened either by its ears 9, 9, 9, 9, or by trunnions marked
as at H. The piece of artillery or cannon must be put upon a wheel carriage
of any suitable form and material, and being then charged with gunpowder,
and run up to its shoulder S in the tube T of Figure 8, and then discharged,
the full effect of its explosion (acting upon the air through the trumpet,
Figure 8, is obtained before its recoil can take place to withdraw it from
the said tube or cylinder T of the trumpet, Figure 8. Still better to protect
the sides of the trumpet, the tube T.may be elongated, as at the dotted lines
in Figure 8. In consequence of the directions given by His Majesty's
Secretary of State to the 'Honourable Board of Ordinance, many experiments
were made on the Nineteenth day of May, One thousand seven hundred
and ninety-eight, before a board of field officers, at Woolwich, upon a small

page_text: model of this Invention, from which the Drawings, Figures 1 and 2 were
taken. The board, consisting of nine field officers, approved of the principle
of the said Invention, and made their return 'to the said Honourable Board
accordingly: I do not take upon me to state their opinion of its effects; but
many, and very many persons, competent judges, before whom it has since
been tried, are of opinion that, with the charge of a musket cartridge, it is
equal to a nine-pounder or more. Those effects, however, must speak for
themselves, and I am indifferent as to the quantum; but it may be
necessary to set forth, as I now do, some of the many uses and purposes for
which it will be useful and proper, and to which I intend to apply the
same, and particularly claim, viz. 1, for His Majesty's ships of war in
general for signals instead of cannon; or from 'the mast head or other
situation where cannon cannot be used. 2nd, in all situations where cannon,
by reason of their weight and unmanageability, cannot be used, as in boats
for leading ahead in fogs and soundings. 3rd, the same uses are applicable
to ships in the Honourable India Company's service. 4th, in merchants'
ships, ships not carrying cannon, and in all situations of distress where a
vessel may be sinking, and either no cannon on board or the cannon im-
niersed in the water, in ships or small vessels of all descriptions driving
or driven on shore. In all such and many other cases many lives may be
saved by signals to be made by means of this Invention, where it would be
impossible to avail themselves, of any other with equal,efficacy. 5th, in
stationing boats along shore, or in harbour or river service, and guard boats
in general. 6, in case of invasion, for transmission of sound from station to
station along shore, or in any chain of posts or communications. 7th, for
hovering upon an enemy's party advancing, and for concentrating forces from
different stations, according to the plan of defence, &c.. &c. 8th, for alarms
from the tops of masts, trees, steeples, or eminences, for any concerted purpose
of intelligence or alarm. 9th, for patroles and watchmen in general, for pickët
guards and centinels of every description, whether military, municipal, or
domestic. 10th, in manoeuvering particular bodies of troops, enabling the
commander to affect any particular body or troop he may think proper. 11th,
for night signals of every description, and for beacons and telegraphs, as
at Figures 7 and 8. 12th, for the purpose of saving gunpowder in signals
in general.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Fitzgerald, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Second day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine
WILLIAM FITZGERALD (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Second day of February,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid William Fitzgerald came before
our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of
the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Second day of February, in the year above written.