MY NEW BELT OR GIRDLE CALLED A SHOOTING BELT
Year: 1762

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDGELL, of the parish of Froome Selwood, in the county of Somersett, Gentle-
man, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His Royal
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date on or about
the Eight day of June, One thousand seven hundred and sixty-two, did give
and grant unto me, the said James Edgell, His especial licenc, full power, sole
previlidge and authority, that I, the said James Edgell, my exors, adiñors, and
assigns, should and lawfully might, during the term therein expressed, make,
use, exercise, and vend, throughout that part of His Majesty's Kingdom
of Great Britain called England, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in His Majesty's Plantations and Colonies
abroad, "MY NEW BELT OR GIRDLE CALLED A SHOOTING BELT," which charges
which is so contrived that all gentlemen and others using the exercise of shooting
with small shot may, with ease to themselves, carry therein a much larger
quantity of gunpowder and shot than in the usual manner, and the same is
calculated and contrived as to be particularly usefull in expeditiously charging
of guns or fowling pieces, that all persons using the said exercise of shooting
may readily load his gun or piece with powder and shot in such an instant of
time that the same may be done at least four times sooner than by any
method hitherto used or invented, and the charges are so contrived as
effectually to prevent all wast of ammunition; in which said recited Letters
Patent there is contain'd a proviso oblligeing me, the said James Edgell, by
writing under my hand and seal, to cause a description of my said Invention,

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four calender months from date
of the said Letters Pattent, as in and by the said Letters Patent, relation being
thereunto may, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance of the said proviso, I, the said
James Edgell, do hereby declare that my said new invented belt or girdle
and chargers are made and used in manner following (that is to say):-
The belt or girdle in which the gunpowder or shot, or both, is to be con-
tained, is made to hang over one shoulder of the person using or carrying the
same, with a strap or girdle going across the breast, in order to keep the belt
or girdle which hangs on the shoulder close to the body, thereby rendering the
weight of shot less fatiging to the sportsman, and the charger or chargers are
made of brass or other metal, each charger holding or containing only one
charge of gunpowder or shot at one and the same time, which charger or
chargers is or are to be put on and pulled off with ease from a ferrel or ferrels,
pipe or pipes, of brass or other metal, affixed to the belt or girdle, and hanging
perpendicularly, and in or across which ferrel or ferrels, pipe or pipes, there
is a flat piece or pieces of brass or other metal to slide or turn horizontally,
with one or more holes in it, through which hole or holes the gunpowder or
shot decends into the charger as soon as it is put on the ferrell or ferrels, pipe
or pipes, which charger is there to remain (being held on by a spring, pin, or
otherwise,) until a charge of gunpowder or shot is wanted, when, by pulling the
charger or measure off, the slide or flat piece of metal in the ferrel or ferrels,
pipe or pipes, at the upper end thereof, slides or turns horizontally, and thereby
divides the gunpowder or shot in the charger or measure from that in the belt,
and prevents that in the belt from falling out or wasting until the charger is
return'd to its place, when the gunpowder or shot descends as before.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edgell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Second day of August, in the second year of the
reign of our Sovereingn Lord George the Third, by the grace of God of
Great Britain, France, and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and
so forth, and in the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and
sixty-two.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBRED, that the Second day of August, in the
year of our Lord 1762, the aforesaid James Edgell came before our said
Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Spcification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the
Statute made in the sixth year of the reign of the late King and Queen
William and Mary of England, and so forth.