COUNTERACTING THE RECOIL OF SMALL FIRE-ARMS, AND LESSENING THE RISK OF INJURY ARISING FROM BURSTING OP THE SAME
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Charlesworth, of No. 1, De Grey Street,
York, and No. 3, King William Street, Strand, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "COUNTERACTING THE RECOIL OF SMALL
FIRE-ARMS, AND LESSENING THE RISK OF INJURY ARISING FROM BURSTING OP
THE SAME."
Sealed the 15th November 1859, and dated the 18th May 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Charlesworth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th May 1859.
I, EDWARD CHARLESWORTH, of No. 1, De Grey Street, York, and No. 3,
King William Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "COUNTERACTING THE RECOIL OF SMALL
FIRE-ARMS, AND LESSINGING RISK OF INJURY ARISING FROM THE BURSTING OF THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
I attach to fowling-pieces, rifles, and the class of small arms commonly
known as staff or stick guns, a moveable or fixed handle, which I call a "safety
gun elevator," and the general form of which is shewn in the Drawing
numbered 1.
The position which this elevator occupies when attached is shewn in the
Drawings numbered 2 and 3.
In bringing up the gun to bear upon an object, I clasp the elevator with the

page_text: left hand. In the stick gun, which is usually fired from the hand and not
from the shoulder, the elevator gives the shooter such complete control over
the recoil, that a charge equalling that proper for a stock gun of the same sized
bore, may be fired from the stick gun without risk of injury; the elevator in
this case, so far as the recoil is concerned, being a substitute for the stock.
Applied to the fowling-piece or rifle, the elevator greatly lessens the risk of
injury in the event of the gun bursting, the position of the left hand clasping
the elevator, rendering it almost impossible that the thumb or fingers should
be blown off, a result well known to be a frequent consequence of the bursting
of a gun when the left hand is placed round the barrel or immediately in front
of the trigger guard.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward Charlesworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th November 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
CHARLESWORTH, of No. 1, De Grey Street, York, and No. 3, King William
Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Edward Charlesworth, Her special licence that I, the said Edward Charlesworth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward
Charlesworth, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "COUNTERACTING THE RECOIL Of
SMALL FIRE-ARMS, AND LESSENING THE RISK OF INJURY ARISING FROM BURSTING OF
THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward
Charlesworth, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Charlesworth, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
My Invention, to which I give the name of the safety elevator, consists of a
handle or stock, which I attach to the barrel of small arms in order to enable
the shooter to counteract the recoil, and in order to diminish the risk of injury
to which the shooter is exposed in the event of the barrel of his piece bursting,
I shape my elevator of such a form as may conveniently fit the grasp of the
hand (see the lithographic Drawing No. 1,) and I make it of wood, metal, or
other strong material, either with or without a covering of vulcanized india-
rubber or other elastic substance, and I connect the elevator with the barrel in
the following manner:-I make the barrel of the fire-arm with an outside
metal boss or knob, formed during the process of forging the barrel, or subse-
quently fixed upon the barrel by the operation of welding (see Drawing No. 2);
this knob is a distance from the breech varying from about eight to eighteen
inches, and on the under part, or a little to the left of the barrel when the fire-
arm is raised to discharge it, I hollow out this knob in the centre, and form it
into a female screw to receive a corresponding metal screw at one end of the
elevator (see Drawing No. 1^), and the elevator when screwed into the knob
has its long axis perpendicular to the long axis of the barrel (see the Drawing
No. 3).
I apply my elevator to the class of small arms known as staff or stick guns,
and which are generally used without a butt or shoulder piece, being fired from
the hand and carrying a small charge, and I obtain thereby so great a power
of control over the recoil as that I can fire these guns with the same weight of
powder and shot that is usually put into the common fowling-piece.
I also obtain by the use of the elevator a great reduction in the risk of
injury should the barrel of the piece burst, the left hand of the shooter not
being in contact with the barrel, and at the same time being removed from the
breech, the part where the explosion usually occurs (see Drawing No. 34.
I also apply my elevator to small arms generally, whether intended for
firing shot or ball, but when applied to the ordinary fowling-piece or to small
arms of any description furnished with a butt or shoulder piece, the advantage
gained by the use of the elevator will mainly be that of the diminished risk of
injury to the shooter, in the event of the barrel bursting.
When I apply my elevator to fire-arms that are double-barrelled, I make
no alteration in the elevator, but I make the knob which receives the elevator
larger, so that it connects both barrels. In using my elevator with the

page_text: of the ramrod.
I claim as new the safety elevator, with the purposes to which it is applicable,
as described and set forth in this my Final Specification.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Charlesworth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
EDW. CHARLESWORTH. (L.S.)