IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY CAPES OR CLOAKS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Anthony Burlton Bennett, of 13, Rue Tant
Perd Tant Prie, Boulogne, in the Empire of France, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY CAPES OR CLOAKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Anthony Burlton
Bennett at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th July 1858.
I, WILLIAM ANTHONY BURLTON BENNETT, of 13, Rue Tant Perd Tant Pric,
Boulogne, in the Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY CAPES OR CLOAKS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in military capes or cloaks.
For these purposes the capes or cloaks are so formed and provided with means
of attaching one to another, that the capes or cloaks of several men may be
combined together and form a tent. Each cloak or cape consists of an oblong
rectangular form of cloth or suitable material (whether waterproof or not) for
making a cloak or cape, the dimensions preferred being 84 inches by 54 inches,
but these may be varied. In the centre is formed a long opening or slit
suitable for the passage of the head of the wearer, and this opening or slit has

page_text: a projecting edge sewed or formed all round it, and loops and buttons are
applied, by which such raised edge may be fastened over the slit or opening on
either side. At intervals, near the edges, buttons are fixed, and near them a
like number of button holes, by which the several cloaks or capes which are
for the time being to be combined into a tent are buttoned to each other, the
buttons of the one being buttoned into the button holes of the other, by which
the connected edges of each two cloaks or capes will not only overlap one
another, but they will be connected by two rows of buttons and button holes.
The tents thus produced are upheld by muskets and by suitable uprights, and
the edges of the tent are fixed to the ground in a suitable manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Antony Burlton Bennett in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ANTONY BURLTON BENNETT, of 13, Rue Tant Perd Tant Prie, Boulogne, in
the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Antony Burlton Bennett Her special licence that I, the said
William Antony Burlton Bennett, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Antony Burlton Bennett, my execu-
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY CAPES OR
CLOAKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Antony
Burlton Bennett, 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 William Antony Burlton Bennett,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in military capes or cloaks.
For these purposes the capes or cloaks are so formed and provided with means
of attaching one to another, that the capes or cloaks of several men may be
combined together and form a tent. Each cloak or cape consists of an oblong
rectangular form of cloth, or suitable material (whether waterproof or not)
for making a cloak or cape, the dimensions preferred being 84 inches by
54 inches, but these may be varied. In the centre is formed a long opening
or slit suitable for the passage of the head of the wearer, and this opening or
slit has a projecting edge sewed or formed all round it, and loops and buttons
are applied, by which such raised edge may be fastened over the slit or
opening on either side. At intervals near the edges buttons are fixed, and
near them a like number of button holes, by which the several cloaks or capes
which are for the time being to be combined into a tent, are buttoned to each
other, the buttons of the one being buttoned into the button holes of the other,
by which the connected edges of each two cloaks or capes will not only overlap
one another, but they will be connected by two rows of buttons and button
holes. The tents thus produced are upheld by muskets and by suitable
uprights, and the edges of the tent are fixed to the ground in a suitable
manner.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed, which represents a plan of a cape or cloak constructed according to
my Invention, it consists of a rectangular piece of cloth or other suitable
material having a hole for the passage of the head of the wearer near the
middle of the piece, and the end thereof nearest to the centre hole forms the
front of the cape or cloak. When the garment is required for the construction
of a tent, it is combined with other similar garments; this is done by means
of the buttons or frogs and button holes formed round its edges, as is shown,
and the centre hole of each garment is closed by turning down the raised
collar band, and securing it by the loops and buttons shown. Tents of several
forms may be constructed from capes or cloaks constructed according to my
Invention, and combined together; but the most convenient form of a soldier's
tent is produced by fastening together a number of capes or cloaks so as to
form a sheet of a width equal to double the length of a single cape or cloak,

page_text: and of any desired length. The sheet so formed may be supported by means
of muskets, one at each end, placed upright on the ground, and having a cord
running from one to the other, and supported by other muskets intermediate
of the two ends, at a suitable number of points according to the length of the
tent; the cord which forms the ridge of the tent is kept strained by attaching
its ends to pegs driven into the earth; the tent is completed by laying the
sheet of capes or cloaks over this frame, so that the ends of capes or cloaks
which are attached the one to the other may rest on the ridge rope, and the
other ends of the capes or cloaks are fixed down to the ground by metal pegs
passed through the eyes at the corners of the capes or cloaks. For tents of
larger size a wooden frame made for the purpose may be employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Antony Burlton Bennett, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM ANTONY BURLTON BENNETT. (L.S.)
THEODORE JEKLER,
Hotel Meurice; a Paris.