IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Harman Keble, of Margate, in the County
of Kent, Publisher, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 10th May 1861, and dated the 22nd November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Harman Keble,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 22nd November 1860.
I, THOMAS HARMAN KEBLE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Publisher,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-
ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-arms, and consists in.
mounting a level on the fire-arm to indicate to the person using the weapon
if the sights are set upright, as they should be before firing. The arrangement
which I prefer is to place immediately behind the sight a bar which is hung
on pivots or knife edges in such a manner that the bar remains always
horizontal, there being a weight attached thereto underneath its points of
suspension. The frame which carries the bar rises just as high as the top of
the bar, and is straight at the top, hence when the sights are vertical the
horizontal bar does not rise above the level of its frame, but if the sights

page_text: are inclined then one or other end of the horizontal bar will appear above its
frame, and being readily seen it will at once indicate that the sights are not
upright and the side to which they are inclined..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Harman Keble, in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HARMAN KEBLE, of Margate, in the County of Kent, Publisher, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Harman Keble, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Harman
Keble, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Thomas Harman Keble, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Harman Keble, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Harman Keble, 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 fire-arms, and consists in
mounting a level on the fire-arm to indicate to the person using the weapon
if the sights are set upright, as they should be before firing. The arrangement
which I prefer is to place immediately behind the sight a bar or index which
is hung on pivots, and it has weights attached to it underneath the points of

page_text: suspension in such manner as to keep it in a horizontal position.
Just
behind the bar or index is placed a small rectangular screen which is made
white so as to be readily seen. The person using the weapon in order to set
the sight upright has to bring the bar or index parallel to the top of the
screen which he will be able to do with great ease and certainty.
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
Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of a rifle fitted with a level such as
above described; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a transverse
section taken at the line 1, 1, and Figure 4 a transverse section taken
at the line 2, 2, (Figure 1.)
a is a portion of the stock; b, a portion of the barrel; c, the sight, with
its flap c', and other parts of the usual construction. The level is placed
immediately behind the sight; d is a metal block fitting at the back of the
sight; this piece carries the bar or index with its pivots, weights, and screen;
a plan of the piece d, with these parts is shown at Figure 5 and a section at
Figure 6; e is the bar or index, and e¹, e', its weights; these parts are shown
separately at Figure 7; f is a bracket attached by screws to the block d;
one of the pivots of the bar or index is carried by the said block and the
other by the bracket; they enter small recesses drilled for them at e*, e*,
in the piece e; g is the screen; it is fixed to the bracket f, and projects up
through a slot in the bar or index e. The block d is held in its place by the
band h, which is made in two parts; each of these parts is attached to the
block d by a screw, and a screw underneath the rifle draws the two parts of
the band together and clips the stock; i is a case of thin metal covering the
working parts; it is glazed in front, ¹ being the piece of glass employed for the
purpose, and it is attached to the block d by screws; the case i is not shown in
the Figures 5 and 6.
In place of the arrangement above described I in some cases employ a
spirit or liquid level; such an apparatus is shown in plan at Figure 8, and in
front view at Figure 9; it consists of a block a similar to the block d of the
arrangement above described, except that in place of being secured by a band
h (Figures 1, 3, and 4,) it is held in its place by a binding screw b, which
presses against one of the flanges of the sight; it is recessed to receive the
curved tube c, which is partly filled with liquid as is usual; this tube c should

page_text: be curved more than is usual in spirit levels, otherwise the bubble will be too
lively.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Harman Keble, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of May, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-one.
THOMAS HARMAN KEBLE. (L.S.)