IMPROVED SOUND ALARM APPARATUS FOR SCAREING OR FRIGHTENING BIRDS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Jeffery Duke, of Dowlish-Wake, near
Ilminster, in the County of Somerset, Yeoman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED SOUND ALARM APPARATUS FOR SCAREING OR FRIGHTENING
BIRDS."
Scaled the 11th May 1875, and dated the 20th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Jeffery Duke
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th November 1874.
I, JAMES JEFFERY DUKE, of Dowlish-Wake, near Ilminster, in the
County of Somerset, Yeoman, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED SOUND ALARM APPARATUS FOR SCAREING OR
FRIGHTENING BIRDS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a self-acting sound alarum for scareing, or.
frightening birds from lands and gardens, the machine being preferably
mounted upon wheels to permit of its removal from place to place as
occasion requires it.

page_text: The machine is composed of a vehicle, in the body of which a series
of gun barrels are mounted so that their muzzles project from, say the
after part, each barrel being strapped down firmly and provided with
nipples, on to which, when capped, hammers are caused to fall at fixed
intervals of time for exploding the contents of the barrels.
The hammers are arranged in a skeleton frame in which they are free
to fall when cords by which they are suspended from a rod or from nails
or studs fixed at the upper part of the body of the vehicle are severed
in succession or rotation by a knife that can be caused to, travel along a
kind of tram under the action of clockwork or a descending weight,
the knife being secured to a frame or block running upon wheels to
bear upon the tram.
I provide compartments in the vehicle for ammunition, tools, or
other articles, and when clockwork is employed to move the knife along
the tram I arrange it that the knife drawing cord can be shifted from
one pulley to another, upon which it can be wound to suit the determined
intervals of time the explosions shall take place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said James Jeffery Duke in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
JEFFERY DUKE, of Dowlish-Wake, near Ilminster, in the County of
Somerset, Yeoman, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Jeffery Duke, Her special licence that a
I, the said James Jeffery Duke, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Jeffery Duke, my cxe-

page_text: cutors, 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 "IMPROVED
SOUND ALARM APPARATUS FOR SCAREING OR FRIGHTENING BIRDS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Jeffery Duke, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that, I, the said James Jeffery Duke, 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 thercof, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to a self-acting sound alarum for scareing or
frightening birds from lands and gardens, the machine being preferably.
mounted upon a wheel or wheels to permit of its removal from place to
place as occasion requires it.
The machine is composed of a vehicle in the body of which a series.
of gun barrels are mounted so that their muzzles project from say the
after part, each barrel being strapped down firmly and provided with
nipples, on to which, when capped, hammers are caused to fall at fixed:
intervals of time for exploding the contents of the barrels.
The hammers are arranged in a skeleton frame, in which they are free
to fall when cords by which they are suspended from a rod or from nails
or studs fixed in the upper part of the body of the vehicle are secured in
succession or rotation by a knife that can be caused to travel along a
kind of tram under the action of clockwork or a descending weight; the
knife being secured to a frame or block running upon wheels to bear
upon the tram.
I provide compartments in the vehicle for ammunition, tools, or other
articles, and when clockwork is employed to move the knife along the

page_text: tram I arrange it that the knife drawing cord can be shifted from one
pulley to another upon which it can be wound to suit the determined
intervals of time the explosions shall take place.
A stop plate or check is fitted which by the movement of a cord can
stop the clock action at any moment.
The Invention will be clearly understood by reference to the accom-
panying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figure 1 is an exterior elevation
partly in section, Figure 2 a back end view also partly in section, and
Figure 3 a plan of a vehicle with the top removed to show the arrange-
ment of the apparatus by which a regular intermittent discharge of
barrels can take place for scareing or frightening birds from growing
crops, as before set forth. The apparatus can also be used as a sound
alarum apparatus to be 'placed in plantations, pheasant preserves, farm-
yards, or manufactories by detaching the cord that draws the knife
from the clockwork and passing it through the side of the vehicle A, and
from thence across pathway, track, doorway, gateway, window, or where.
required.
The vehicle is composed of a body A on two wheels B, B, and with
handles C, C, that it can be moved from place to place.
The back part of the body is partitioned off by division boards D, D,
and the spaces between have each a barrel E like ordinary gun barrels,
these being securely fastened on to the bottom of the vehicle body by
straps F, F, or other appliances. The rear ends of the barrels look into
a series of tubes G, G, and have percussion caps and other detonators
arranged upon nipples therein for weights or plungers H, H, to fall upon
to explode and thus to fire the charges contained in the barrels.
The weights or plungers are held in their upward position by cords
I, I, the free ends of which, provided each with a loop are passed on to
nails or hooks J, J, to retain them the necessary height above the
nipples. Just below the cords I, I, and transversely across that part of
the vehicle I arrange a couple of rigid bars or stout wires K, K, to serve
as rails upon which a kind of tram vehicle L is caused to move in one
direction by clockwork or by a descending weight as desired. In the
Drawing I have a train of clockwork M to draw the tram vehicle along,
the tram vehicle having on its upper face a knife blade N set at an angle
to sever the cords by a kind of guillotine cut so that the weights or

page_text: plungers may fall and effect the discharge of the barrels in consecutive
order and at such intervals of time as shall be determined on by an
attendant.
In Figure 2 I have shown a couple of the cords severed and the
plungers down upon the nipple of the barrels, and it will be understood
that as tho knife blade travels along the remainder will be cut one by
one in succession until all the barrels are discharged.
The clockwork shown is contained within a pair of plates P, P, and
the speed at which the pull cord of the knife carriage is to be propelled
is determined by the diameter of the roller Q on to which it has to be
wound.
:
The vehicle is provided with a check paul R, as in Figure 4, which
can be thrown into some part of the clockwork by pulling upon the
string S, a spring T being fitted to take the paul out of gear again when
the cord S is released. By this means the clock tram can be retained in
a wound up state for any length of time and be released or checked as
occasion may require it.
I have shown a single line or series of barrels only, but these may be
increased to any extent, and the same or a different knife can be used to
sever the strings which hold the weights or plungers.
The body of the vehicle in the interior is provided with chambers or
receptacles in which a supply of cartridges or loose powder can be kept
as also the necessary quantity of percussion caps and appliances for
charging the barrels.
The apparatus can by slight modifications be used as a mitrailleuse by
rifling the barrels, in which case a man could discharge all the barrels at
the same moment by pulling the cord quickly attached to the knife, the
cord being passed through a hole in the vehicle A.
I have shown the barrels as being separate and held down to the
vehicle by straps, but a grooved or case plate with long holes in it may
serve the purpose.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
The improved sound alarm apparatus herein-before described and as
shown for scaring or frightening birds from growing crops.

page_text: Secondly. I claim in connection with bird scaring apparatus (barrel
discharging) the severing of weights or plunger cords by a travelling
knife acting upon and governed by clockwork or other equivalent
appliance substantially as set forth and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Jeffery Duke, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, One
thousand cight hundred and seventy-five.
JAMES JEFFERY DUKE. (L.S.)