IMPROVEMENTS IN BANDS FOR RIFLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS."
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Fraser Lodington Baddeley, Major, R.A., Royal
Small Arms Factory, Enfield, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BANDS FOR RIFLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Fraser Lodington
Baddeley at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 10th May 1861.
I, JOHN FRASER LODINGTON BADDELEY, Major, R.A., Royal Small Arms
Factory, Enfield, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BANDS FOR RIFLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in bands for rifles and other
fire-arms. The bands at present employed for rifles and other fire-arms consist
of a strap of metal passing around the barrel and the stock, and having a lug
or piece at each end projecting at an angle from the end of the strap. These.
lugs come opposite and parallel the one to the other, and a screw passes
through the two lugs underneath the stock and draws the band tight. These
lugs projecting at an angle from the ends of the strap are objectionable, because
when the band is in its place on the arm they project down awkwardly from
the under side of the stock so as frequently to wound the hands of the
using the weapon and injure his clothes. According to my Invention I make
the part of the band underneath the stock thicker than is usual and without
any lugs, so that the under side of the band, where its two ends meet, is a
continuous curve passing down one side of the stock, underneath the same,
person

page_text: and up on the other side thereof, thus the under side of the band offers no
angles likely to do injury. The angles at the front and back of the band are
also rounded off. A hole is bored through the two ends of the band in the
thickness of the metal to receive the screw, which is so made as not to project
on either side.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Fraser Lodington Baddeley in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th November 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, JOHN
FRASER LODINGTON BADDELEY, Major, R.A., Royal Small Arms Factory,
Enfield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of May, in the year of our Lord - One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Fraser Lodington Baddeley, Her special licence that I, the said John
Fraser Lodington Baddeley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Fraser Lodington Baddeley, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 BANDS FOR RIFLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Fraser Lodington
Baddeley, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Fraser Lodington Baddeley, 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 bands for rifles and other
fire-arms. The bands at present employed for rifles and other fire-arms consist

page_text: of a strap of metal passing around the barrel and the stock, and having a lug
or piece at each end projecting at an angle from the end of the strap. These
lugs come opposite and parallel the one to the other, and a screw passes
through the two lugs underneath the stock and draws the band tight. These
lugs projecting at an angle from the ends of the strap are objectionable, because
when the band is in its place on the arm they project down awkwardly from
the under side of the stock so as frequently to wound the hands of the person
using the weapon and injure his clothes. According to my Invention I make
the part of the band underneath the stock thicker than is usual and without
any lugs, so that the under side of the band, where its two ends meet, is a
continuous curve passing down one side of the stock, underneath the same,
and up on the other side thereof, thus the under side of the band offers no
angles likely to do injury. The angles at the front and back of the band are
also rounded off. A hole is bored through the two ends of the band in the
thickness of the metal to receive the screw, which is so made as not to project
on either side.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a front view, partly in section; and Figure 2 an edge view,
of one of the bands of a rifle or other fire-arm constructed according to my
Invention, by which it will be seen that the projecting lugs or flanges formerly
at the ends of a strap are got rid of, and that the ends a, a, of the strap are
now made-round, smooth, and stronger. The screw which connects the ends
of the strap is embedded in the ends a, a, of the strap, and all the incon-
venience heretofore consequent on the lugs or flanges and projecting screw are
avoided.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Fraser Lodington Baddeley, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this 8th day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
J. F. L. BADDELEY. (L.8.)
Major, R¹. Ax.