IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGHTS FOR RIPLES AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bloxam, the younger, of Shrewsbury, in the
County of Salop, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGHTS
FOR RIPLES AND ORDNANCE."
Sealed the 8th April 1862, and dated the 19th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bloxam at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
October 1861.
I, HENRY BLOXAM, the younger, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SIGHTS FOR RIFLES AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
In order to make good and correct practice with rifles and ordnance it is
absolutely necessary that the back sights, when elevated, should be held in a
perfectly vertical position. This operation, upon the correctness of which so
much depends, is now generally done by guess, the rifleman or gunner judges
as accurately as he can when the sight is perpendicular, and when he has
aligned his firearm on the object to be struck he delivers his fire. It has been
found that even the most careful marksmen will sometimes hold their rifle
sights a trifle out of the perpendicular, and when this is the case bad practice
is the result. The object of the present Invention is to enable the marksman,

page_text: while aiming, to see that his sight is in a proper position, and if not, to correct
it. This is effected by adapting to the sight a pendulum with an index, which,
when the sight is held in a perfectly vertical position, will point to the centre
line of the notch, but if there be the slightest variation to the right or left of
the vertical line the error will be at once detected while aim is being taken
and the marksman will be enabled to correct the error. These pendulum
indexes will of course vary somewhat in form, according to the arm to which
they are to be adapted, but they will all be constituted on precisely the same
principle. They may also be made to form a permanent part of the sight, or
be so constructed as to be removeable at pleasure.
"SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Bloxam in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BLOXAM, the younger, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, 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 Henry Bloxam, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Bloxam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Bloxam, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SIGHTS FOR RIFLES AND ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Bloxam, 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 Henry Bloxam, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
This my said Invention consists in the application to the sights of rifles and
cannon of a small vibrating pendulum mounted on a transverse pin, and
attached to a suitably shaped piece of metal, which is attached to the sliding
bar of the rifle or cannon sight by means of two small gripping springs which
hold the vibrating pendulum and piece of metal to which it is attached in
position, and the piece of metal to which the vibrating pendulum is attached
is so constructed as not to interfere with the line of sight. The vibrating sight
pendulum may be readily fixed to or removed from the rifle or cannon sight,
and when in position is pressed down level with the top of the sliding bar, and
two small projections at the back of the metal to which the springs are
attached are so formed as to just embrace the flap and prevent any lateral
movement. The object of the sight pendulum is to indicate with accuracy
when the sights of a rifle or cannon are upright, the rifleman or gunner having
hitherto been uncertain as to whether the sights were perfectly upright at the
moment of firing. The sight pendulum, when applied to the sight of a rifle
or cannon, guides the eye of the marksman at the moment of taking aim, and
enables him to correctly adjust the rifle or cannon to the object aimed at.
The point only of the sight pendulum is bright metal, the other parts being a
dull dark hue.
That this my said Invention may be the more readily seen and understood, I
have hereunto annexed Drawings in illustration of its application to the sights
of rifles and cannon; like letters and figures marked thereon having reference
to similar parts.
Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2, a side elevation; and Figure 3, a
back elevation of my improved vibrating sight pendulum and appendages,
drawn full size; Figure 4 is a front view; and Figure 5, a side view, showing
the vibrating pendulum as applied to the sliding bar of a rifle sight; Figure 6
is a front view; and Figure 7, a side view of my Invention as applied to
artillery sights.
A, the vibrating pendulum; B, the piece of metal to which the pendulum
is attached by means of b, a transverse pin, upon which the pendulum is free
to vibrate; C, small gripping springs, which embrace the sliding bar of the
rifle sight, as shown in Figure 5.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of this my said
Invention, and how I believe the same may be best carried into practical
effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise
details or relative dimensions herein-before set forth, as they may be varied or

page_text: modified without departing from the Invention; but what I claim as my
Invention is, the application of a vibrating pendulum to the sights of rifles and
cannon, substantially and in the manner and for the purposes herein-before
set forth, or any mere modification of the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bloxam, have hereunto set my
hand and affixed my seal, this Sixteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
HENRY (L.S.) BLOXAM, JUN³.
Witness,
JAMES M. JESSOP.