AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SWORDS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Reeves junior, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SWORDS."
Sealed the 20th October 1853, and dated 21st April 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Reeves
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 21st April 1853.
I, CHARLES REEVES junior, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN SWORDS" to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to that part of the sword called the tang, to
which the hilt and grip or handle are attached, and consists in making
the said tang of the same width, or nearly the same width, as the blade
of the sword, and as it were a continuation of the said blade, and
forming the handle of the said sword, by attaching a piece of wood on
each side of the said tang. By my method of construction; swords are
made much stronger than by the ordinary method, and the risk of

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Reeves, in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 21st October 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES REEVES junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Reeves, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Reeves, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Reeves, my executors, ad-
ministrators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
PROVEMENTS IN SWORDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Reeves, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Charles Reeves, 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, reference being had to the illus-
trative drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon; that is to say,

page_text: My Invention relates to that part of the sword called the tang, to
which the hilt and grip or handle are attached. My said Invention
consists in making the said tang of the same with, or nearly the same
width, as the blade of the sword, and as it were a continuation of the
said blade. I form the handle of the said sword by attaching the
material of which the said handle is composed, on each side of the said
tang. Figure 1, represents the tang end of a sword blade, constructed
according to my Invention; and Figure 2, represents the tang end of
a sword blade constructed according to the ordinary method. The
tang a, of the ordinary blade, Figure 2, passes through the handle and
hilt, the said hilt bearing against the shoulder b, the positions of the
several parts being secured by rivetting at c. In my improved sword,
Figure 1, the part d, which passes through the hilt, and to which the
handle is attached, is of the same breadth as the blade of the sword, or
nearly so, and is a continuation of the said blade as represented. The
handle is made of pieces of wood or other material, placed on each
side of the part d, and attached by the holes e, c, or otherwise. The
hilt shewn in dotted lines is secured in its place by the shoulder f, and
cap g, shown in dotted lines. The cap y, is secured by the part h,
being rivetted. By my method of construction, swords are made much
stronger than by the ordinary method, and the risk of bending or
breaking the sword at the point where the tang and blade join is, by
my method of construction, avoided.
I claim as my Invention, making the tangs of swords of the same or
nearly the same breadth as the blades of the said swords.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Reeves, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
CHARLES REEVES (L..s.) Junior.
Witness, GEORGE SHAW,