Improvements in Targets and in Apparatus to be Used therewith.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Aug., 1889-Accepted, 21st Sept.,
1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by MAURICE JAMES KEATING, of 137, Elizabeth Street,
Hyde Park, Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, Lieutenant in the
Naval Artillery Volunteers.]
Improvements in Targets and in Apparatus to be Used therewith.
I HENRY EDWARD NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 6 Bream's Buildings,
Chancery Lane in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates more particularly to that class of targets known as carton
or discing targets, but it also applies to skirmishing targets, and consists of apparatus
for lowering the target to mark the effects of the marksman's shots, and for
indicating to the marksman (while skirmishing) the position or the value of each shot.
The apparatus for lowering the target consists of a double socket attached to a
cylinder suitably mounted so as to rotate, the said socket being so arranged that the
two parts may be either at right angles, so as to be quadrant shaped or exactly
opposite to one another.
Placed at right angles to the axis of the double socket, is a horizontal shaft
carrying a series of rods, to the upper extremities of which, are secured discs
indicating the numbers of the points the marksman may score. These rods work
loosely upon the horizontal shaft, so that they may be made to assume either the
vertical or the horizontal positions, at will.
Secured to the spindle forming the axis on which the double socket works, is a
lever arm, which carries an adjustable weight, so disposed as to balance the target.
The lower extremities of the marking rods also carry counterbalance weights, which
are adjusted so as to permit the rods to assume the vertical or the horizontal
positions, at the option of the marker. The whole of this gear is supported on a
light framework of any suitable design.
Formed on the forward side of the marking rods, are cam pieces or fingers,
against which the target, as it is raised or lowered, will strike, and so throw the
marking rod from the vertical, back to the horizontal position.
The above description applies only to carton targets.
The skirmishing target is adapted so as to be used in combination with the above
described apparatus.
Into one of the arms of the double socket, is dropped an upright support or
standard, the upper end of which carries a horizontal shaft. This shaft forms an
axis upon which is secured a rocking counterbalanced arm, carrying the figure of a
soldier or animal. When this figure is struck by a bullet, it will fall backwards
towards the horizontal position, thus indicating to the marksman whether his shot
has or has not taken effect.
The amount of the backward motion of this figure will gauge, with sufficient
accuracy, the place where the figure has been struck; thus, if the figure had been
struck plumb on the head or body, it would be thrown quite back to the horizontal
position, but if struck in the feet, the amount of the backward motion imparted to the
figure would be less.
These skirmishing targets may be kept in regular motion by the attendant marker
working a switch lever, and in the case where two or more of these targets are in
use at one time, the whole may be kept in motion by being connected together and
worked synchronously from the same switch lever.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a carton or discing target.
Fig. 2. is a side

page_text: is a side view of the same. Fig. 5 is an isometrical projection of the quadrantal
socket. Figs. 6, 7, and 8, are respectively a front elevation, side elevation, and
partial plan of a modification of my invention.
a is the quadrantal socket, having socketted arms a¹ a², and is supported in
bearings upon the light framework bb, in which it performs its rocking motion, as
may be seen by reference to the dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 3.
c is a horizontal
shaft placed at right angles to the axis of the quadrantal socket, and carried in
suitable bearings. d d are the marking rods carried by the horizontal shaft c, and
which are raised to the vertical position by the marker pressing down the counter-
balance weight e e, when the target T is lowered to the dotted position in Fig. 1.
On the end of the axle of the quadrantal socket a, is mounted a lever arm f
which carries, at its lower extremity, a counterbalance weight g, to retain the target
either in the vertical or horizontal position, at the will of the marker. hh are
the cam pieces or fingers on the forward side of the marking rods d, against which
the target will strike as it is raised, and lower any of the rods that may be elevated.
When the marking rods d are raised to the vertical position (the target being
lowered to the horizontal position), the discs proclaim the number of marks scored.
Still further intelligence may be conveyed to the marksman by the marker placing
a small black or white spotting disc K on the place where the shot has struck the
target, as may be seen by reference to Fig. 1.
In the skirmishing target, the upright standard is dropped into the arm a² of
the quadrantal socket. This upright standard carries a horizontal axis m, on which
rocks a figure n, which is counterbalanced by the weight o, or by a spring, as may
be found most convenient.
When the marksman strikes this figure, it will fall backwards, thus indicating to
the skirmisher, that the target has been struck.
The figure n may be kept moving by the marker operating the switch lever p, by
means of the cord or chain q, or other equally simple mechanical contrivance, which
raises and lowers the figure in the plane indicated by dotted lines. A series of two,
three, or more of these targets may be operated from the same switch lever, by
making use of any of the usual connecting devices in use for moving synchronously
several similar objects. Instead of sinking my improved targets in trenches, I prefer
to place them behind one continuous mound, or a combination of continuous mound
and trench, so that one marker may be enabled to supervise a series of targets, and,
in the case of skirmishing targets, to keep them all in motion by operating one lever.
In the modification shown at Figs. 6, 7, and 8, the marking rods and discs work
in planes parallel to the plane in which the target itself works, and the hanging
counterbalanced weights are replaced by loaded or counterbalanced ends to the
marking rods.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The use, in connection with a movable target, of a double socket so disposed
as to permit of the target being rocked through an arc of a circle, substantially as
and for the purpose set forth.
2. The use, in connection with a movable target, of the articulated marking disc
rods d, substantially as herein described and shown.
3. The employment of cam pieces h, or equivalent device, by which the target, as
it is moved, shall automatically cause the marking discs to be returned to the
horizontal position, as set forth.
4. The arrangement of skirmishing target with a pivoted and balanced figure
substantially as described, & as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings.
Doted this 21st day of August 1980
1
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.