Improvements in Sights for Guns.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Nov., 1896-Accepted, 19th Dec., 1898
Improvements in Sights for Guns.
We, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir GEORGE SYDENHAM CLARKE, K.C.M.G. and
GEORGE HENRY BANISTER, Civil Engineer, both of The Royal Arsenal,
Woolwich, in the County of Kent, 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 statemont :-
Our invention relates to sights for guns and consists chiefly in a novel method
of providing for the illumination of the sighting points or surfaces without the
necessity of special or different devices for use by day and by night. That is to
gay we can take an existing form or pattern of day sight and by our invention can
provide the same with means for its illumination in such a manner that without
impairing its efficiency as a day sight it will be always available without
adjustment or removal of any of its parts, as a thoroughly efficient night sight.
And it will be observed that we do not provide a double set of sights one for day
and the other for night but we provide a single set of sights which serves both
purposes.
In adapting our invention to any form or pattern of existing day sight we need
only modify or change the same in respect of the provision for the addition of a
lamp and of a piece of glass or other material capable of illumination by
transinitted or refracted rays the glass part being so incorporated with the metal
part in the construction of the sight that without any change or adjustment the
sight will be equally suitable for use by day or by night. We employ a small
incandescent electric lamp, preferably held in a socket or tube so arranged that
the light from the lamp can be partially or entirely masked or concealed as
required and will only be visible from the rear of the sight. The illumination of
the sighting edges or points is not effected by the aid of mirrors or reflectors but
by the refraction or transmission of light from the lamp through the material on
which the said edges or points are formed.
Our said invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which
Figure 1 is an elevation of a well known pattern of rear sight.
Figure 2 is an elevation partly in section on the line ., ..
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the lamp holder.
Figure 4 is an elevation of a foro sight.
Figure 5 is a transverse central section of the samo.
Figure 6 is an elevation of another well known pattern of rear sight and
Figure 7 is an elevation partly in section on the line y, y.
Figures 8 and 9 are elevations of another form of fore sight.
Like letters indicate the same parts throughout the drawings.
Figure 1 shews the rear sight as seen from the breech of the gun; a is the
sight block which is adjustable on the bar in the ordinary manner and which
carries the lamp b and the sighting notch o. A horizontal cylindrical hole is
formed in the block a for the reception of the lamp b which is secured in the lamp
bolder 6' as shewn. The two wires of the lanp circuit are coupled one to the
tube of the lamp holder and the other to the terminal 6.
The tube or lamp holder b' is formed as shewn in Figure 3 with a semi-
circumferential screen b which by turning the lamp holder about its axis in the
aight block can be adjusted so that the light passing upward to the sighting edges

page_text: may be either completely cut off or regulated to any desired intensity. To
facilitate this adjustment of the lamp the holder may have a milled or serrated
periphery at A piece of glass or other transparent material is fitted within a
slot in the sight block the upper edge of this piece of glass and the adjacent
material of the sight block a, being cut to form the V or notch e with short
horizontal lines o' at the sides thereof as shewn. The glass is secured in place in
the sight block by a plate e fastened by screws and can be readily removed for
repairs or otherwise by unscrewing and removing the said plate. The light from
the lamp passes up through the glass to the sighting notch'o which is immediately
above the lamp.
The entire arrangement is such that light emitted from the lamp is masked in
such a manner that it is visible ouly from the rear of the gun and from that
position is seen as a luminous line formed by the edge e e' of the glass.
The form of rear sight shewn in Figure 6 differs from that shewn in Figure 1
in having two sighting edges as shewn at g g formed on pieces or plates of glass, or
other transparent substance. These pieces of glass are removably held in place by
the bracket g'. The top edges of the glass are on a level with the ordinary oross
wire h of the sight the glass being covered by the bracket gl except at the top
edge thereof and a small portion of the inside upright edges. Light emitted from
the lamp thus shows two illuminated corners or angles the horizontal lings of which
are level with the cross wiro h of the sight. The arrangement of the lamp below
the sighting edges and the provision for masking the light thereof are the same as
in Figure 1.
In the fore sight shown in Figure 4 the lamp i and holder i are similar to those
above described. This foresight is formed with au ogival head and has a vortical
axial hole & the upper end of which is plugged with glass, or other transparent
substance. The apex of the head is cut away to expose the tip of the glass to
the rear of the sight. Light from the lamp i passos up the central hole k to the
illuminated tip and thereby shews a bright spot or point to the guuuer at the
breech, the lamp being screened as above described so that none of its light will
be visible forward of the foresight.
The foresight shewn in Figure 8 has a thin vertical web with a bead or
protuberance at the top. As in the above described sights the lamp and holder
are carried in a horizontal hole or chamber in the sight blook. The vortical web!
has a rectangular slot m containing glass or other transparent substance through
which light from the lamp passes to the bead the rear part of the bead boing cut
away to expose the illuminated glass at n.
the
For the purpose of distinguishing the fore sight from the rear sight on a gun
lamps may be tinted in different colours, or the transparent substanco forming tho
sighting points, edges or lines may be differently tinted for the fore and rear
sights.
The leads are extended from the electric generator to the terminals of the lamp
holder, and when the lamp is in place the circuit is preferably completed through
the sight bar. The above described provision for screening or masking the lamp
enables us to dispense with the usual devices for modifying the light by varying the.
electrical resistance in the circuit.
The forms or patterns of sights shewn in the drawings are those that we prefer
to use but these may be considerably modified without detriment to the efficiency
of our invention provided that the essential conditions thereof be retained i.e. tho
employment at the points or edges used for the alignment of the gun with the
target or object, of a transparent substance which without impairing the efficiency
of the device as a day eight will when it is used by night refract the rays of light
from the lamps to the breach of the gun.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said 'inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we wish it understood that
wo are aware of the fact that the use of a concealed incandescent or glow lamp for

page_text: illuminating a gun sight is not new. Also that the use of glass as the substanco
or medium through aud by which the light of the lamp is transmitted to the
sighting points has been already disclosed. Moreover we are aware that devices
Capable of exhibiting illuminated points have been removably attached to ordinary
sights for the purpose of providing a gun with two sets of sighting points, ono sct
for use by day and the other set by night. We therefore do not claim broadly or
generally either or any of these features, but we claim
1. A single sighting device, of the class hereinabove specified, which without
any adjustment or alteration of its sighting edges lines or points to adapt it for day
or night service, can be used for either purpose.
2. A sighting device, of the class herein specified, in which the same sighting
lines edges or points are used for day or for night service.
3. The lamp holder constructed and arranged substantially as described so that
it can be adjusted to mask the light and thereby produce any required intensity or
brilliancy of illumination of the sighting edges or points without varying the
electrical resistance in the lamp circuit.
4. A rear sight provided with the sighting edge or edges and with means for
illuminating the same substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2 or
with reference to Figures 6 and 7 for the purposes specified.
6. A foresight provided with a sighting edge or point and with means for
illuminating the same substantially as described with reference to Figures 5 and 6
or with reference to Figures 8 and 9 for the purposes specified.
November 1906
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicants.