IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGHTS FOR SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE,
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGHTS FOR SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Whitworth and
William Wilson Hulse at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 23rd August 1861.
We, JOSEPH WHITWORTH and WILLIAM WILSON HULSE, of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SIGHTS FOR SMALL ARMS AND
ORDNANCE, AND IN FITTING APPARATUS USED WITH SMALL ARMS," to be as
follows:-
These improvements relate to,-
First, the adoption of á rack and pinion, or racks and pinions, for elevating
the slide of the "back sight" or "tangent sight" of rifles or ordnance.
Secondly, the attachment to the barrel of a band or bands having a suitable
opening or openings to receive the ramrod, with or without suitable projections
to receive the back sight.
Thirdly, the attachment to the nose cap or to the barrel of small arms of
the front sight; this may be rigid or have a moving slide carrying the sight,
the moving slide being adjustable transversely or curvilinearly by means of a

page_text: screw or rack in the direction of a tangent or in a circumferential or curvilinear
direction to the circumference of the barrel. The upper surface of the moving
slide is made oblique towards the muzzle of the piece, so as not to obstruct the
sighting at high elevations.
Fourthly, fitting apparatus, which serves as a key for screwing and un-
screwing the several screws, nipples, and other parts of small arms, and also
for containing instruments, screws, nipples, and other apparatus for small arms.
It consists of two tubular stems, in which the several required detached parts
may be packed and held therein by stoppers; one of the stems having a square
hole to receive the small instruments, or to apply to the nipple, and one of
them having a suitable opening in its centre part, through which the other
stem is passed and connected, so as to form a key. When required, the stems
are easily disconnected so as to be in a convenient form for carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 22nd February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
WHITWORTH and WILLIAM WILSON HULSE, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, Her special
licence that we, the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph
Whitworth and William Hulse, our executors, administrators, 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 law-
fully 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 SIGHTS FOR SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND
IN FITTING APPARATUS USED WITH SMALL ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse,
our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
-

page_text: 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 we, the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson
Hulse, do hereby declare the nature of our 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 accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the figures and letters marked thereon, the letters
referring to each head separately (that is to say) :-
These improvements relate to,-
First, the adoption of a rack and pinion, or racks and pinions, for elevating
the back sight of small arms, or the tangent sight of ordnance.
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, shew our improvements applied to rifle sights, in
which a is the stock; b, the barrel; c, the bed of the sight; d, the leaf, having
on the surfaces e, e, the two racks f, f', and on the surfaces g, g, are marked
the angles of elevation and range. The racks f, f', are cut out of the metal of
the leaf. The elevating slide h has two projections or bearings k, k, in which
the pinion spindle l, and pinions m, m, which are formed out of one piece of
pinion. wire work. One of these bearings is sufficiently large to allow the
pinions m, m, to be passed through. At one end of the pinion spindle / is the
handle n, and at the other are the two adjusting nuts o, o; this end of the
pinion spindle being screwed to receive them. One only of these racks and
pinions may be used, but we prefer two racks and pinions, because the slide
is. raised more evenly than it could be if the action were on one side, as would
be the case if one rack only were used; or the rack or racks may be cut on
the edges of the leaf, in which case a worm pinion or pinions may be made to
work in them, or the rack or racks may be placed on the back surface of the
leaf; but we prefer the mode herein-before described and shewn in Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4. The steps or elevations. ordinarily used in the bed of the back
sight.are dispensed with for all ranges of one hundred yards and upwards, the
bottom. cross bar. of the leaf being made sufficiently low to allow the sight to
be taken with the leaf in the vertical. position. For shorter ranges the leaf
may be placed in a suitably inclined position.
Figs. 5, 6, and 7 shew our improvements applicable to the tangent sights
of ordnance. a is a band fastened to the barrel of the cannon by the screw b;
and has a projection and hole c on one side to receive the tangent stem d.
The stem d is polygonal in cross section, and on one of its sides is cast or fixed
the rack e, in which the pinion f works.
A screw g
is provided for fastening

page_text: the tangent sight at any elevation it may be placed at. It may be desirable
to use also a stem with rack and pinion on the opposite side of the gun, in
which case the two pinions might be connected together, so as to raise the two
stems simultaneously, and the sliding or fixed sight might be placed midway
between the two stems. In raising or lowering the sight h, the set screw g is
released, and the micrometer wheel which is keyed upon the axis of the
pinion is turned by hand.
The micrometer wheel may be divided, so as to give a more minute adjust-
ment of elevation than can be done when the stem d alone is divided. For
this purpose it is convenient to make the pinion of such a diameter, that.
one turn of the micrometer wheel k will be equal to one degree or an aliquot
portion of one degree of elevation. In some cases instead of using the band a
the stem with rack and pinion may be passed through the body of the gun.
Secondly, Figs. 10 and 11 represent our improved mode of attaching the
front sight to the nose cap; the band holding the sight is shewn at a, it
encircles the muzzle of the piece, and also takes on to the nose cap, which is
recessed or turned down to receive it, the upper edges 6 of the nose cap
forming a shoulder to prevent the sight from lateral alteration. The upper
surface c of the band is formed as a slide to receive the moving slide d, which
is traversed transversely by a screw and nut or by a rack and pinion. The
upper surface of the moving slide d is bevilled as shewn.
may have a rigid instead of the moveable sight shewn.
attached to the barrel and not to the nose cap, as would
arms that are only half stocked.
If desired, the band
The band a may be
be desirable in small
Figs. 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, represent our improved front sights, and
another mode of attaching them to the barrel. In Figs. 12 and 13, the
moving slide a carrying the sight works in a straight line across and at right
angles with the axis of the barrel b. In Figures 14, 15, and 16, the fixed
slide c has upper lines or surfaces formed as segments of circles as at f struck
from back sight as a centre, and its horizontal lines and surfaces are also curved
as at . The two curved or circular segments being provided so that the
moving slide e of the front sight in being adjusted for allowance of wind or
other influence, may be retained at an uniform or requisite distance from the
back sight, and from the barrel's axis in all the varying positions of adjustment.
The slides in either case being adjusted by means of a screw: or räck: acted
upon by a milled head or handle. The beds g of the moving slides are made
much longer. than at present by the prolongations h, by which the bed is more
firmly soldered to the barrel (by the increase of the soldered surface) than is
possible when the bed is made only of the width of the upper slide, as has

page_text: hitherto been done. The upper surface of the moving slides a is made oblique
or bevilled towards the muzzle of the piece, as shewn at e, Figure 10, so as
not to obstruct the sighting at high elevations.
Thirdly, Figures 17 and 18 represent our improved fitting apparatus. It
consists of two tubular stems a, b, for containing the several small instruments
required for repairing and cleaning the rifle, which instruments are held in the
stems by screwed stoppers c, d, e. The stem 6 has at the bottom the ordinary
square hole f to receive the squared heads of the small instruments, or to apply
to the nipple, and the stem a has a hole g in the centre through which the
stem 6 is passed so as to form a key. The hole g is slightly conical or of
any other required form. When conical or cylindrical it has a key or feather h
fixed at the side. The top part of the stem 6 being made to fit the hole
formed in the middle of the tubular stem a, so that the two stems may be held
firmly together when required to act as a key, and may be easily disconnected
by a sharp stroke, so as to be separated, and thus be in a convenient form for
carriage. There is a plain hole through the jag h, and a screwed hole through
the stopper e, for the purpose of receiving the pricker i, and the other stoppers
may be formed in a similar manner if desired.
Having now described the nature and particulars of our said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, we desire it to be understood
that we claim the combinations of parts respectively forming a back sight and
fore sight for small arms, and tangent sight for ordnance; also the combina-
tion of parts forming the fitting apparatus, as described and shewn in the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Whitworth, for and on behalf of
myself and the said William Wilson Hulse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of February, Eighteen hundred
and sixty-two.
30 Witness,
E. T. HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
London.
JOSEPH WHITWORTH. (L.S.)