A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF INDICATING THE SHOT MARK OL A TARGET AT BALL PRACTICE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Robert Wethered, at present stationed in
Belfast, in the County of Antrim, in Ireland, Major in the Army and
Paymaster of Her Majesty's Tenth Depot Battalion, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF INDICATING THE SHOT MARK OL
A TARGET AT BALL PRACTICE."
Sealed the 14th September 1866, and dated the 17th March 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Robert Wethered
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th March 1866.
I, EDWIN ROBERT WETHERED, at present stationed in Belfast, in the
County of Antrim, in Ireland, Major in the Army and Paymaster of Her
Majesty's Tenth Depot Battalion, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF INDICATING THE SHOT MARK
ON A TARGET AT BALL PRACTICE," to be as follows:-
I use uprights or arms of metal or other suitable material, which may be
connected with or separate from the target, and a disc of metal or other
suitable material suspended by ropes, cords, or wires from and supported and
guided by said uprights or arms, for which purpose I may also employ pulleys,
blocks, sheaves, or other mechanical contrivances, or may dispense with

page_text: said uprights or arms and suspend the disc by similar contrivances from the
top or sides of the target itself. The uprights or arms may be moveable so
that their position may be changed for convenience or protection. The
marker having the disengaged ends of the ropes, cords, or wires in his hands
drops or moves the disc so as to cover the point on the target struck by each
ball, and then withdraws the disc for the succeeding shot.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edwin Robert Wethered in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWIN
ROBERT WETHERED, Major in the Army, lately of Belfast, in the County of
Antrim, in Ireland, but now of Shorncliffe, in the County of Kent, in England,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, Her special licence that I, the said
Edwin Robert Wethered, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, my 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 lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED METHOD OF INDICATING THE SHOT
MARK ON A TARGET AT BALL PRACTICE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, 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 Edwin Robert Wethered, do bereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, that is to say:-

page_text: The said Invention consists in the method of pointing out or indicating
from a distance any required spot on a target without requiring the marker to
expose himself to danger by approaching the target. The indication is
afforded by a colored disc of a metallic, wooden, or other suitable material,
and of any form, which is suspended and guided by means of ropes, cords or
wires carried on or over uprights or arms either separate from, attached to,
or fixed upon the target, so as to be raised or lowered as required, and thus
moved over the face of the target until it covers or indicates the point struck
by the ball.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, the
same letters of reference indicating the same or corresponding parts through-
out all the Figures.
Figure I. is the rere elevation of the target showing the disc, uprights, ropes,
and other apparatus for indicating the shot mark; Figure II. is a side elevation
of the same; Figuro III. is an enlarged side view of one of the uprights.
A is the target, which may be enlarged to any extent required, as in ordinary
rifle practice; B is the disc; C, C, are the uprights, each of which is inclined
in an opposite direction making an angle with the plane of the target;
D, D, are sockets fastened to the target, and through which the end of the
upright is passed; E, E, are anchor pegs for securing the ropes in the
required position; F, F, are sheaves or pulleys attached to or fixed in or
upon the uprights and anchor pegs, and over or round which the ropes pass;
and I, II, are the ropes extending from the disc B, to opposite sides of which
they are attached, over or round the sheaves or pulleys to the butt of the
marker. The upright or arm is made of iron or other suitable material, and
is composed of two parts, which may for convenienco be termed the shaft, or
that part which passes into or through the sockets on the target, and the blade.
or that part which is raised above the top of the target. The shaft fits
closely into the sockets, and is sufficiently described by the Drawing. The
blade is bevelled towards the front, so that a ball striking it will glance off
without injuring it. At the back of the blade is a longitudinal groove in
which the rope moves so as to be protected from injury by the balls. The
blade of the upright forms a large obtuse angle with the shaft, such angle
being formed with the front or back of the blade according as the upright is
required to incline to the front or rere of the target. The back of the blado
near the top is furnished with a sheave or pulley set into a slot, over which
the rope passes.
A similar sheave or pulley is placed at the back of the blade

page_text: at the base to guide the rope. The rope which passes over the sheaves or
pulleys at the back of the blade that inclines to the front of the target being
tightened, and the other rope being slackened, the disc approaches that blade,
and on the slackening of the tightened rope drops down in front of the target,
and by a manipulation of the ropes in a similar manner the disc is made to move
over and cover the shot mark or other required spot on the target. By
tightening the rope which passes over the sheaves or pulleys at the back of
the blade that inclines to the rere of the target, and working the ropes as
above described, the disc may be dropped down behind the target. The
uprights or arms instead of being fixed in sockets as above described may be
placed in guides or attached or secured to the target by hinges or pins and
sockets, so that by the aid of springs, weights, or counterpoises and pulleys, and
of ropes, cords, or wires, they may be lowered or let fall with the disc and
ropes before described behind the target so as to escape injury from the balls,
and may be raised again and held in an upright position while the disc is
lowered over the face of the target as before described, the lowering and
raising of the uprights or arms being effected in a similar manner to the
lowering and raising of the disc.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed or constructed, I hereby declare that I do not claim
as of my Invention or the exclusive use of the several parts of the apparatus
herein-before described and referred to, except when the same are used in
and for the purpose of my said improvements, which I hereby declare to
consist in so suspending a disc of any form that it may be moved over or upon
the face of a target to any required point, for the purpose of indicating the
shot mark at ball practice, by means of ropes, cords, or wires, operated upon
at a distance from the target.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Robert Wethered, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
EDWIN ROBERT WETHERED. (L.S.)