Improvements in or relating to Sights for Guns.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 26th Mar., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 11th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 14th Mar., 1896
Improvements in or relating to Sights for Guns.
A communication from CARL JOHANN FRIEDERICH KEESE, of 144 Langestrasse,
Eldagsen, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Mining Forester, and FRIEDERICH
WILHELM MEINE, of 16 Sedanstrasse, Hannover, in the Empire of Germany,
Merchant.
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows;-
This invention relates to sights for guns. With all the sighting appliances
hitherto known there has been a defect which has been manifest to all sportsmen,
and which has always been accepted as irremediable, this defect being that the field
of sight is limited by the parts of the sighting-gauge or back-sight right and left of
the notch therein, which project on or obscure parts of the sighting-plane. The
surfaces actually covered in the field of sight are to be found by drawing divergent
straight lines from the centre of the shooter's eye through the points on the back-
sight and notch which are intersected by the sighting plane and include that part
of the back-sight which lies above the sighting plane.
When the shot is fired with a fine-sight, the top of the fore or muzzle-sight lies
quite in the narrow bottom or angle of the notch of the back-sight so that the
surface of the field of view covered from the eye is still further reduced. The
sighting with the fine-sight may easily become unreliable, and can never at first
sight be properly attained because the sharp summit of the fore-sight has first to be
sought and brought to the proper position.
Hence my correspondents have provided the top of the fore-sight with a circular
or cylindrical strip of small diameter, at its upper edge, and also rounded off the
bottom or angle of the notch in the back-sight; they sometimes substitute, in place
of the long strip with such circular or rounded summit, a pyramid-sight with
spherical top and that with the utmost advantage, inasmuch as it can be located in
the notch of the back-sight with the greatest readiness.
Also in this case, the portion of the back-sight projecting above the sight-plane
shuts out a part of the field of view. When shooting at a target, this defect is less
perceptible, as one has time to find a suitable adjustment or variation and take a
better aim; but when shooting at a hunting-target and wild-game particularly if
they leap, on the other hand, the notched sight is frequently a hindrance to accurate
aim. Very frequently a shooter fires a chance shot when there is no time for him
to take aim at a wild-deer crossing a glade or ride.
On that account, in order to restore a free outlook, my correspondents have made
a slit going transversely through the notch, and reducing the dimensions of the
notch so that the field of sight to left and right of the spherical top of the fore-sight
is free.
The notch, which is intended to accurately fix the centre-line, is replaced on the
back-sight by a white or light-coloured equilateral triangle, which is inserted in
the back sight with the apex uppermost. With this arrangement it is extremely
easy to fix the spherical top of the muzzle-sight on the apex of the triangle; and
In this manner, simultaneously with a quicker aim my correspondents furnish an
unlimited field of view.

page_text: In order to divert from the eye the light-reflection my correspondents give to
the face of the breech-sight a strongly inclined slope and, in order to use the
same sight for different range-distances, they may provide the fore-sight with two
or three spherical tips, one above the other; these can be made to be struck in, or
screwed in, and are easily renewable.
It has further also been found advantageous not to carry the apex of the
white or transparent triangle quite to the upper edge of the back-sight, but to
stop a little below that, so as to leave a small strip free, whereby the triangle (of
the back sight) and the spherical tip (of the foresight) may be clearly distinguishable
as separate, when taking aim.
With this new sighting or aiming arrangement the shooter is enabled to take sure
aim, not only in twilight, but also in the dusk, and, needless to say, also in
moonlight, i.e. when a polished fore-sight of silver or platinum is used. The
rear-sight triangle is made of ivory or similar white material, and glued, soldered,
or let in to the back-sight of ebony or metal.
In the sighting or aiming device described my correspondents may employ the
arrangement of a dark triangle upon a light-coloured ground in substitution for the
light-coloured triangle upon a dark ground, or the substitution, in place of
the breech-sight triangle, of any other regular geometrical figure, having a point
at its apex directed to the centre of the upper edge of the breech-sight.
Dated this 26th day of March 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.
A communication from CARL JOHANN FRIEDERICH KEESE, of 144 Langestrasse,
Eldagsen, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Mining Forester, and FRIEDERICH
WILHELM MEINE, of 16 Sedanstrasse, Hanover, in the Empire of Germany,
Merchant.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, 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 to sights for guns. With all the sighting appliances
hitherto known there has been a defect which has been manifest to all sportsmen,
and which has always been accepted as irremediable.
In the accompanying drawings
Figs. 1 to 4 show in diagram form the old sighting apparatus. Fig. 1 shows the
well-known sight a in the notch of which is shown the full fore or muzzle-sight b.
In this situation, the sight-taking can be effected within a short fixed distance.
As the distance increases between the shooter and the mark, the sighting must
be effected with half the fore-sight in view in the notch, i.e. the fore-sight
assumes the position shown in b¹. The sighting-plane is here shown by the dotted
line n.
Now the defect is that the field of sight is limited by the parts of the
sighting gauge er back-sight right and left of the notch therein, which project on
or obscure parts of the sighting-plane, the height of which is given by the vertical
dotted line m n (Fig. 1), and its breadth is determined by the breadth of the
sighting notch itself. The surfaces actually covered in the field of sight are to be
found by drawing divergent straight lines m¹ m² from the centre of the shooter's
eye (A in Fig. 2) through the points on the back-sight and notch which are
intersected by the sighting plane and include that part of the back-sight which lies
above the sighting plane.
When the shot is fired with a fine-sight, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the top of

page_text: the fore or muzzle-sight blies quite in the narrow bottom or angle of the notch of
the back-sight a, Fig. 3 so that the surface of the field of view covered from the eye
is still further reduced, as will be evident from a comparison of the increased height
of the dotted line m n¹ Fig. 3 with that of mn in Fig. 1. The sighting with the
fine-sight may easily become unreliable, and can never at first sight be properly
attained, because the sharp summit of the fore-sight has first to be sought and
brought to the proper position.
Hence my correspondents have provided the top of the fore-sight with a
circular or cylindrical strip of such diameter at its upper edge, and also rounded
off the bottom or angle of the notch in the back-sight a. They sometimes.
substitute in place of the long strip with such circular or rounded summit b' a
pyramid-sight with spherical top, 62 Fig. 6 and that with the utmost advantage,
inasmuch as it can be located in the notch of the back-sight with the greatest
readiness.
Also in this case, the portion of the back-sight projecting above the sight-plane,
the height of which is determined by the line m n³, Fig. 5, shuts out a part of the
field of view. When shooting at a target, this defect is less perceptible, as one
has time to find a suitable adjustment or variation and take a better aim; but
when shooting at a hunting-target and wild-game particularly if they leap, on
the other hand the notched sight is frequently a hindrance to accurate aim.
Very frequently a shooter fires a chance shot when there is no time for him to take.
aim at a wild-deer crossing a glade or ride.
On that account, in order to restore a free outlook, my correspondents have
removed a portion of the back-sight on the line n³ n³, Fig. 5 going transversely
through the notch, and reducing the dimensions of the notch so that the field of
sight to left and right of the spherical top of the fore-sight 62 is free.
The notch, which is intended to accurately fix the centre-line, is replaced on the
back-sight by a white or light coloured equilateral triangle d, Fig. 7, which is
inserted in the back-sight c with the apex uppermost. With this arrangement it is
extremely easy to fix the spherical top of the muzzle-sight on the apex of the
triangle d; and in this manner, simultaneously with a quicker aim, my correspondents
furnish an unlimited field of view.
In order to divert from the eye the light-reflection ny correspondents give to the
face of the breech-sight a strongly inclined slope (Fig. 8) and in order to use the
same sight for different range-distances they provide the fore-sight with two or
three spherical tips, one above the other arranged as shown at 3 in Fig. 8; these
can be made to be stuck in or screwed in, and are easily renewable.
It has further also been found advantageous not to carry the apex of the white
or transparent triangle quite to the top of the upper edge of the back-sight, but to
stop a little below that, so as to leave a small strip free, as shown in Fig. 9, whereby
the triangle (of the back-sight) and the spherical tip (of the foresight), may be
clearly distinguishable as separate when taking aim.
With this new sighting or aiming arrangement the shooter is enabled to take
sure aim, not only in twilight but also in the dusk, and needless to say, also in
moonlight, ie, when a polished foresight of silver or platinum is used. The
rear-sight triangle is made of ivory or similar white material, and glued, soldered,
or let into the back-sight of ebony or metal.
In the sighting or aiming device described my correspondents may employ the
arrangement of a dark triangle upon a light-coloured ground in substitution for the
light-coloured triangle upon a dark-ground, or the substitution in place of
the breech-sight triangle, of any other regular geometrical figure having a point at
its apex directed to the centre of the upper edge of the breech-sight.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents, and in what manner-
the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a sighting device for guns the combination with a notchless back-sight.

page_text: such as e provided with a white or light-coloured triangle with the apex upper-
most of a front sight fitted with a spherical tip such as 62 or 63 substantially
as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In a sighting device for guns such as claimed in Claim 1 the arrangement of
a dark triangle upon a light coloured ground substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. The substitution in place of the triangle on the breech sight of any suitable
geometrical figure having a point directed to the centre of the upper edge of the
back sight substantially as and for the purpose described.
Dated this 11th day of January 1896.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.