Improvements in Sights for Guns and Small Arms.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 15th July, 1895-Accepted, 9th Nov.,
1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sights for Guns and Small Arms.
I, HENRY SAMUEL SPILLER WATKIN of The Wilderness, Woolwich in the
County of Kent, Colonel in the Army do hereby declare the nature of this
nvention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The invention relates to a simple apparatus of which the following are the main
features viz.
(A.) The application of a revolving drum similar to that of my clinometer
employed in Her Majesty's Service to a sight, whereby the scale of elevation
given to the tangent bar of a sight is opened out, so as to be easily read.
(B.) The application of this to the tangent bar of peculiar section which
combines strength and rigidity with lightness.
(C.) A peculiar arrangement of V sight which admits of rapid laying, with great
accuracy as regard elevation.
In order that the above may be clearly and accurately understood, I now proceed
to describe the same with the aid of the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1. gives a general view of the apparatus a portion being shown in elevation,
and a portion in section.
Fig. 2. is a plan of the apparatus without the top portion OXY. shown in
Fig. 1. A section of the tangent bar is also shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 is a side view showing the rack cut on the tangent bar, and the teeth cut
on the rod T. U. S Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 shows the appearance of the V sight when laying the gun.
The body of the sight consists of a metal casting JEF HG. QR. with a slot
to receive the tangent bar O P. and a cylindrical hole to receive the pinion T U
cut on the rod T U S.
The portion QR is cylindrical and fits the socket in the gun.
The portion E F G H has a screw
6 threads to the inch is a convenient pitch).
cut on it, with a coarse pitch (about
A cylindrical brass piece A B C D' is cut with a female screw to work on the
screw E F G. H. Three or more portions of this screw are cut out (K. K,)
constant pressure on the
and fitted with German silver springs; to keep a
screw E. F. G H, exactly in the same manner as in my clinometer. A steel
rod T U S is firmly let into the plate B D, and fixed to A B C D¹ by screws.
A portion T U of this rod is cut with teeth, to engage in the rack cut on
the tangent bar OP (see Figs. 1 & 3.). A brass drum (see Figs. 1 & 2)
surrounds A B C D', on which is engraved a scale of yards or degrees. A
plate W (see Figs. 2 & 3, with index serves to indicate the true readings on the
drum.
The action of the apparatus is as follows.
When the drum A B C D is revolved, it turns the pinion T U, and thereby
raises or lowers the tangent bar, at the same time the drum moves to the left or
This allows of a spiral scale being
right, owing to the action of the screw.
engraved on the drum, which is seen opposite to the index line on the plate W.
The length of the scale on the drum depends on the size and number of the teeth
on the pinion T, and the diameter of the drum A B C D¹.
(B.) The tangent bar is made of tool or other suitable steel, triangular in section,
the depth in order to resist shock of recoil being the greatest possible the socket in

page_text: the gun will admit of, and grooved out on its three sides (see O Fig. 2) in order to
reduce its weight without materially reducing its strength. The head X Y. is of
the ordinary Service pattern, but reduced as much as possible in weight, and with
only one milled head Y for traversing to give deflection.
(C.) The new form of V sight (X. Fig. 1) is an important feature in the invention.
The sight instead of being of the usual vertical V form, is of the form shown
at X Fig. 1. that is of two horizontal V openings having a solid centre. The
appearance of this form of sight when laying the gun, (the fore sight being a
horizontal blade) is shown in Fig. 4. The two V's being seen apparently cut
'through, and the bar of the foresight seen between them. Now it might be thought
that the apparently wide gap would allow of inaccurate laying, but it is found
that as long as the bar is seen in the opening the gun is truly laid. The gap seen
is an optical illusion presumably due to the size of the pupil of the eye.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
(1.) The application of the revolving and sliding drum with spiral scale to indicate
the height either in degrees or yards to which the tangent bar is raised in the
manner and for the purpose indicated in the Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
(2.) The method of decreasing the weight of the tangent bar at the same time
keeping the required strength and rigidity as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.
(3.) The application of a double horizontal V. sight in lieu of the ordinary
vertical V. sight, or peep hole sight, as herein described to be applied to the
ordinary or improved tangent sight herein described.
(4.) The application of the double horizontal V. sight to small arms.
Dated this 13th day of July 1895.
H. S. S. WATKIN, Col.