A NEW OR IMPROVED KIND OF PERFORATED ELASTIC-PACED CELLULAR TARGET
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Hall, of No. 12, Clarke Street, Stepney,
Middlesex, Clerk, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED KIND OF
PERFORATED ELASTIC-PACED CELLULAR TARGET."
Sealed the 23rd Novembor.1866, and dated the 29th May 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Hall at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th May 1866.
I, JOSEPH HALL, of No. 12, Clarke Street, Stepney, Middlesex, Clerk, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED
KIND OF PERFORATED ELASTIC-FACED CELLULAR TARGET," to be as follows:―
I construct a cellular framework of wood, metal, or other suitable material
upon which I fix a facing of india-rubber or other suitable elastic material,
such facing being perforated, cut, pierced, or otherwise manipulated in such a
manner as to grasp a ball or other missile or object when propelled against
such part or parts of such facing as are in front of or upon any of the cells of
the aforesaid cellular framework, or to allow such ball, missile, or other object
to pass completely through such parts of said facing as are in front of or upon
any of the cells of the said cellular framework and into any of such cells, the
aperture through which such ball, missile, or other object has entered either
of such cells, in that case instantly closing on such ball, missile, or other object.
The said cellular framework and perforated elastic facing may be used in a

page_text: vertical, horizontal, oblique, or other position, and may be fitted with a
moveable or fixed back.
This Invention may also be applied to theatrical and other purposes.
The manner of using the Invention of a new or improved kind of per-
forated elastic-faced cellular target is as follows:-The cells of the cellular
framework are made of such a size as to admit a man or smaller or larger
object. The perforated elastic facing may be painted or otherwise decorated
so as to represent part or all of a scene. An actor propelling himself or any
object or person propelled against such perforations in the perforated elastic
facing as are in front of or upon any of the cells of the cellular framework
would pass completely through the aperture, the perforated elastic facing in
that case decreasing by its resistance the velocity of the actor propelling
himself or person or object propelled would conduce to the safety of said
actor, person, or object. Or the perforated elastic facing may be made of
such a thickness or be otherwise so manipulated or made as to grasp without
hurting such actor so propelling himself or person or object so propelled.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Hall in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th November 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
HALL, of No. 12, Clarke Street, Stepney, Middlesex, Clerk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the Twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and. grant unto me, the
said Joseph Hall, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Hall, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Hall,
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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED KIND OF
PERFORATED ELASTIC-FACED CELLULAR TARGET," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Hall, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
>hould particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,

page_text: 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 Joseph Hall, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be por-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The target made according to my Invention consists of a frame of wood,
metal, or other suitable material having one or more cells of any required
size and shape. Upon the frame is secured an elastic facing with holes or
cuts so placed that each of them shall cover a cell in the frame. A back
may be affixed to the frame by parallel rods so as to extend or diminish the
distance between the frame and the back, and the frame and elastic facing
may be so constructed or painted as to represent any object. I prefer to
use india-rubber as the material of which to make the. facing, and I prefer
to arrange the holes and cuts so that one central hole and four outer circular
boles with slits or cuttings through the central hole to or towards the outer
circular holes will assume the shape of a cross.
My Invention is used in the following manner :-The frame with its elastic
fucing is supported in any desired position, and a ball or other object which
may be hollow and filled or partly filled with sand or other suitable substance
is projected against the target, and then according to the position, size of
the holes and cells, and the size, weight, velocity, and direction of the ball or
other object projected against it the facing yields so as to either partially or
wholly admit the ball or other object to the cells behind. The facing retains
in its grasp the ball or other object if it has only been partially admitted,
but the facing instantly closes upon the ball or other object if it passes
through this group of openings, and it may be either retained in the cell
or allowed to pass completely through the frame and fall out behind or
below.
In using the Invention for theatrical purposes the frame is so constructed
and the facing is so painted or decorated as to represent a scene or part of a
scene horizontally, vertically, or otherwise placed, the cell behind or below
the facing being if necessary large enough to admit an object of any required
size. Thus an actor projecting himself or on being projected against either
the back or front of the facing or striking or forcing himself against it in a
suitable manner would causo the facing to yield when he would be either
partially or wholly admitted, as in the case of the ball or other object.
I claim as my Invention the frame with an elastic facing made to grasp or

page_text: retain a ball or object, or allow it to pass through without destruction as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Hall, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
JOSEPH HALL. (L.B.)