IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO STICKS AND STAVES USED BY PEDESTRIANS AND OTHER TRAVELLERS.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Luce Hosking, of Ventnor, in the
Isle of Wight, Watchmaker and Optician, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO STICKS AND STAVES USED BY PEDESTRIANS
AND OTHER TRAVELLERS.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Luce Hosking
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th April 1875.
I, WILLIAM LUCE HOSKING, of Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, Watch
Maker and Optician, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO STICKS AND STAVES USED BY PEDESTRIANS AND
OTHER TRAVELLERS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to provide tourists and travellers
generally with a means of sighting distant objects without the incum-
branco of a telescope. To this end I fit an object glass in a ring frame,
which is provided at its under side with a loop of such diameter as will
allow of its sliding readily upon a walking stick or cane, or a staff, or

page_text: it may be the stem of a riding whip, and into this loop I fit a binding
screw, which when tightened up will secure the object glass in any
desired position upon the stick, stem, or staff. At or near the handle
of the stick, or at any convenient part of the staff, I hinge an eye
piece, which may conveniently form the cover of a compass box, which
I propose to sink into the stick. This eye piece I fit with a concave
glass, and by means of a groove in the stick, or by equivalent means,
I ensure the object glass when adjusted taking a position opposite to the
eye piece. I am thus enabled to obtain at a small cost an instrument
which will serve the purposes of a field glass or telescope, while at the
same time I provide a compass for the traveller's guidance.
A leather pouch may be attached to the stick near the handle for
containing the object glass when it is not required for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Luce Hosking in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th October 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
LUCE HOSKING, of Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, Watchmaker and
Optician, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Hersclf, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Luce Hosking, Her
special license that I, the said William Luce Hosking, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Luce
Hosking, 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 " Iж-
PROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO STICKS AND STAVES USED BY PEDESTRIANS AND OTHER
TRAVELLERS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Luce Hosking, my executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 William Luce Hosking, do hereby
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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say):
The chief object of this Invention is to provide tourists and travellers
generally with a means of sighting distant objects without the incum-
brance of a telescope. To this end I fit an object glass in a ring frame
which is provided at its under side with a ring or spring clip of such
diameter as will allow of its sliding readily upon a walking stick or cane,
or a staff, or it may be the stem of a riding whip, and into this ring I
fit a binding screw, which when tightened up will secure the object glass
in any desired position upon the stick, stem, or staff. At or near the
handle of the stick, or at any convenient part of the staff I adapt an
eye piece, which may conveniently form the cover of a compass box, to
which it is hinged, and which latter I propose to sink into the stick.
To this eye piece, which must be raised into a vertical position when in
use, I fit a concave glass or other suitable lens. By means of a groove
in the stick, or by equivalent means, I ensure the object glass when
adjusted taking a position in a line with the eye piece. I am thus enabled
to obtain at a small cost an instrument which will serve the purposes of
a field glass or telescope, while at the same time I provide a compass for
the traveller's guidance.
A leather pouch may be attached to the stick near the handle for
containing the object glass when it is not required for use.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn my Invention as applied
to two kinds of walking sticks.
In Fig. 1 the Invention is shewn as applied to a stick having a hooked
handle and in Fio. 2 it is shewn as applied to the knob of a light cane.

page_text: the ring a, and is secured by a binding screw b, as shewn on an enlarged
scale in Figures 3 and 4; Fig. 3 being a front elevation; and Fig. 4
a side elevation of the object glass A with its appendages; B is the eye
piece, shewn in Fig. 1 as raised into the proper position for use; and
this eye piece when closed down, as shewn at Figures 5 and 6, forms
the cover of the compass box c, which is sunk in a recess made in the
handle or knob of the stick or cane.
The eye piece with compass box c is shewn on an enlarged scalc in
Figures 2, 5, 6, and 7, in which Figures 2 and 5 shew the parts in
section; Fig. 6 is a front view of the stick with the eye piece shut
down; and Fig. 7 is a similar view with the eye piece raised and shewing
the compass in the recess.
The eye piece B is fitted with a concave glass & and is hinged to the
compass box c (see Fig. 2) and it may be made round, oval, or shield
shaped, or of any other form that will give an ornamental appearance to
the stick.
When applying my Invention to the knob of a stick I insert the
compass box with its adjuncts in a recess in the top of the knob, as shown
in Fig. 2, in which case the hinge of the cyc piece is made to double
back, as indicated by dotted lines, so as to bring it into the proper
position to look through when the cane is placed horizontally, but in all
other cases I prefer to insert the compass box and eyc piece in the side
or front of the handle or knob of the stick; Fig. 8 shows a front view
of a leather or other pouch for containing the object glass when it is not
required for usc. This pouch may be carried in the pocket, or may be
attached to the eye bolt e by means of the hook f, as shewn in Fig. 9.
"
It is sometimes desirable in telescopes and field glasses to use a shade
to protect the object glass from the glare of the sun. I therefore attach
to the top of the frame of the object glass A by hinges, or in any other
suitable manner, a shade C, as shewn in dotted lines at Figures 3 and 4.
This shade, which may be made in two parts, of leather or other
suitable material when closed down over the object glass A. (see Figures
10 and 11) will form a cover for each side of the glass, and will answer
the purpose of the leather pouch before described, which may therefore
be dispensed with.
In some cases instead of the ring a and binding screw b, shown at
Figures 3 and 4. I use a spring clin a as at Figures 10. 11. and 12. for

page_text: holding the object glass in position, or the two ends of the spring clip
may be prolonged, so that the clip may if desired be tightened up by
a thumb screw provided for the purpose, as shewn at Fig. 13. This
latter form I prefer to use with umbrellas.
The ring frame of the object glass A may be made of silver, gold, or
other metal, horn, tortoiseshell, ivory, vulcanite, or of any other suitable
material, and if of metal may be electro-plated or gilt.
The oye picce may also be made of any of those materials, but I prefer
to use metal, which may be plated or gilt as desired.
If desired the eye piece may be provided with a clip to fit on the head
of the stick, or the eye piece and frame of the object glass may be pro-
vided with pins, as at Figuro 14, to fit into sockets inscrted in the head
and body of the stick.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
Applicable to Sticks and Staves used by Pedestrians and other
Travellers," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim, the adaptation to walking sticks, canes, alpen-
stocks, umbrellas, riding whips, hunting crops, or staves, of an cyc picce
and object glass, as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Luce Hosking, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.