IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PROBING FOR BALLS OR PROJECTILES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Sylvan de Wilde, of Alexandra Terrace, Hatcham
Park Road, in the County of Kent, C.E., for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PROBING FOR BALLS OR PROJECTILES."
Sealed the 5th July 1867, and dated the 14th January 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Sylvan de Wilde at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th January 1867.
J, SYLVAN DE WILDE, of Alexandra Terrace, Hatcham Park Road, in the
County of Kent, C.E, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PROBING FOR BALLS OR PRO-
JECTILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
probing for balls or projectiles. In constructing and combining apparatus
according to this Invention a probe is formed of non-conducting material, and
suitable for entering wounds. Within this probe are two wires or metal con-
ductors insulated from each other and capable of sliding within the probe
which acts as a sheath to cover the two wires or metal conductors. The other
ends of the two wires are attached to two binding screws on a stool, table,
board, or other suitable structure, on which is fixed an electro-magnet, the
armature of which is in connection with the striker or hammer of a bell, so
as thereby to give notice when an electric circuit is completed. A galvanic
battery is connected to such table, stool, board, or other structure, and a wire

page_text: in connection with one of the poles of the battery passes round and forms the
coil of the electro-magnet, and is connected to one of the wires in the probe
or instrument before mentioned whilst another wire from the other pole of
the battery is connected with the other wire in the probe. In using this
instrument or apparatus the probe is introduced into a wound till it meets
with an obstruction, when the two wires are protruded through the end of the
probe, and if the obstruction be a ball or projectile of metal an electric
circuit will be completed, and the bell will be sounded by the electro-magnet
acting on the striker or hammer of the bell.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Sylvan de Wilde in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SYLVAN
DE WILDE, of Alexandra Terrace, Hatcham Park Road, in the County of
Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of
Her reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Sylvan de Wilde, Her special licence that I, the said Sylvan
de Wilde, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Sylvan de Wilde, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN PROBING FOR BALLS OR PROJECTILES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Sylvan de Wilde,
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 Sylvan de Wilde, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:—
The said Invention relates to a peculiar construction of apparatus for
discovering, indicating, and extracting bullets or pieces of metal or bodies
conductors of electricity hidden or embedded in wounds or in bodies com-
paratively non-conductors.
The apparatus consists of four parts, viz., the battery, the alarum, the
probe, and the forceps, with their accessories, all contained, it may be, in a box
measuring 11 inches x 3 inches x 2½ inches.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing shows in plan the opened box and
method of stowage; and Figure 2 is a vertical section through the closed box.
The battery is a vulcanite cell having a lid which screws down so as to be
water-tight, it is shewn at B, B, Figures 1 and 2. A piece of carbon c and of
zinc drop into slots at the interior ends of the cell, and there come into
contact with platinum springs, which are securely rivetted to conductors
connecting them with strips of brass terminating in springs at a¹, a', where
contact is made with the conductors of the alarum. This consists of brass
strips t, t, mounted for the most part on an insulating bed of vulcanite, shewa
in Figure 2 as a thick black line. One strip conducts to an electro-magnet M,
and thence another passes to the terminal T, a third proceeds simply direct
from contact with the spring a to the terminal T. The electro-magnet is
furnished with an armature to which is attached a hammer which strikes
upon the bell 6 and is brought back by the spring o. A sheet of glass
preserves this alarum part of the apparatus from dust and injury; S is a
box made of vulcanite having a screwed stopper at its corner, and having
capacity for 50 charges of the battery cell B, equal to about 3 years continuous
service. Two spare zines and two spare carbons are shewn in a receptacle
at c', c', z¹, z¹.
The probe consists of two tempered steel wires, a portion of whose length
is passed through and firmly fixed in an ivory handle, and terminating in points
in one direction, and in bell-shaped terminals of german silver in the other
direction. These wires are insulated from each other by a strip of ivory or
vulcanite lying between them.
Figure 3 is a cross section through the ivory handle h, the wires i, i, and
insulating strip k between them.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of the entire probe; the handle has rings
turned upon it to afford a firm hold; between the points and the handle the
wires have a slender vulcanite tube q passed over them, shewn in longitudinal
section in Figure 4, and in cross section at Figure 5, which also chews the

page_text: dividing slip and steel wires. The vulcanite tube is screwed into a short
length of german silver tube s upon which is mounted the shield s¹.
Figure 6 is a cross section taken at the line 1, 1, Figure 4. The tubes
thus screwed together are free to slide to and fro about a quarter of an inch
upon the wires and ivory handle, being pushed forward when desired by pressure
of the finger upon the shield and thrown back by the spiral spring s", which.
obtains purchase upon two screws inserted into the handle through slots in the
german silver tube.
The forceps consist of two tempered steel limbs of the shape shown in
Figure 7, semi-elliptical in cross section and turning on a pivot at p; one of
the limbs has rivetted upon it a slip of ivory extending from 1 to ; this
combined with the ivory bushing of the pivot, shewn in cross section by the
thick black lines in Figure 8, and the small piece of ivory at m com-
pletely insulates one limb from the other in all positions; at n, n, are bell-
shaped tubes screwed into the bows, and into which are soldered very pliable
plaited wires covered with silk about 2 feet long, which are coupled and soldered
in the manner shewn in Figures 4 and 7, at X and to similar wires soldered
into the before-mentioned terminals of the probe.
.
-
Method of using.--The battery cell is lifted out and the lid taken off,
about a salt-spoonful of sulphate of mercury is taken from the box S and put
into the cell, which is then filled with water; the lid is now screwed down,
the cell wiped round and replaced with its springs in contact at a and a'.
The coupled ends of the wires X and are now to be attached to the
terminals T, T, or vice versa. (The relative position of the zinc and carbon.
in the cell and the conductors attached to these terminals is of no moment.)
It will be perceived that in either instrument a conductor between its
points will complete the circuit, therefore a billet or piece of metal being
touched with the probe or seized with the forceps will cause the bell to ring
by the electro-magnet attracting its armature. The probe being handled in
the manner of a pen the shield s¹ is pushed forward by the second finger,
which has the effect of covering the points of the wires with the vulcanite
canula or tube. The instrument is now inserted into the wound until the
supposed bullet is felt; the tube is then allowed to retreat by the withdrawal
of the second finger; the substance is now explored, and if metallic the bell
will ring. The advantage of the keen points of the wires i, i, is their ability
to obtain contact through pus or fibre which may overlie the bullet. The
lodgment being ascertained the forceps are brought in requisition, and these
equally give a ring upon the bell when the bullet is seized, the hammer falling
back when contact is lost. The curved points obtain good contact, seize

page_text: the bullet in any position, allow it to revolve to that of least resistance, and
enable the operator to niggle it out where it resists the direct pull, the
scissor form allowing hold to be taken and loosed with the utmost readiness.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
arrangement of apparatus used when probing for balls or projectiles as above
set forth, and the arrangement of the probe, consisting of two insulating conduct-
ing blades fixed in a bandle and inclosed in a non-conducting tube which protect
their points whilst they are introduced into the wound and can then be drawn
back as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Sylvan de Wilde, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight bundred and sixty-seven.
S. DE WILDE. (L.S.)