CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY ACCOUTREMENTS
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
JAMES COVERLY GRIFFIN, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Hatter,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth day of June,
One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine, in the thirteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles James Coverly Griffin, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial
license, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Charles James
Coverly Griffin, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles James Coverly Griffin, my exors, adññors, or assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, in all Her Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, and in the
Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, Alderney, Sark, and Man, the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN MILITARY ACCOUTREMENTS," being a communication
from a certain Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is
contained a proviso that I, the said Charles James Coverly Griffin, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles James Coyerly Griffin, hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described
and ascertained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being
had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Whereas the scabbard of a sword, though useful as a means of protecting
the blade when not in use, becomes an encumbrance and hindrance the
moment the sword is drawn for action. Now the object of the said Invention
is so to construct the scabbard, that when the weapon is drawn the scabbard
shall instantly collapse, or be collapsable, into so small a compass as to offer no
impediment to the movements of the wearer, and shall as instantly be expanded
into its original length when it is desired to resheath the sword. And this
object is accomplished in three different ways:-
Firstly, I make the scabbard of a number of pieces, which slide back one
within the other, after the manner of a telescope. Figure 1 is a side elevation
of of a sword sheathed in a scabbard of this description. Figure 2 is a section
of the scabbard pulled out to its full extent. Figure 3, a view of the same in
its collapsed state. Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of Figure 3. Figure 5,
a back view of Figure 3. Figures 6, 7, 8, are respectively cross sections of
Figures 3, 4, and 5. The sheath is represented as made of three parts, E, F, G,
but may be made of that or any greater number of parts, which may be found
most convenient. The two under parts F and G have collars or shoulders by
which they are prevented from falling out of their places, that is to say, F from
falling out of E, and G out of F. To the shank of the second suspending
ring B of the sheath there is attached (outside of the scabbard) a spring clip S,
which is shewn on an enlarged scale in Figures 9 and 10. Within the top of
the third part G there is fixed a spring clip A of the form shewn separately on
an enlarged scale in Figures 11 and 12, and from the guard plate P at the
bottom of G there projects a small catch D. When the blade is in the sheath,
the sword is firmly clipped or nipped by the spring A, and as it is drawn it
first draws along with it the part G within the part F, and next the two parts
F and G within the part E. All the divisions of the scabbard being then
prevented by the top collar K from being drawn further back, the sword is
released from the spring A, and drawn entirely out of the scabbard, while at
the same time the projecting catch D of the bottom guard plate P takes into
the spring clip S, which serves to keep the three pieces together in their

page_text: collapsed state, till, by the thurst of the sword back into the scabbard, the
catch D is released, and the three parts expanded into their original state.
The bottom of the sheath is furnished inside with a cushion of buff leather or
other suitable elastic material.
Secondly, the scabbard is made in three parts as before, and at the top of
the lowest part there is fixed inside, but projecting out of it, a spring catch
of the form represented in Figure 13. When the blade is thrust into the
scabbard to its full extent there is a notch in the back of it into which the
side of the catch A slips, so that on the blade being withdrawn it draws along
with it the lowest part of the scabbard within the second, and on the lowest
part to the top of the second the side B takes into a notch on the inside of the
uppermost part of the sheath, which holds the whole of the three parts together
till they are released by return of the sword to its place from the hold of the
spring catch.
And thirdly, it is proposed to make the scabbard collapse by the agency of
magnetic attraction. The sheath is divided in this case into two parts, which
shut up into one another, that is, the lower into the upper. The top of the
lower part is made of soft iron, and the bottom of the upper part of magnetised
steel, while the blade itself is strongly magnetised in the middle. When the
blade is drawn out of the scabbard it will drag with it the lower part by virtue
of the powerful and instantanous affinity of soft iron for the magnet. The
shoulder of the upper part will then stop the progress of the lower part, and,
being itself magnetised, the soft iron will be attracted to it, and the blade come
out of the scabbard freely, while the scabbard will be reduced to half its length.
Again, in order to facilitate the replacing of the blade, the bottom of the
scabbard is furnished with a piece of buffalo skin, which the point presses, and
by this pressure, combined with the effect of the magnetic influence, the lower
part will disengage itself, and the sheath resume the required length.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim under the
said Letters Patent is, the making of the scabbards of swords and other like
weapons in several parts taking into one another, as before exemplified and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles James Coverly Griffin, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.
C. J. C. (L.S.) GRIFFIN.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of December,
in the year of our Lord 1849, the aforesaid Charles James Coverly Griffin
came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twentieth day of December, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-nine.