Improvements in Apparatus for Scaring Purposes, chiefly for Frightening Birds and Animals.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1892
Complete Specification Left, 30th Aug., 1892-Accepted, 8th Oct., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Scaring Purposes, chiefly for
Frightening Birds and Animals.
I, JOHN HALL of Church Street, Wigton, in the County of Cumberland,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an apparatus designed chiefly for scaring away birds
and animals. The details of the invention may be modified, but the general con-
struction will be understood from the following description. The whole apparatus
may be enclosed in any suitable case or equivalent and comprises the following
main features. The gun which may be a series of short barrels adapted to contain
the powder either in the form of a cartridge or otherwise, each tube provided with
a touch hole or means by which the cap, if such be employed, may be exploded.
One way of arranging this is to use the barrels as muzzle loaders and charge them
with powder and wadding and place a cap in the touch hole say with a portion
projecting, and above each barrel to arrange a tube down which a weight falls
when released, and striking the cap discharges it and explodes that particular
barrel. The weight is normally retained at the upper end of the tube by means of
any suitable catch or detent which when released allows the weight to fall. The
barrels and tubes may be arranged circularly or in a straight or other line, the
wires or connections with the detents preferably radiating from a central point
where they may be kept in position by a spring-controlled cap. By the arrange-
ment above described vertical rods or equivalent depend from the junction of the
detent wires and are carried in a suitable frame preferably provided with holes
through which the depending rods pass. Beneath these rods I place and cover in
or otherwise protect if desired a clock which may be of the common American
pattern and provided with a dial bearing figures to indicate the hours, and carrying
a sufficiently strong hand or pointer which would represent the ordinary hour hand
of a clock. This hand or pointer may operate directly upon the rods or wires but
preferably I employ a free pointer which I can set at any required position after
the manner of the index of an alarm clock. The hand itself or the free hand may
preferably be provided with an inclined face so as to engage with the wires and
easily lift them as it revolves. The lifting of the wire operates the wire con-
trolling the detent, releases the weight and discharges the gun to which that wire
or mechanism appertains. The frame bearing the holes is preferably so arranged
that there are more holes than wires and may be say four holes to each hour so
that by placing the wires in the required holes the time of discharge of the guns
may be regulated. Thus if two wires be placed in two consecutive holes the two
discharges would take place at an interval of a quarter of an hour, or if one hole be
missed the interval would be half an hour. This arrangement may be very
considerably modified however.
Spring hammers may be employed instead of the tubes and weights in which case
the connecting mechanism would be correspondingly altered, or instead of such a
mechanism as has been described the necessary explosion may be occasioned by the
closing of an electric circuit by which arrangement a single clock fixed at a distance
from any of the apparatus may be employed to control several different machines
and with this arrangement the clock may be conveniently placed in the house of the
armer or person using the apparatus so that he can at a moment's notice alter the
time or period of the discharge of any or all of the apparatuses.
Dand this 10th
CM 1909
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Scaring Purposes, chiefly for
Frightening Birds and Animals.
I, JOHN HALL of Church Street, Wigton, in the County of Cumberland,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner
the same
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an apparatus designed chiefly for scaring away birds
and animals, and will be best understood by reference to the accompanying drawings
in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation with the door of the case open.
Figure 2 is a vertical section upon the line 3-3 of Figure 3.
Figure 3 is a plan.
Figure 4 is a section on line 2-2 of Figure 2, and
Figures 5 to 9 are details.
Like letters represent like parts throughout the drawings.
A is any suitable framework or case preferably of wood having a hinged door A¹
which when shut closes in the whole apparatus, and when opened gives general
access thereto. B is a base plate carrying the case B' both preferably of metal
within which case B' is located the clock by which the discharge of the apparatus
is regulated. A' is a curved bar of iron secured to the underside of the casing A
by bolts A which pass through the bar A2 the bottom of the case A and the base B
and are secured by nuts A' inside the case. The pointed rods A screw into the
curved bar A and are adapted to be pressed into the ground so as to hold the
apparatus firmly in place; these rods are preferably some 10 or 12 inches in length
to allow for inequalities in the surface of the ground. Or a cast iron base may be
used in which the rods A' may be secured, and the curved bar A' may then be
dispensed with. D is a block conveniently of cast iron containing or forming any
suitable number (preferably 12) of gun barrels D', each barrel being closed at its
inner end and provided with a touch-hole D'. On the top of each barrel is a hollow
nipple D in which is placed the small anvil D preferably flat and recessed under-
neath to permit the passage down the touch-hole D² of the flash from the cap D'
which is placed on top of the anvil and in the hollow of the nipple D³ as shown in
Figure 2. The anvil is shown in detail in Figure 8. If preferred the barrels may
be arranged to take pin or central fire cartridges; in the latter case the weights
would conveniently fall onto beli-crank strikers which would hit the horizon-
tally at the ends of the barrels The block D is preferably placed upon a sheet of
rubber or other shock-absorbing material E and may be secured by bolts D' having
their upper ends bent over at D' and provided with nuts D by which they can be
tightened and thus hold the block in place. These nuts D³ may be adapted to be
turned by a spanner or may be provided with wings or the like to facilitate their
operation by hand. Rubber may also be placed behind the block to take the shock
of the explosions and instead of the fastening bolts above described other means
may be employed for holding down the block.
caps
Above each touch-hole D is a tube F in the upper end of which is supported a
weight or hammer F' which when the apparatus is set but not discharged remains
in the raised position shown in full lines in Fig. 2, and when the particular harrel
to which the weight appertains is to be discharged is released and falling down the
tube F strikes the cap D taking the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2; there
is thus one tube and one hammer or weight to each gun barrel.
The weight F when it has fallen and occupies the position shown in dotted lines
in Figure 2 can be removed and replaced at the top of the tube F by removing the
block D in the manner already described. A is a projecting cover to protect the
gun barrels from the weather but not extending so low as to interfere with their
discharge or be itself interfered with by the discharge.

page_text: The mechanism for retaining the hammer F¹ at the top of the tube and releasing
it when required may consist of a detent G pivotted at G¹ upon the tube F and
having a nose or projection G2 passing through a slot in the tube so that the weight
resting upon the nose G2 is prevented from falling down the tube. To each
detent G is jointed a wire or rod G³ its remote end being cranked at G into a hook
adapted to engage with holes H' in the plate H. Into the plate H is screwed the
bolt I upon which slides the cap J which is kept pressed upon the wire G³ by the
helical spring 1'. When the bent ends G of the wires G³ are in the holes H' of
the plate H the detents G take the positions shown in full lines in Figure 2 their
noses being underneath the hammers F' and thus preventing their falling. But
when the wire ends G are pushed out of the holes H' raising the cap J the weight
of the hammer F1 acting upon the end G of the detent G turns the detent upon
its pivot G' drawing the wire over the plate H until the detent assumes the position
somewhat as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, the end of the wire G³ being now
clear of the cap J. The spring I¹ need not be a strong one as the function of the
cap J is merely, to prevent the accidental slipping of the wire ends G* out of the
holes H¹.
The upper and preferably headed end of a wire K enters from the lower side
each hole H¹ in the plate H the rising of these wires forcing up the wire ends G*
releasing them from the holes H' and thus allowing the hammers F' to fall. The
wires K are headed to prevent their falling through the plate H the lower end of
each hole H being large enough only to pass the body of the wire and not the head.
The wires K extend from: the plate H to the frame, ring or plate L Figure 5. In
the Figures 5 and 6 L is shown as a ring with lugs L' by which it may be fastened
by screws L2 to the top of the clock case, the ring is preferably provided with an
annular recess L in the bottom of which are the holes L through which the lower
ends of the rods K project as shown in Figure 2. In the illustration given there
are 12 barrels D' and a corresponding number of hammers F1 and consequently
12 rods K but in the ring L there are shown 48 holes, the object of this extra
number of holes being to enable the apparatus to be set so as to discharge at
varying times, (the shortest interval being a quarter of an hour between the shots)
so that if one rod be set to be raised at say 12 o'clock the next one put in the next
hole further on would be discharged at a quarter past twelve, two holes further on
at half past twelve, three holes at a quarter to one, or four at one, and so with all
the wires. If it was desired to miss one or more hours altogether this might be
conveniently effected by not placing the wires K in the holes L which are above
the hours to be missed. Any one of the rods K can be put in any of the 48 holes
in ring L and they can be put into any 12 holes close together so as to fire the guns
every quarter of an hour continuously, or at any intervals regular or irregular
during twelve hours. The annular recess L³ serves to prevent the rods K from
being shaken out of the ring.
The clock C may be of any suitable construction, conveniently one of the common
American or German type of strong construction and provided with a single strong
hour hand C. I also provide another hand (not connected with the works and
which like the index of an alarm clock can be set to any hour required. This
hand C is provided with an inclined face C³ which as it is moved underneath the
projecting ends of the rods K lifts them and thus releases the hammers F¹, the
boles L in the plate L retaining the rods in their proper places and allowing them
to slide up and down. The hand C2 may be dispensed with and the inclined face C
provided upon the hour hand C' but I prefer to employ the hand C' for convenience
of starting the operation of the apparatus as the clock would be always going, or at
all events started when the apparatus was set for operation, but so long as the
hand C did not touch the hand C2 no shots would be fired. In the drawing
Figure 4 the ring or frame L is slightly modified from that shown in Figures 5
and 6, being simply a flat ring with the lugs L' for fastening it by and having two
annular rows of the holes L; the operation however of this plate is exactly the
same as in the former case.

page_text: In-Figure 7 a modification of the means for retaining the hammers F' at the tops
of the tubes is shown. In this figure the weight is held by a rod M_passing
through a hole or tube in the side of the tube F and jointed at its outer end to one
arm of a bell-crank-lever N pivotted at N₁ to some fixed part of the apparatus.
To the other arm of N is jointed the rod K. In Figure 7 the lower end of this
rod is shown reduced to prevent it slipping too far through the hole L* in the
plate L, or it may be provided with a collar for this purpose.
In Figure 9 is shown a rod K reduced at both ends; this does away with the
head at top end of wires.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
.claim is:
1. In apparatus such as described the combination with a weight Fi and tube F.
of a detent such as G G wire G' spring cap J plate H and wires or rods K
substantially as and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
2. In apparatus such as described the combination with a rod or wire such as K
and detent mechanism for holding and releasing the weights of an inclined face such
as C forming part of or moved by the hand of the clock substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. In apparatus such as described the combination with the hand C¹ of the clock
of an independent hand C3 having an inclined face such as C3 substantially as and
for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. In apparatus such as described the combination with the wires or rods K
detent mechanism for holding and releasing the wires and an inclined face such
as C operated by the clock of a plate such as L having holes L' in which the
wires play substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying
drawings.
5. In apparatus such as described the combination with the rods or wires K of a
plate such as L having an annular channel such as L³ and holes L' substantially as
described and illustrated in Figure 6 of the accompanying drawings.
6. In apparatus such as described the combination with the tube F and clock
operated rod or wire K of a bell-crank-lever and rod N M substantially as and
for the purpose described and illustrated in Figure 7 of the accompanying
drawings.
7. In apparatus such as described a removable gun barrel block such as D
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 15th day of August 1892.
JOHN HALL.
W. P. Thompson & Boult,
Agents for the Applicant.