IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR USE AS A DIGGING TOOL
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jasper Henry Selwyn, of Woodland Crag,
Grasmere, in the County of Westmorland, Captain in the Royal
Navy, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, PARTS OF
WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR USE AS A DIGGING TOOL."
Scaled the 8th April 1870, and dated the 13th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION loft by the said Jasper Henry Selwyn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 13th October 1869.
I, JASPER HENRY SELWYN, of Woodland Crag, Grasmere, in tho
County of Westmorland, Captain in the Royal Navy, do hereby declaro
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, PARTS
OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR USE AS A DIGGING TOOL," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of the application of the trigger guard
as a spring by which the necessary blow may be struck or communicated
in order to discharge the fulminating compound in brecch-loading
cartridges for firc-arms; and as an instance of the way in which this

page_text: portion of my said Invention may be carried into effect I may state that
I form the trigger guard of spring-tempered metal with one end attached
to the gun stock, the other end being left loose. When the free end is
forced back and suddenly released a blow will be struck communicable
to the fulminate.
Secondly. My Invention consists in the application of a steel casing
on one or both of the sides of the butt or stock of firc-arms, which may
bo detached from thence and be fixed to the fire-arm or to any other
handle so as to serve for a digging tool.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Jasper Henry Selwyn in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JASPER
HENRY SELWYN, of Woodland Crag, Grassmere, in the County of West-
morland, Captain in the Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, Her special licence
that I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, 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 "I■-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARES, PARTS OF WHICH ARE APPLICABLE FOR USE AS A
DIGGING TOOL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Jasper Henry Selwyn, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, 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 :-
First. I will particularly describe the nature of my said Invention,
which consists in the application of the trigger guard as a spring by
which the necessary blow may be struck or communicated in order to
discharge the fulminating compound in breech-loading cartridges for
fire-arms, as, for instance, by forming the trigger guard of spring-
tempered metal with one end attached to the gun stock, the other end
being left loose, so that upon the free end being forced back and suddenly
released a blow will be struck communicable to the fulminate.
Also my Invention consists in the application of a steel casing, in the
manner hereafter described, to the butt or stock of fire-arms, the same
being capable of being detached from the gun and fixed to a handle or
to the fire-arm in order to be used as a digging tool.
Having thus particularly described the nature of my said Invention I
now proceed to particularly describe and ascertain in what manner the
same is to be performed or carried out in practice as follows:-
As regards the trigger guard this being formed of steel or other metal
or substance capable of acting as a spring, is attached by any of the
usual methods, and by preference at the end nearest the butt of the fire-
arm to the trigger plate or to the butt itself, the opposite end being left
free. To this end there is added a bolt, which may communicate the
force exerted by the spring (when put in action) as a blow to the striker
or pin, whose office is to fire the fulminate in central-fire cartridges.
The pull of the trigger itself may be made to bend or cock and suddenly
release the spring formed as above, or the bending or cocking may be
effected by a separate movement, but I prefer that the first-mentioned
method should be adopted, and this can be accomplished as follows:-
That part of the trigger which is within the stock or butt is lengthened
and carried upward till it engages in the bolt, the function whereof is to
lock the chamber in certain kinds of breech-loading fire-arms. Near
the upper end is hinged a lever or ratchet arm, which always rubs its
point against the first-mentioned bolt attached (as above) to the fore
end of the spring trigger guard when the trigger is pressed upon the
said lever or ratchet arm, acting as a compound lever in connection with
the trigger, engages in a bent or notch cut in the said bolt, presses it

page_text: downwards, and in doing so raises or bends the mainspring trigger
guard. At a certain predetermined point the curvature of the ratchet
arm throws the point out of the bent, and a sudden blow is produced
sufficient to fire the fulminate; at the same time the chamber bolt has
been forced into position, and the chamber or breech is securely locked
down.
With respect to that part of my Invention whereby a portion of the
fire-arm is made to serve as a digging tool I prefer to accomplish this as
follows: A steel or other metallic casing is made for one or both sides
of the butt of fire-arms; this has sockets attached internally, which
receive the muzzle of the rifle or the point of a handle, as found most
applicable to the particular case (as it may be used on a steel barrel
without danger of bending the weapon), but if the barrel be of iron it
should be used on a separate handle. The handle or muzzle is to be
inserted in a socket placed near the edge of each casing (one on each side),
and if the casing be on one side only then in a socket in the centre,
which two parts when taken off the stock or butt and brought together,
the handle or muzzle being inserted and screwed up by a nut, form a
single wide shovel well fitted for entrenching purposes. I form the
handle where used by preference of any strong and light wood, cane, or
suitable material; it is shod at the lower end with a strong steeled
or steel point, and may be provided with a nut and screw or other means
of retaining it in place when used as a handle for the above-described
entrenching tool. The handle may also be used alone as a lever or pick
to disturb the ground and prepare it for the shovel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I wish
it to be understood that I do not claim the casing of the stock on one
side only apart from the peculiar handle I employ, nor do I limit myself
to the precise methods of construction herein-before set forth; what I
claim as novel and of my Invention being,-
First. The use of the trigger guard as a mainspring in breech-loading
fire-arms, and the arrangement as herein-before described.
Secondly. Casing the stock of fire-arms with metal on both sides in
such a manner as to serve as a digging or entrenching tool.
Thirdly. The mode above described of carrying the said digging or
entrenching tool inside of the butt or stock, and the use of the handle

page_text: itself as an independent entrenching tool, as well as the manner in which
I combine the two blades in one.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jasper Henry Selwyn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
J. II. SELWYN. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOMAS MORGAN,
Secretary to the
Inventors' Patent Right Association, Limited,
Patentees' Agents,
21, Cockspur Street,
Charing Cross.