AN IMPROVED RECOIL CHECK FOR FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED RECOIL CHECK FOR FIRE-ARMS." -A communication from
abroad by William Deeds Miller, of Pittsburg, in the County of
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville
Clark at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th December 1875...
j
I, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lanc, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of,
the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED RECOIL CHECK FOR FIRE-ARMS," to be.
follows
as.
:-
The object of the present Invention is to provide the butt ends of gun
stocks with a device for diminishing or neutralising the recoil of guns or
other fire-arms, and the Invention consists of a fixed butt plate in con--

page_text: nection with a hinged, guided, and spring-acted plate attached to the
butt end of the stock of a gun or other fire-arm.
The hinged check plate is applied to the lower part of the butt plate,
and guided at its upper end by a forward curved part in a corresponding
recess of the stock. The check plate is provided with a curved and
threaded centre pin, that is securely attached thereto, and extended
through a perforation of the butt plate into a recess or hole of the of the
stock. A nut on the centre pin at the inside of the recess regulates the
extent of swing of the check plate. A screw nut at the bottom of the
centre pin hole serves to regulate the tension of the spiral spring that is
interposed between the bottom nut and the nut of the centre pin.
The check plate and spring break the recoil of the gun in most cases,
and diminish the force of the recoil when heavier charges are used, so as
to dispense with the annoyance caused by the recoiling, and give a surer
and steadier aim and a greater force to the gun with the same charge as
when the ordinary plate is used therewith.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 3rd June 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors; give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Melville Clark,
Her special license, that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alexander Melville Clark, 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

page_text: The check plate and spring break the recoil of the gun in most cases,"
and diminish the force of the recoil when heavier charges are used, so as
to dispense with the annoyance caused by the recoiling, and give a surer
and steadier aim, and a greater force to the gun with the same charge as
when the ordinary plate is used therewith.
Having described the nature of the Invention and the manner of:
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to
be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st. A recoil check for fire-arms made of a hinged, guided, and spring-
acted check plate applied to the end of the gun stock, substantially in
the manner and for the purpose set forth.
2nd. A recoil check for fire-arms made of a fixed and recessed butt
plate, and a hinged, guided, and spring-acted check plate applied to
the end of the gun stock, substantially as and for the purpose -set
forth.
3rd. In a recoil check for gun stocks the combination of the solid
fixed butt, plate B with the swinging check plate C, curved centre pin D,
recoil spring f, and set screw e, substantially as and for the purpose.
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Second day of June, in'
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
six.