IMPROVEMENTS IN TARGETS. ARROWS. DARTS, AND OTHER PROJECTILES, MORE ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR IN-DOOR USE AND AMUSEMENT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Hastings Greenstreet, of Pattingham,
near Wolverhampton, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TARGETS. ARROWS. DARTS, AND OTHER PROJECTILES,
MORE ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR IN-DOOR USE AND AMUSEMENT."
Sealed the 2nd October 1868, and dated the 4th April 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Hastings
Greenstreet at the Office of the Commissiouers of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 4th April 1868.
1, FRANCIS HASTINGS GREENSTREET, of Pattingham, near Wolver-
hampton, in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TARGETS, ARROWS. DARTS, AND
OTHER PROJECTILES, MORE ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR IN-DOOR USE AND AMUSEMENT,"
to be as follows:-
To avoid the danger and inconvenience likely to arise from projecting
or throwing in a room by hand or by any machine, such as a bow,
[Price 8d.]

page_text: cross bow, blow tube, spring instrument, or catepult the ordinary arrows
or darts pointed as they usually are, I make my target like a brush
of any of the numerous materials capable of being made into a brush,
such as hair, bristles, sprigs of wood, whalebone, or wire, but I prefer
rather soft hair. I also make my arrow heads or points of bristles
like small brushes, and when such arrows are projected against the
target with sufficient force they stick firmly in. And the soft point
to the arrow has the advantage of being perfectly harmless if striking
a person, articles of furniture, or anything else in the room.
Or I make my target of wood or other material with a number of
fine sharp points (like pin or needle points) projecting about an eighth
of an inch more or less from the surface, and a little closer together
than the diameter of the head of the arrow used. And my arrow
heads when used with this kind of target are made flat, of cork, leather,
india-rubber, or other soft material such as can be easily pierced by
the pins, and be impaled thereon when the arrow or dart is projected
with sufficient force against the target.
Or 1 make my target of wood, sheet metal, pasteboard, or any other
suitable material like a shallow drum or box a few inches deep open
at one end and closed at the other. At the bottom of the box I place
some soft material such as wool or cotton, and over the open end of
the drum or box I stretch tightly fine gauze or net, the mesh of which
is slightly larger than the diameter of the arrow used; the result is
that when the arrow is projected against this target it passes through
one of the meshes of the net and is supported thereby, while at the
same time the point sticks into the soft substance at the back of the
target, and the flight of the arrow is thereby arrested and the arrow
held in its place. The arrows used with this description of target must
be pointed, so this plan for in-door use may be open to objection. The
points, however, need not be made of any substance harder than wood.
Arrows, darts, or other projectiles inade and feathered in the ordinary
ways (the points excepted) may be used with any target, but I prefer
a method of regulating and balancing the flight of the arrow without
having recourse to the ordinary method of feathering by using instead
of the common feathers a small bunch of fur, hair, fine feathers, silk,
or fine fibre secured to the arrow at some point between the middle
f the arrow and the nock; this has the effect of not only giving the
o

page_text: arrow a true flight, but it acts at the same time as a kind of break
upon the speed of the arrow, which I find is an advantage when the
arrow is used only at short distances in-doors. When I use arrows
feathered in the ordinary way I produce this "break" by increasing
the diameter of the arrow at or near the point, or by affixing to the
head of the arrow a collar of fur or other. soft material, which latter
method is the one I prefer.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Hastings Greenstreet in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 2nd October 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HASTINGS GREENSTREET, of Pattingham, near Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty;
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis Hastings Greenstreet, Her special
licence that I, the said Francis Hastings Greenstreet, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis Hastings
Greenstreet, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TARGETS, ARROWS, DARTS, AND OTHER PROJECTILES, MORE
ESPECIALLY ADAPTED FOR IN-DOOR USE AND AMUSEMENT," upon the coudition
(amongst others) that I, the said Francis Hastings, Greenstreet, 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

page_text: Great Seal Patent Omce within six calendar montos next ana Imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that
the said Francis Hastings Greenstreet, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
To avoid the danger and inconvenience likely to arise from projecting
or throwing in a room by hand, or by any instrument such as a bow,
crossbow, blow tube, spring, or catapulta arrows or darts, pointed as
they usually are, I make my target like a brush of any of the numerous
materials capable of being made into a brush, such as hair, fibre,
whalebone, &c., but I prefer hair or bristles not softer than horsehair,
and the Mexican fibre that is commonly used for cheap brushes answers
almost equally as well. The target is inade the same way as an ordinary
flat round brush with a wood back, the hair or fibre being passed into
holes bored in the wood and fixed therein with wire or cement, and
to distinguish the different rings of the target the hair or fibre is dyed
of various colors. For a target 8 or 10 inches in diameter the wood is
bored with holes about ths of an inch in diameter, and about 3ths or
inch apart, and the bristles are cut and finished to about 1 inch in
depth; shorter bristles will do, but then the surface of the target is
likely to be less uniform, the gaps between the bunches of hair or fibre
having a tendency to show. Or on the other hand the hair or fibre
may be left longer, and in that case may be fixed into holes not quite
so close together. It is only necessary in making the targets to guard
against open spaces uncovered with hair on the one hand, or bristles
too close together on the other hand, in which latter case the arrows
have a tendency to rebound without penetrating the target. The more
open and apart the bristles are the better, provided there are
unicovered spacés left on the surface of the target. And the target is
improved by having the holes in the wood smaller or closer together
than the dimensions before given, but the cost is greater. The heads
of the arrows or' darts used with these brush targets are also made like
small brushes and of any of the materials suitable for brushes,. but not
much softer than horsehair. The hair may be bound round the head
of the arrow, 'ór fixed like a camel hair pencil into a quill or small
metal tube. For arrows from 6 to 8 inches long 1 use iu prefereuce
b quill very fine brass tubes about th of an inch in diameter, and in
no

page_text: On one
I
these tubes the bristles are cemented and left projecting about half an.
inch and trimmed to a point. Larger heads to the arrows answer as
well, or better for sticking firmly in the target, but, then
the flight of
the arrow is apt to be impeded; such however is no objection at short
distances, but rather an advantage, provided the head is not made
disproportionably heavy. Or I make my target of pasteboard, wood,
leather, or of any other material in which pins can be conveniently
fixed and secured, but pasteboard answers the purpose well.
side of the pasteboard the rings of the target are colored, and on. the
other side fine holes are pierced about inch apart, and through the
holes are inserted pins, either of pin wire or steel. Common pins
about ths of an inch long answer the purpose. The pius pass through
the pasteboard and their points project on the face of the target about
of an inch more or less. To secure the pins in their places paper is
glued or pasted over the heads of the pins at the back of the target.
The distance apart of the pins is not material, provided they be rather
closer together than the diameter of the head of the arrow used.
make the heads of the arrows or darts used with this target of cork or
roll of worsted about ths of an inch in diameter, and when the arrows
are shot against the target they are impaled thereon. A slightly rounded
head allows the arrow to pass through the air better that quite a flat
head, but care must be taken that the head is not so much pointed
as to strike the face of the target between the pins, or the arrow will
probably rebound therefrom. Against this kind of target also may be
thrown by hand or by any suitable instrument, such as a blow tube,
or catapulta balls made of cork or worsted, and they will be firmly
impaled on the target; the diameter of the balls is immaterial, provided
they be not so heavy as to bend the pins of the target; I prefer balls
from inch to 1 inch in diameter. Or I make my target of pasteboard,
thin sheet metal, or wood formed into a shallow drum or box with a
bottom but no top; the depth of the box not to be less than half the
length of the arrow used. At the bottom of the box I place any very
soft material, such as cotton wool or worsted, formed into rings of the
different colors of the target, and over the open end of the box I stretch
tightly very fine gauze or net, the mesh of which is slightly larger than
the diameter of the arrow used, which arrows must be finely pointed,
but the points need be of nothing harder than soft wood; and when
the arrows are projected against this target they pass through the mesh
of the net, strike against the soft material at the back of the target,

page_text: have their flight arrested, and are heid in their places by the mesh of
the net.
7..
In witness whereof, I. the said Francis Hastings Greenstreet, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
FRANCIS HASTINGS GREENSTREET. (L.S.)