IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TELESCOPIC SIGHTS FOR RIPLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Philip Vallance, of 4, Bolton Road, Abbey Road,
St. John's Wood, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
* IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TELESCOPIC SIGHTS FOR RIPLES
AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE."
Sealed the 19th September 1860, and dated the 17th July 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Philip Vallance at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th July 1860.
I, PHILIP VALLANCE, of 4, Bolton Road, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, in
5 the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TELESCOPIC SIGHTS FOR RIFLES AND
OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
telescopic sights for rifles and other fire-arms and ordnance, and consists in
employing for this purpose a telescope arranged without any body or tube, the
lenses being simply placed at a suitable distance the one from the other, and
the space between them unenclosed. By this means the advantages of a
telescopic sight are attained without the inconveniences resulting from any
material increase of weight and complication of parts.
The Invention also consists in combining with a rifle or other fire-arm, or
with a piece of ordnance, a telescope (to act as a telescopic sight) constructed
on the Galilean principle, and having cross wires or other suitable sighting

page_text: point near the object glass of the telescope. The arrangement I prefer to
make is as follows:-I employ as a fore sight a tube or frame containing cross
wires, and immediately behind the wires I place a convex lens. For the back
sight of the telescope I employ a plate or disc having a small perforation in it
through which the sight is taken, and I so arrange the plate or disc that the
perforation can be adjusted in position to give the requisite elevation for
different ranges. Near this perforated disc a concave lens is placed, so as in
combination with the lens of the foresight to form a Galilean telescope. On
looking through the perforated disc the cross wires of the foresight will be
clearly seen, and their point of intersection may be made to cover any object
which appears in the field of view of the telescope.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Philip Vallance in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th January 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PHILIP
VALLANCE, of 4, Bolton Road, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Philip Vallance, Her special licence that I, the said Philip Vallance,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Philip Vallance, my exccutors, 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
THE CONSTRUCTION OF TELESCOPIC SIGHTS FOR RIFLES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND
ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Philip
Vallance, 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 samo 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 Philip Vallance, 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 ful-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
telescopic sights for rifles and other fire-arms and ordnance, and consists in
employing for this purpose a telescope arranged without any body or tube, the
lenses being simply placed at a suitable distance the one from the other, and
the space between them unenclosed. By this means the advantages of a
telescopic sight are attained without the inconveniences resulting from any
material increase of weight and complication of parts.
The Invention also consists in combining with a rifle or other fire-arm, or
with a piece of ordnance, a telescope (to act as a telescopic sight) constructed on
the Galilean principle, and having cross wires or other suitable sighting point
near the object glass of the telescope. The arrangement I prefer to make is
as follows:-I employ as a fore sight a tube or frame containing cross wires,
and immediately behind the wires I place a convex lens. For the back sight
of the telescope I employ a plate or disc having. a small perforation in it
through which the sight is taken, and I so arrange the plate or disc that the
perforation can be adjusted in position to give the requisite elevation for
different ranges. Near or on this perforated disc a concave lens is placed, so
as in combination with the lens of the foresight to form a Galilean telescope.
On looking through the perforated disc the cross wires of the foresight will
be clearly seen, and their point of intersection may be made to cover any
object which appears in the field of view of the telescope.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect; I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
Figure 1 is a side view of a rifle fitted with telescopic sights arranged
according to my Invention. a is a short tube attached to the muzzle of the
rifle. An end view, a side view, and a longitudinal section are shewn at
Figures 2. a' is a dovetail attached to the tube, and which entering a cor-
responding notch in the muzzle of the barrel sustains and holds the tube in its
proper position; a' is a magnifying lens for a rifle, such as that shown (the
Drawing, Figure 1, being one-half the real size). I prefer that the focal
length of this lens should be 36 inches, for a (long Enfield) rifle 48 inches
would be a suitable length. a are cross wires placed in the tube imme-

page_text: diately in front of the lens a³, or in place of these cross wires the ordinary
sight may be employed. The tube a in this case not carrying the cross wires,
but being arranged so that the lens may come immediately behind or before the
foresight of the rifle. 6 is the back or elevating sight of the rifle, it screws
into the stock as is shown, a screw thread being cut on its stem, and it is
caused to project a greater or less distance from the stock according as the
range at which it is desired to shoot is long or short; the stem of the sight
being graduated it is easy (by turning it in one or other direction) to bring it
to the elevation required for any given length of range. A front view and a
side view of the piece b is shown at Figures 3. There is a small perforation
made through it at ', through which the sight is taken in aiming. This hole
is made as small as it can be made to allow a sufficient amount of light to pass
to the eye, one thirty-second part of an inch in diameter is amply large.
Immediately behind this aperture a concave lens & is placed, of the power
requisite to produce clear vision for the rifle shown. A No. 4 spectacle lens
for short sight is suitable; the same will also do well for a long Enfield rifle.
In the arrangement shown the back or elevating sight is shown fitted with two
lenses;hey are mounted on arms 6, which turn about a centre, so that one or
other of the lenses, as desired, can be brought opposite the aperture at b'. The
object of thus employing two lenses is, that they may be made of somewhat
different focal lengths, and then the person using the piece will select the lens
which he finds best suited to his sight. Sights similarly constructed are
suitable for other fire-arms and for ordnance.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described, but what I claim is, the constructing telescope
sights for rifles and other fire-arms and ordnance without bodies or tubes, by
mounting the lenses on the piece at a suitable distance apart, the space
between them being unenclosed. I also claim the constructing telescope
sights on the principle of the Galilean telescope, as herein-described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Philip Vallence, have hercunto set my
band and seal, this Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
PHILIP VALLANCE. (L.s.)