AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE STOCKS OF MUSKETS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanicab
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO
THE STOCKS OF MUSKETS."-A communication from abroad by Richard
Jordan Gatling, of Indianopolis, in the State of Indiana, United
States of America.
Sealed the 11th April 1871, and dated the 18th October 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th October 1870.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE
TO THE STOCKS OF MUSKETS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide soldiers when in the field
with an instrument that will enable them to throw up earth and put

page_text: themselves under cover from the fire of an enemy (which they are not at
present able to do) without being burdened and hampered in the march
by carrying spades. To this end it is proposed to apply to the butt end
of the musket a detachable trowel, or it may be a blade or scoop which
is attached permanently or otherwise to the stock. In applying, say a
trowel, the stem thereof is cranked and the straight end fitted into a
hole bored into the butt end of the stock in the line of its length, and by
means of a notch formed in this stem, and a transverse catch fitted in
the stock and capable of turning therein by means of a thumb piece or
otherwise, the trowel is made fast to the stock and projects rearwards
therefrom. In using this instrument the soldier will have the musket
as a handle and the leverage thus afforded will enable him to work with
great facility, or instead of a trowel the stock may be fitted with a
sliding blade or a hinged blade, which when thrown out into position
and fixed by a button or otherwise will serve the purpose of a spade
or trowel and will add but little additional weight to the musket.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th April 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her
special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, 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

page_text: Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT APPLICABLE TO THE STOCKS OF MUSKETS,”
being a communication to me from abroad by Richard Jordan Gatling,
of Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing here-
unto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say)
The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, is to provide soldiers when in the field with an instrument
that will enable them to throw up earth, and by their individual efforts
to put themselves under cover from the fire of an enemy without being
burdened and hampered in the march by carrying spades. To this end
it is proposed to apply to the butt end of the soldier's musket or rifle a
detachable trowel, or it may be a blade or scoop which is attached
permanently or otherwise to the stock.
The manner of carrying out this Invention is illustrated in several
views in the accompanying Drawing, where Fig. 1 is a side view of the
butt end of a musket fitted with a detachable trowel, and Fig. 2 an edge
view of the same.
a is the trowel, the stem 6 of which is cranked; the end of this stem b
fits into a hole bored into the butt end of the stock in the line of its
length. The stem is notched as at c to receive a transverse stop pin
d, formed with a screw thread which fits in a tapped hole provided to
receive it in the stock. This stop pin shewn detached at Fig. 5 is turned
by means of a thumb piece or otherwise to project its end into the notch
formed in the stem b, and by this means the trowel is made fast to the
stock. To increase its steadiness a steady pin e is provided which

page_text: projects from the stem into the metal strap piece at the bottom of the
butt. In using the trowel thus secured the soldier will have the musket
as a handle and the leverage thereby afforded will enable him to work
with great facility even in hard ground without risk to the gun, the
leverage strain being on the stock of the gun. Instead of a trowel being
fitted to the stock the like result may be obtained by fitting the stock
with a sliding blade or a hinged blade, which when thrown out into
position and fixed by a button or otherwise will serve the purpose of a
spade or trowel and will add but little additional weight to the musket.
These two modifications of the Invention are shewn at Figures 3
and 4; Fig. 3 represents the sliding blade arrangement, and Fig. 4 the
hinged or swivel blade.
In Fig. 3, a is the blade fitted into a metal guide box b, which is let
into one side of the stock of the gun and firmly secured in place in any
approved manner. In the sliding blade a, a hole is formed to receive a
screwed stop pin d which enters a tapped hole in the stock and retains
the blade a in the retracted position shewn in the Drawing. When
however it is desired to make use of the blade the screwed stop pin is
slackened and the blade is then pushed out to the dotted position of
Fig. 3; in this position it is readily secured by bringing the pin d
opposite a tapped hole c near the bottom of the stock and screwing it
tightly therein. Fig. 4 shews the permanent attachment of the blade
a to the stock, it being secured thereto by a swivel pin 6 and made fast,
whether in position for working as shewn by the dotted lines Fig. 4 or
out of position for working as represented by the drawn lines by means
of a screwed stop pin d. It will be obvious that other contrivances than
the screwed stop pin may be employed for securing the digging tool
in place for working on the gun stock, but whatever contrivance may
be adopted it should, having regard to the rough usage to which the
musket may be exposed, be of the simplest construction and little liable
to get out of order.
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "An Improve-
ment applicable to the Stocks of Muskets," as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim, applying to the butt end of muskets a
digging or entrenching tool, whether detachable or otherwise from the
'

page_text: stock so that the stock may be used as a handle for the same, in the
manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Eighteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.