IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SECURING BAYONETS ON FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FASTENINGS FOR SECURING BAYONETS ON FIRE-ARMS."-A communication
from abroad by Paul Ambrose Oliver, of New York City, in the
United States of America.
Sealed the 28th January 1868, and dated the 14th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th August 1867.
1, ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SECURING BAYONETS ON FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:
This Invention consists in having the socket or tube of a bayonet formed
or provided with a longitudinal slot in which a spring having a shoulder or
projection at its inner side is fitted, the lower end of the spring being secured.
by a screw, rivet, or otherwise to the lower end of the bayonet socket or tube.
The exterior of the barrel of the fire-arm near its muzzle is provided with a
projection over which the shoulder or projection at the inner side of the
spring catches when the socket or tube of the bayonet.is.fitted-on-the-end-of-
the barrel and firmly secures the former on the latter. In order to detach or
remove_the_bayonet the spring-is-forced-outwards-by-pressing-against-a-thumb

page_text: piece formed thereon so that the upper edge of the shoulder will be released
from the projection on the barrel, when the bayonet may be drawn off from
the barrel with the greatest facility.
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 8th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDER
MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand, eight hundred and sixty-seven, in, the thirty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Alexander Melville Clark, Her special licence 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 of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FASTENINGS FOR SECURING BAYONETS ON FIRE-ARMS,"
a communication to me from abroad by Paul Ambrose Oliver, of New
York City, in the United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Alexander Melville Clark, 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 Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
:-
This Invention consists in having the socket or tube of a bayonet formed or
provided with a longitudinal slot in which a spring having a shoulder or

page_text: projection at its inner side is fitted, the lower end of the spring being secured
by a screw, rivet, or otherwise to the lower end of the bayonet socket or tube.
The exterior of the barrel of the fire-arm near its muzzle is provided with a
projection, over which the shoulder or projection at the inner side of the
spring catches when the socket or tube of the bayonet is fitted on the end of
the barrel and firmly secures the former 'on the latter:
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure l'is an external view of:
the lower part of a bayonet secured on the barrel of a fire-arm according to
this Invention; Figure 2, a section of the same taken in the line x, x,:
Figure 1 Figure 3 an end view of the same. ¡Similar letters of reference
indicate corresponding parts."
"
The spring E
A represents the outer or muzzle end of the barrel of a musket or other
fire-arm having a projection B on its exterior near the muzzle, as shown
clearly in Figure 2; C is the bayonet, and D the socket or tube of the same,
the internal diameter of D being such that it may fit snugly on the barrel A..
The socket or tube D is formed with a longitudinal slot a which extends from
its outer end to the crook 6 of the bayonet, the outer, end of the socket or
tube D adjoining the slot a being made full as shown at c, so that the slot a
will not extend through this full part, but leave a strip or piece of metal d of
sufficient dimensions to admit of the lower or outer end of a spring E being
secured by a screw or rivet e, see more particularly Figure 2.
fills up the slot a, the former being equal in width to the slot or nearly so,
the spring being a trifle narrower so that it may work freely into and out
from the slot for the reason which will be presently shown. At the inner
side of the spring E near its upper end there is a shoulder or projection F,
shown clearly in Figure 2, and a thumb piece H extends out from the spring.
The shoulder or projection F is beveled at its lower side as shown at f. In
adjusting the socket or tube D on the barrel A of the fire-arm the slot a is
placed in line with the projection B on the barrel, and the socket or tube then
applied on the barrel, the projection B being within the slot, and the lower
beveled sidef of the shoulder or projection F of the spring when it comes in
contact with the projection B on the barrel will cause the spring E to be
forced outward from the slot a, the upper end of the shoulder or projection F
when it reaches the under side of the projection B, snapping under the latter
and firmly securing the bayonet on the barrel. In order to detach or remove
_the_bayonet_the_spring E.is_forced_outward_by_pressing_against_the_thumb_
piece H so that the upper edge of the shoulder will be out from underneath
the projection_B_when_the-socket_or_tube_D_may_be_drawn-off-from-the-
barrel with the greatest facility. This bayonet fastening admits of the bayonet

page_text: being
"fixed" and "unfixed ". in one motion each; it is perfectly secure and
prevents the possibility of the bayonet .becoming casually detached under a
double quick or in fencing.
Having described the nature. of this. Invention. and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the spring catch or
fastening E fitted in a slot in the bayonet socket or tube D, and the pro-
jection B on the exterior of the barrel A, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.
(!
...In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight..
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)