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General >> Chit-Chat (for poking fun and off topic subjects) >> Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
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Message started by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 8:02am

Title: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 8:02am
Patent Drawings submitted by Henry Havelock Cummings in 1903.

Patent granted - September 22, 1903, to Sub-target Gun Company of Boston, (aka - Cummings Machine Works).

It appears to me, the machine was refined a lot, in quick order, from these drawings.
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Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 8:06am
First four drawings:

Rifle looks vaguely like a model 1893 Mauser in the drawings.

Miniature target frame appears to 'spring' toward the rear to impale the sub-target on point of rod.
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Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 8:15am
Next four drawings:

It is a bit confusing to me because some parts seem electrical in the patent drawings, which is the approach used on Wilkinson made machines.
A mechanical cable/linkage system, as used in the U.S., is not clear. The patent drawings are at variance with period photographs of Wilkinson and Boston made machines.

Anyone want to build one?!!!
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Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by FredC on Sep 21st, 2018 at 2:57pm
Anyone want to build one?!!!
Not me! With a ton of one off custom parts the cost would be well into the six figures today.
So easy to do something similar with todays technology at low cost. Think laser and video camera/cell phone. Real easy to practice dry firing and make a record of the results.
You could even watch the vibrations in the barrel when the firing pin strikes.

Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 4:26pm
Fred, I was counting on you!

Where's your 'Spirit of the Age"???

A "STRM" would look sooo good in the Family Room!

Well, I can't build one today. I'm reading 12 pages of 'patent text', while doing laundry, and packing for a Mississippi River cruise. (Would you believe? No Derringers Allowed)!

I do like the LASER update idea, but, What's a cell phone?  :-?

Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by Local Boy on Sep 21st, 2018 at 6:18pm
I'm sure one of Henry Havelock Cummings relatives must have one sitting in their living room disguised as a floor lamp.

Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by FredC on Sep 21st, 2018 at 6:34pm
Funny that you mentioned " A "STRM" would look sooo good in the Family Room!" the last ad that I saw for a Gatlin gun mentioned that it would be the center of attention of any room!
Yeah, for $375,00.00 I bet it would have been.
The cell phone/video camera is to take the place of the little card that recorded how good you were shooting. It would show how long it took you to get on target also.

Looked at what's a cell phone comment again. I took it to say why the phone. I thought I was a dinosaur having a flip phone, you are saying you do not have one?

Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 21st, 2018 at 8:24pm
'FredC' - I have a 'Flip Phone'. It is turned-off 99 & 44/100 percent of the time.

It impresses my sons' friends. They fantasize that I am a drug dealer! They watched "Breaking Bad" too much.

I'll be on vacation and off the grid. Here's a postcard, so everyone knows, I'm thinking about the KCA Forum Gang.

(p.s. Thoughts for the Day: "Paper Trails can last for a long time, evidence W.A. Conaway's sub-target, from April, 1908! .... I'm not so sure about 'Digital Data' having such longevity".

"Shooting & Handling Krags, and Aging, have given me two things that make little buttons and touch screens a problem .... Strong Fingers with a bit of neuropathy and the need for Readers").
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Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by butlersrangers on Sep 22nd, 2018 at 6:27pm
FWIW: I read the 12 pages (double column) of H.H. Cumming's 1903 patent application, without cutting on myself. Only a strange person would do this; it is sheer torture, especially on a computer.

What I learned:

The illustrated version of the device was battery powered, with a switch activated by the trigger, (K8 & K9).

An electromagnetic pulled the sub-target holder & sub-target instantly into the point of the needle, when the circuit was completed. As it cycled, springs instantly returned the sub-target & frame to the rest position.

Two Dry Batteries, (K1), were held in the tube (Head) that contained or supported the sub-target, holder, electromagnet, and free to move needle-rod mechanism.

Only Standing, Kneeling and Prone shooting positions are mentioned as being accommodated by the machine.

There is no mention of cable operation of the mechanism and the requisite linkages, which was to become the prevalent format in the U.S.

The off-set 'target device', shown on the right-side of the main pillar in the drawings, is difficult to understand. As I understand the feature, it is a mirror and reflected target image, (with provision for an electric light). It is visible to the Operator, but, I don't understand exactly "Why"? (Maybe it was for 'coaching', but, this is not stated).

Perhaps it proved to be redundant or useless. It seems to have been quickly eliminated from the STRM, as manufactured.

(p.s. I bet School Janitors loved these things, when they came to the Secondary Schools of N.Y.C. and Military Schools around the world).


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Title: Re: Cummings 1903 U.S. Patent - Happy 115th Birthday!
Post by Knute1 on Sep 22nd, 2018 at 8:26pm
Going off the grid again? I'm envious. Enjoy. 8-)

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