Military equipment.

No, 874,945.

PATENTED DEO. 31, 1907.

A. J. DAVEY. MILITARY EQUIPMENT. APPLICATION PILED JAN. 28, 1907.

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No. 874,945. PATENTED DEO. 31, 1907.

A. J. DAVEY.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT

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No. 874,945.

PATENTED DEO. 31, 1907.

A, J. DAVEY.

MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 28, 1907.

SHEETS—SHEET 3.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ARTHUR JEX DAVEY, OF WESTMINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND. _: ,., MILITARY EQUIPMENT.

No. 874 945. Specification of Letters .Patent. Patented Dec. 31,1907.

.·:. Application filed January 28, -1807«' Serial Ho. 354,582..

Further in order to securely hold the knapsack, in place and provide a balancing con-, nection between, the .weights two straps runs ning from the top of the knapsack cross over the back and are connected-to -the back .lower 60 edges of the cartridge carriers.; These straps, may however be dispensed with if desired. . .

, The various portions of the equipment are. _?conveniently made in woven fabric though other materials may. be.' employed, for the 65 whole or* parts of it if fqjiiid, desirable.,, The .buckles, employed are preferably of a.known , type somewhat· .resembling slides and .without tongues. so that no perforation of the, straps is necessary. . .· , ,. . 70 . In the accompanying drawings. Figure .1 is an elevation of the complete equipnient Avith the belt , open and viewed from the inside , showing the surfaces which rest on the, body, of the. wearer... Fig. 2. is an'elevation, of the 75 equipment from the rear with the. .belt open and the exterior aspect of the' several parts displayed. Fig. 3 is a view bf the outer side of one .of the cartridge carriers. Fig. 4 is a view of the inner face. of orfe of these car- 80 riers. . ,·. ,

The belt A carries at one end' a buckle A of the type shown having fingers which engage the edges of the belt and thus avoid perforating the latter as would be necessary 85 with -a. tongue. The bayonet frog A,'- is conveniently permanently attached to the. belt by sewing. At suitable points on the back portion of the belt and at its upper edge are attached tivo buckles A³, A' with/which elj- 90 gage, respectively 'straps B .C which constitute sling members and also serve as braces. These sling members B. C cross each. Other at the back but are free of each other being respectively connected to; other parts of the 95 equipment as hereinafter described.

Two cartridge carriers .]) are.qtrpyided rec spectively for the right and left side, ul, ίΗό belt. These cartridge carriers conveniently comprise a backing D' with twoOrmore con-100 ven'iently three -pocket's D² wfiven along thi' face ami adapted to' cont ain.' cartridges in , clips'; a flap I)³ to cover over .'all t he- pockets being provided and fastened' down by suitable ineaiis. An upwoifd exteilsion 1)1 pf the 105 backing carries; one or/more similar. pockets I)⁵ also provided wit It^: a^: ί-hip.· A buckle-I)*· is pbrniiulchlly connected io the. tipper end of t he Axtensmii piece IL and a navrinYStrap

To all whom it may concern:

Be. it known that I, .Arthur Jex Davey, a subject of the King of England, residing.at Westminster, London, . England, have in5 vented certain new and useful Improvements in Military Equipments, of which the. following is a specification. '..··. .

This invention relates to military equipments and the like and has for its object to 10 construct an equipment which may be adjusted into different forms and will be comfort able io the wearer.

'The present invention relates to.that type of military equipment which comprises a 15 belt and cartridge carriers, braces or shoulder straps for the belt and attachments for the water bottle, haversack and knap sack, entrenching tool or other articles. v ,.

According to this invention a belt is pro20 vided with cartridge carriers which can.be adjusted in position on the belt and detached therefrom when desired, these carriers being in the form of a set of pockets adapted preferably to contain cartridges in clips and hay25 ing flap covers. Sling members which con-, stitut'e the braces are connected To the belt behind and to an upward extension of the cartridge carriers in front , and thus through them to the front portions of the belt. The 30 ends of these sling members extend below, the belt and are adapted to forni attachments for the haversack and water bottle. The, sling members are crossed over the. back but free of each other and the. arrangement is 35 such that one end of one sling member is attached-to the back part of the haversack.say on the' left side and after crossing, the right shoulder is· attached to the front side of the water bottle wliile. the. rear end of the other 40 sling member is attached to. the hinder side of the water bottle on, the right and after crossing the left shoulder is connected to the front, edge . of the haversack on the left. These sling members, thus .also constitute 45 braces .and by reason;of their.cross connection· to the .weights to be carried enable Tire . equipment to adjust itself on the bod\ of t he wearer arid, balance .these -weights m a convenientand comfortable^anner. The hUap50 sack is·attached to $&lt;«ii.o.iilder portions of I the sling members by tabs or short straps secured to the knapsack and engaging with ' ·buckles on the ,sling members. A.steadying strap is conveniently provided near the lower 55, edge'of the -knapsack and encircle* the belt.

874,945 this extension D⁴ to the lower rearmost corner of the backing D', to which it is attached Λ by sewing or the like the free end of this strap being used in the manner to be herein5 after described. At either end of the backingpiece D' are .mounted C shaped members D⁸ the fingers of which are adapted to engage the edges of the belt and take a hold thereon as a means of attachment. As an additional 10 means of connecting the cartridge carriers to the belt, straps D^!l are attached to the upper edges of the backing D' and after encircling the belt have their ends connected again to the front side of the backing D' between the 15 pockets by spring clips or in some other convenient way.

The carriers are mounted on the belt so as to lie on either side of the wearer in the way shown in the drawings the arrangement be20 ing such that this carrier can readily be detached from the belt and adjusted thereon as desired.

Turning now again to the sling members B C the forward ends of these crossing the 25 shoulder are attached to the buckles D⁶ of the cartridge carriers and thus through them to the front portions of the belt. The strap C thus starting from the buckle A⁴ oh the right hand side of the back of the belt crosses 30 over the left shoulder and passes down to the buckle D^e on the cartridge carrier on the left side, The strap B starting from the buckle A³ on the left side of the back portion of the ., belt crosses the right shoulder and engages · 35 with the buckle D^e of the right cartridge carrier. The front end C' of the strap C extends down below and within the belt and is connected to a buckle E' carried at one upper edge of the haversack E. To a buckle E²40 carried on the back upper edge of the haversack E is connected the rear end B² of the strap B. This haversack is conveniently arranged on the left side of the wearer. Similarly on the right side of the wearer the front 45 end B' of the strap B is connected to a buckle

F' attached to the front upper side of a water bottle holder strap F. This is provided with a buckle F² at its rear upper edge with which engages the back end C² of the strap 0.

The knapsack G has two short straps G' on its upper side wliich serves to connect the knapsack to the straps B and 0 buckles B³ C³being provided for this purpose and situated at a point in the straps BC such that they will 55 lie approximately on the shoulders of the wearer. .These buckles can be slid into the desired positions on the straps B and C to fit the wearer of the equipment. The knapsack . is also provided on its upper side with two 60 buckles G² with which engage the ends of two straps G³ G- which are led over the back of the knapsack across each other and each terminate m buckles which serve to connect the free ends of the straps D⁷ which extend from the rear portions of the cartridge carriers D.

Thus the strap G^s passing from the upper right side of the knapsack crosses over to the .·’ left lower side and is connected to the strap D⁷ of the left hand cartridge carrier while the strap G⁷ crosses from the left hand upper side 70 of the knapsack over to the right hand lower side and is there connected to the strap I)⁷ of the right hand cartridge carrier. To give additional steadiness to the knapsack a short strap G° is attached to its back just above 75 the part that should lie aboVc the waist belt. This strap G⁵ encircles tjic waist belt and is attached by a clip fastening G^G or in some, other convenient way to the underside of the knapsack. ' 80

It will be seen from the, above description that in the first place the cross connected sling straps B and 0 enable the whole equipment to adjust itself on the wearer and the parts to balance each other in such a way as 85 to give more comfort. Further the attachment for the knapsack is on the one hand exceedingly simple being mainly by . the ' short straps G' to the shoulder buckles B³ C³of the sling members B C. Further by pro- 90 viding the knapsack with the crossing straps G³ G⁴ and connecting these to the cartridge carriers a balancing effect between these cartridge carriers and the knapsack is obtained when combined with the cross connected 95 sling members so that there is a freedom of movement between the various parts of the equipment which naturally allows freedom ot movement to the wearer and enables the weights carried to adjust themselves to vary- 100 ing circumstances.

The equipment is so constructed that in addition to all the several parts being easily detachable from the rest different combinations can be made to meet varying require- 105 ments. Thus starting from the equipment as a whole with the knapsack attached as showrfm Figs. 1 and 2 of the accompanying drawings first the knapsack may be removed leading the belt with the cartridge 110 carriers and the slings serving as braces for the belt and supports for the haversack and water bottle. Then if desired the haversack and water bottle may be detached from the sling members B C wliich then serve as 115 braces or shoulder supports for the cartridge carriers on the belt, these cartridge carriers being if necessary supplemented by other cartridge carriers of similar type attached to the belt in some convenient way. Further 120 the sling members and cartridge carriers may be removed from the belt leaving the latter so that it may be worn ivith or without the bayonet for undress purposes. Yet again the sling members B and C can be used 125 with the haversack and water bottle without the belt, other cartridge carriers in bandoleer or like form if necessary being provided for use under such circumstances.

Additional cartridge carriers may of course 130

874,1 be used with the equipment as a whole if necessary these carriers being either in bandoleer form or in the form of detachable pockets mounted on the belt.