RootsChat.Com
Old Photographs, Recognition, Handwriting Deciphering => Handwriting Deciphering & Recognition => Topic started by: lonetrooper on Monday 19 May 14 11:27 BST (UK)
-
Can anyone decipher this?
My relative was blind and his listed occupation changes quite a bit but all of it seems to be metal finishing of some sort.
He begins working life as, what looks like, a spoon filer.
Then he works for the Royal Small Arms Factory in Freezy Water at Iford as what looks like. a military gun-fascullionce
(http://)
Oh...
How do you insert an image - a cropped jpeg with bad handwriting except?
-
Or it could be military gun-fassussioner?
Was there such a thing as a gun-fashioner and would it be something a blind person could do?
-
Could be Military Gun Finisher, there are two in the 1881 census.
Stan
-
Thanks Stan -
Yes, that is possible. I think the first three are Fas although not certain about that
Fas - - - - ion --
I've tried an attachment, not sure if it has worked as it does not show up in the preview.
I have also found this wonderful website for the Royal Small Arms Factory.
http://www.rsaf-aa.co.uk/rsaf/rsaf.html
It looks as though it is not going to be interactive for much longer but well worth a browse. I have asked them the same question so hopefully they will be able to confirm.
It seems odd that they would employ a blind man for such an exacting skill but I guess that finger-tips may be better than eyes where smooth finishing is required. Good of them to take him on given prejudice towards disability at that time.
-
Military Gun-Percussioner
An old thread on the same subject here: www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=272551.0
-
percussioner
(I should not have ignored the red warning - great minds think alike avm) :)
-
(I should not have ignored the red warning - great minds think alike avm) :)
:)
-
Avm and Ruskie
Yes! That's it! Fantastic - thank you so much - but I wonder how on earth did he managed this as a blind man. Maybe he wasn't completely blind. It just says 'blind' on the census. Here is the job description.
"A gun percussioner received the gun with the gunlocks inletted in place, but without hammers. He then chose and fitted suitable hammers with the correct "throw" so that the hammer nose fell neatly and squarely onto the nipple (Percussion) or striker (Centre fire). He then passed the gun back for engraving. The hammers could not be fitted to the gunlock by the gunlock maker, as he would not know what the "throw" was going to be. The "throw" is the distance from the centre of the pivot of the hammer to the centre of the nipple or striker."
-
No clue really - but could he have done this by feel alone? :-\