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The First Experiment in Optical Sighting: How William Gascoigne Made History
An optical sight, referred to as a sight, is an optical aiming device based on a refracting telescope. It is equipped with a reference pattern, called a crosshair, mounted at the appropriate position in the focal point of its optical system to provide a precise aiming point. Optical sights are commonly used with all systems that require magnification and reliable visual aiming, such as long-barreled firearms (especially rifles), and are usually mounted via a scope mount. Similar equipment can be found on other platforms such as artillery, tanks and even aircraft. Optical components can be combined with optoelectronic technologies to add night vision or smart device capabilities.
Historical BackgroundThe first experiments with optical aiming aids date back to the early 17th century. Over the centuries, different optical aiming aids and their primitive predecessors have been created, however they have all been limited in usefulness or performance. In the late 1630s, English amateur astronomer William Gascoigne was experimenting with Kepler's telescope and accidentally left it in an open box. Later, he discovered that a spider had spun a web in the box, and when he looked through the telescope, he saw that the web was consistent with the focal length of distant objects. Gascoigne realized that he could use this principle to create an optical sight for his astronomical observations.
It was a wonderful secret, like all things, that came into being in the providence of the Almighty, and I was in the process of trying to make a connection with the two when a spider's thread first showed me its perfect form in an open box. If I ... place a thread where the lens can best see, and then combine the two lenses, adjusting their distance to any object, I can see it. any part.
In 1776, Charles Willson Peale, working with David Rittenhouse, mounted a telescope on a rifle as an aiming aid, but failed to mount it far enough back to prevent it from being caught in the recoil. The lower eyepiece hits the operator's eye. That same year, James Lind and Captain Alexander Blair described a firearm that included an optical sight. Between 1835 and 1840, the first rifle scope was created. In 1844, British-American civil engineer John R. Chapman described a scope made by gunsmith Morgan James in Utica, New York, in his book Improvements in the American Rifle. Thus, Gascoigne's experiment became a major turning point in the history of the development of scopes.
Types and development of optical sights
The classification of optical sights depends on the optical magnification and the diameter of the objective lens. For example, "10×50" means the fixed magnification is 10 times and the objective lens diameter is 50 mm. Generally speaking, larger objective diameters provide a larger exit pupil and, therefore, a brighter image at the eyepiece due to the ability to collect a higher light flux. Most early optical scopes were fixed-power, essentially specially designed spotting telescopes. Optical sights with variable magnification appeared later, with the magnification changed by manually adjusting the zoom mechanism behind the magnifying lens.
Optical sights can also use different types of internal light receiving designs depending on the magnification. These designs affect performance indicators such as field of view, exit pupil, and eye relief. For example, the field of view refers to the visible range that an optical sight can observe at a specific distance, while the exit pupil is the beam diameter of the outer aperture of the sight, which affects the influx of light and the user's visual flexibility.
Technology development and future trends
With the advancement of technology, the design of optical sights has been further innovated, integrating various optoelectronic technologies. In the latest designs of the 21st century, optical sights with night vision capabilities have gradually become important tools for many military and civilian applications. These advances have subsequently changed the strategy and effectiveness of operations and greatly improved the accuracy and efficiency of combat.
It is worth noting that the design of optical sights has begun to incorporate intelligent technology elements, and more automated and intelligent products may appear in the future. The rapid advancement of science and technology has not only made the performance of aiming devices more diverse and precise, but also caused the boundaries between industrial and military applications to begin to blur. Can we foresee a new era of unlimited possibilities?
