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Soon after the battle of Colenso, Mr William Youlten, architect & inventor, set about creating an instrument with which soldiers could spy the enemy without exposing their heads. It is difficult to imagine that a device as basic as a two-mirror trench periscope ever needed to be invented, but it does seem that Youlten’s “Infrascope”, or “Observation Hyposcope”, as it was later named, was an idea that hadn’t been seen before.

While Youlten was working on his new invention, he was visited by an unidentified British general, who was so impressed with the concept that he immediately placed a prototype before the War Office. The authorities were similarly taken by the simple little instrument and on that same day put in an urgent order for a large quantity of infrascopes, which were to be despatched to South Africa as soon as possible. Within a few weeks, these were on their way to the seat of war. The date on the labels of these first trench periscopes is February 1900.

It seems the press only took note of the instrument when Youlten adapted it for use with rifles. The first articles about the “Rifle Infrascope” appeared at the end of October 1900, after its precursor had already been in use at the front for nine months.

As is so often the case with inventions, more than one individual was working on the trench periscope principle at the same time. Unbeknownst to Youlten, the besieged garrison of Mafeking was grappling with the same need to see over parapets without exposing themselves to enemy fire. The Boers had taken to holding their rifles above their heads, shooting indiscriminately from their trenches without showing themselves. Baden-Powell’s men responded by employing a system of mirrors, not dissimilar to that in Youlten's infrascope, which allowed them to sight and fire a rifle from below a parapet.

A decade after the end of the war, Youlten commemorated the garrison’s ingenuity by producing a tin-plate version of his trench periscope, which he named the “Mafeking Observation Hyposcope”.

From the Broad Arrow and descriptive label, the example below can be identified as one of the early War Department “Observation Infrascopes”. Youlten’s invention was renamed the “Observation Hyposcope” at the beginning of 1902. It is a scarce survivor of one of the very first production trench periscopes, instruments that would see extensive use during WWI.

235mm long.










The object of this instrument is to enable a man to see what is going on from under cover, and without exposing his head above the parapet or other cover. One window can be placed at the eye, the other window being held up clear of top of cover.
The object to be reconnoitred being reflected by means of the two mirrors down the inside of tube to the eye.
WAR OFFICE, February, 1900.










FROM FREMANTLE'S BOOK OF THE RIFLE "A little device may be mentioned which is the outcome of the Boer War. At Mafeking … it was arranged to enable an effective fire to be truly directed while the whole head of the firer was below the sheltering level of the earthwork protecting him".

A British General's son has acknowledged that Youlten's Observation Hyposcope saved his life many times.

Rifle Hyposcopes have received the approval of His Majesty King George, Field Marshals Roberts and French and a host of other distinguished British Officers.

TO BE OBTAINED AT ALL STORES OR FROM THE HYPOSCOPE Co., 25 COLEMAN ST., LONDON E.C.







Brighton Gazette, 6th August 1903

THE HYPOSCOPE.

INTERVIEW WITH THE INVENTOR.

Mr Youlten explained that his invention enables a man to shoot without being seen, and to spy out the land without exposing himself – no mean accomplishment, either, when one considers that nowadays the armies of the world are being taught that in the wars to come every device and concealment and of taking cover will be resorted to. The usefulness of the instrument was strikingly brought home when one realises that General Woodgate was killed at Spion Kop while, with head raised above cover, he was trying to locate a gun. It will be remembered how terrible was the confusion which followed and the hundreds of lives which were lost in consequence. With a Hyposcope available, the General's life might have been preserved and the disaster averted.

The use of the Hyposcope for scouting is, obviously, manifest upon an examination, but the ease with which it can be put on and taken off a rifle inspires the thought that few men would care to be without it in a tight place, and nobody will be surprised to hear that most of the Powers are already in negotiation with the inventor for the extensive supply of the instrument to their armies.

It is satisfactory to hear that as a result of several official trials by our own War Office, that it has been passed by the Small Arms Committee for the British service. It is satisfactory, because it looks as though the responsible authorities are taking to heart the lessons of the late war, and that never again will the outbreak of war find us unready, and compel us to muddle through at vast cost of men and money, and slowly accomplish what knowledge and preparation might have enabled us to do “surely, rapidly, and, in the long run, humanely”.

It was immediately following the battle of Colenso, during which, it will be remembered, it was stated that not a Boer was seen, that the idea was conceived by Mr Youlten of endeavouring to enable our men, by means of a suitable reflecting device, to keep out of sight on many occasions when, without it, it would be necessary for them to be exposed to fire; and it is interesting to note that shortly after the commencement of his task of carrying out the idea, one of our leading generals saw the first rough model, and expressed the opinion that it would be invaluable to the men at the front for observation purposes from cover, quite apart altogether from the question whether an instrument could or could not be devised for the sighting of a rifle from cover, as was then intended should, if possible, be worked out in a manner suitable for a campaign. The General was on his way to attend a meeting at the War Office, and took the rough model with him.

During the same day, a telegram was sent from the War Office ordering a large number of the Observation Hyposcopes, and in a few weeks they were dispatched to South Africa. Some appear to have been of great service at Mafeking, not only for observation, but for safely shooting from entrenchments, as the following extract from Major Fremantle's “Book of the Rifle” shows: –

“It is an interesting speculation how far, as war becomes more scientific, it will be possible to teach the soldier to use scientific appliances. The spread of education has certainly done much, more perhaps than has as yet been realised, to remove the necessity for treating Tommy Atkins as if he required dry nursing and spoon feeding at each instant of the day, and was not to be trusted as a reasoning being in any particular. Wars will in future be won, if we may judge from South African experience, by the intelligence of the rank and file quite as much as by their bravery. A little device may be mentioned which is the outcome of the Boer War called “The Infrascope” (the original name of the Observation Hyposcope. It seems that in firing from entrenchments against our advancing troops in more than one battle the Boers found the storm of shot and shell directed against them so overwhelming that they held up their rifles over the edge of the entrenchments and discharged them in the general direction of the enemy without attempting to take aim. Even such a fire as this has a degree of effectiveness. At Mafeking, where the trenches got to very uncomfortably close quarters indeed, the fact that Nature has placed the human brain above the human eye was sometimes found to be inconvenient, as the part of the head which the enemy saw when he was being fired at was sufficiently large to form a good mark for him. An impromptu (infrascope) device was arranged to enable an effective fire to be truly directed while the whole head of the firer was below the sheltering level of the sandbags or earthwork protecting him. We may perhaps hear of it again in the future when entrenchments have to be defended”.

The Observation Hyposcope has now been contrived in a space small enough for the watch pocket. As there can be no doubt that in any number of cases it would save the life of its owner many times over during a campaign, it is safe to predict that in a short time no man will be sent into the field without one. Subsequent to the despatch of the Observation Hyposcopes to South Africa by the War Office, the original (1902) Rifle Hyposcope was designed, and was primarily intended for those occupying defensive positions – especially for small sections in charge of lines of communication and outposts – for, when attached to rifles, it enabled them to be sighted up to 600 yards and fired from trenches or other cover without exposing any part of the marksman to the enemy’s fire, the muzzles only of the rifles being exposed to view, instead of the heads and shoulders of the marksmen. This novel, but thoroughly practicable, method of shooting is due, of course, to the juxtaposition of mirrors being so contrived that the field of view exposed to the topmost, or object mirror, is reflected round the necessary corners and down to the level of the eye of the observer.


Dundee Evening Telegraph, 17th November 1900

LOOKING ROUND CORNERS.

A WONDERFUL INVENTION.

MOST USEFUL TO SOLDIERS.

It is now possible not only to see round corners and to look through brick walls, but to keep a watchful eye on what is transpiring behind you as you walk along the street. This, flying in the face of all things ocular, is achieved by means of a little machine just invented by Mr W. Youlten, and now the property of the Express Contract Company, says the “London Daily Mail”. It is called the infrascope. The proprietors of the infrascope hope that New Scotland Yard may find the machine useful. A detective on the track of a suspected person could watch his every movement without the slightest risk of himself being detected, or a policeman on one side of a wall could observe the operations of a housebreaker on the other side without showing even the peak of his helmet. But it is in the wars of the future that the infrascope will prove of the greatest service. Limited experiments have already been made with it in South Africa, a lieutenant, son of a well-known general, having done some valuable scouting work armed with the infrascope. His method was to hide behind a boulder, turn the glass eye upon the enemy, and watch their every movement. A development of the infrascope is attached to rifles, maxims, or heavier guns. Picture to yourself the “Tommy” of the future, reclining at ease in his trench, his pipe in mouth, his eye fixed on a little square of mirror, his finger mechanically pulling at the trigger, hour after hour if need be, and not a scrap of him visible to the enemy, though the enemy are as apparent to “Tommy” as if he were standing bolt upright before them and exposed to their deadly fire. The instrument is a square metal tube about 12 inches by 1 inch; at each end a small reflector inclined at an angle of 45 degrees – that is all. There are two kinds of infrascope – the “observation”, which may be carried in the pocket and used for scouting or detective purposes and the “rifle infrascope”, for attachment to any kind of small arms. In the latter case a collapsible extension stock is affixed to the original butt of the rifle. The breach is then on a level with the top of the soldier’s helmet. The men he is firing at are reflected downwards on the little mirror behind the eye. So is the sight line of the rifle. The soldier, therefore, sights the weapon without looking at it and fires, not at the enemy, but at the images in the mirror! But it is men he hits and not reflections. The infrascope is now so perfect that the inventor claims that a man can sight his rifle much better with its aid than without it. The invention has been submitted to the War Office, and the authorities are so cognisant of its possibilities that tests have been made with it, and the future equipment of our soldiers is almost certain to include an infrascope.


Civil & Military Gazette (Lahore), 24th November 1900

THE RIFLE INFRASCOPE.

AN INGENIOUS INVENTION.

Reference was recently made in the newspapers to an elaborate invention devised for enabling a soldier in time of war to shoot at the enemy round the corner as it were; but it has been left to Mr William Youlten, of 159, Victoria Street, Westminster, to patent a more simple and practical application of the principle involved. His Infrascope, which consists of a square metal tube about 12 inches by 1 inch, in which are set two small mirrors inclined at an angle of 45 degrees, has been extensively used in the South African campaign and has been the means of acquiring valuable information as to the enemy's position without endangering the life of the user. One end of the instrument is exposed from behind the cover, and the image the exposed mirror receives is reflected onto the second mirror, therefore enabling the user to see all that is going on in front of him without exposing any part of his body. But the inventor has gone further than this simple form of the Infrascope. He has adapted the instrument to the sighting of a rifle, and in such an effective way that it is now possible to take accurate aim and to fire over the edge of a wall or trench, without any part of the body being visible to the enemy. To accomplish this, it is necessary to attach a temporary stock to the rifle, which forms a new butt for the shoulder, bringing the original butt to the level of the head. The Infrascope itself is attached to the rifle just behind the back-sight, and the instrument is so arranged that the sight line is reflected to the new level of the eye where the portable stock is attached. The whole apparatus is extremely simple and portable, and no less an authority than Colonel Lockyer has pronounced an opinion favourable to it, and the rifle Infrascope may be expected to figure largely in future warfare.


Daily Express, 27th August 1915

PREVENTION BETTER THAN CURE.

Protect the soldiers in the trenches and reduce the casualties. Youlten’s trench periscopes were first in the field. The War Office ordered them for the Boer War. Weight only 4 ½ oz. Invaluable for observation over parapets, or (used horizontally) through trench loopholes. Thousands. Model A now ready. On receipt of 15 pence and address, sent immediately, direct to front, post free, by Manager, War Supplies Co., 61, Queen’s Park Rise, Brighton. Officer’s combined telescope and periscope at three guineas. Machine Gun Hyposcopes, five guineas.





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