CARTRIDGE BELTS.
Numerous belts and devices for the safe and convenient carriage of car tridges have been invented. The Pooler-Jones belt has cartridge holders at tached to it, suitable for either paper or brass shells. These holders can be easily attached to any hunting vest, coat front, or belt. An ordinary vest will hold from 36 to 50, each holder weighing about one-third of an ounce. The belt can be perfectly adjusted by wearer to fit either a slim or large man, with waist measuring from thirty inches to forty-one inches. It can be worn over or under a coat, and it is impossible to lose the cartridges. The belt is intended to be worn or put on with the buckle behind. The cartridges are nearly all to the front and can be easily reached.
The Mills cartridge belt was invented in i866 by Captain (now Brigadier-Gen et al) Anson Mills, of the U. S. Army. His purpose was to provide an acceptable substitute for the clumsy box then used for carrying fixed ammunition. He first made belts of canvas, forming loops by sewing additional strips to the body of the belt. It was difficult, however, to make these loops uniform in size, or cylindrical, and after many experiments the inventor perfected a method of weaving the belt and loops in a homogeneous fabric of cotton. The loops thus formed arc cylindrical, affording perfect friction at all points On the circumference of the shell, and they are also uniform in size and equidistant from each other, giving the belt a neat and attractive appearance. The belt thus formed is exceedingly durable, and, by reason of its flexibility, more comfortable to wcar than any other belt. Not only in the Army, but among sportsmen and all others who have occasion to carry fixed ammunition, the belt became widely popular as soon as it was introduced The adoption of the belt by the United States Arniv, Navy, and Nfarine Corps, as well as by the National Guard of the several States, and by many Foreign Gov ernments, followed its introduction in clue course. For many years the manufac
ture of the Mills belts was conducted by Thomas C. Orndorff, who invented the method of weaving- one loop above another so as to produce what is generally known as the Ornclorff, or double-loop belt. This belt is now used exclusively by the United States Army and the Army of Great Britain. It is essentially a military belt, for use where it is desired to carry a maximum of ammunition. For sporting purposes the single-loop Mills belt meets every need. The belts vary in depth from 3 inches to 2% inches, with loops from 2iti inches to 3/4 inch In wearing this belt, care should be taken to have the cartridges well set down in the loops. The belt should never be thrown about upside down, but always worn with the larger mouth of the loop upwards, and the cartridges extracted as is illustrated in the drawing. The wearer should start the cartridges from the bot tom with his second, third and fourth fingers, and withdraw them by their heads from the top with the thumb and forefinger. If care is taken to conform to these instructions, there is no reasonable possibility of loss of cartridges, but, of course, if the belt is worn upside down or thrown about carelessly the cartridges will fall out, just as the contents of a soldier's pocket would escape if he hung his trousers up by their legs.