Amazing how that circle kept repeating itself. During the late 18th century, heavy cavalry was often armed, in Napoleonic fashion, with relatively long, heavy sabers designed to stab. My 1815 dated cuirassier blade is longer than my leg with a straight fluted blade. Can't imagine trying to reach past a Brown Bess and bayonet with it to break a British square.
Effective in pursuit of broken formations, the saber, and cavalry in general, was of limited utility against troops who would hold their formations. In part, that is why Napoleon dictated that the cuirassiers also be armed with the model 1777 carbine.
Light cavalry, on the other hand was typically armed with slashing weapons, often with blades having a pronounced curve and of relatively light weight. The fashion is plainly seen in American revolutionary and 1812 era weapons and that clearly evolved into designs such as Civil War era light artillery, etc.
In many respects Paton's design was a hundred year reach back to the cuirassier. Thank goodness those troopers didn't have to actually try to break a German line manned by mauser and maxim armed infantry.
