CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCUSSION CAPS FOR DISCHARGING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1841

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
THOMAS STARKEY, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Copper
Cap Manufacturer, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Royal Letters Patent, bearing date at Westminster, the
Sixteenth day of December, in the fifth year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Starkey, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Thomas Starkey, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, and such others as I, the said Thomas Starkey,
my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon
Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCUSSION CAPS
FOR DISCHARGING FIRE-ARMS," in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso obliging me, the said Thomas Starkey, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain

page_text: the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in
and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at
large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Thomas Starkey, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described' and 'ascertained in and by the following descrip-
tion thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention of improvements in percussion caps for discharging
fire-arms consists in a novel method of manufacturing those articles
whereby they are rendered impervious to water, and may, if necessary,
be removed from the cone or nipple without any risk or danger of lis-
charging the gun, it being impossible that any portion of the dettonating
powder contained in these improved caps can escape from the cap and
adhere to the nipple, which has frequently been the case with the
ordinary caps, when, by letting the hammer fall down too violently
upon the cone, explosions have taken place, and serious accidents have
thereby occurred, which is entirely prevented in the construction of my
improved cap. My improvements consist in depositing the fulminating
powder between the caps, the one placed within the other, the end of
the inuer cap being perforated with a small hole, exactly coincident
with the touchhole in the nipple or cone of the gun, in order to allow
the fire from the explosion to pass through the breach of the
the charge of the gunpowder within. In order that my Invention may
be perfectly understood I have shewn in the accompanying Drawing
(which represent the caps larger than the real size) two methods of
carrying the Invention into effect, the several Figures comprehended
under A, representing one method of constructing my improved per-
cussion caps, and the several Figures under B, representing another
method somewhat different to the former. Fig. 1, represents au
external view of the outer cap or shell made in the ordinary manner.
gun into

page_text: Fig. 2, is a section of the same, showing the detonating powder
enclosed therein, which, by my improved mode of operating, is covered
by a disc of tin foil (represented detached below at a,) or, instead of tin
foil, a round piece of oiled silk or other waterproof material may be
used, the object of both of which is to protect the power from damp.
Figs 3, 4, and 5, represent an elevation, vertical section, and top or
horizontal view of the cap or shell intended to be placed within the
former, a small hole being made in the end of the last-described cap
for the free passage of the fire when exploded, as seen in the Drawing.
When the improved cap is finished by the conjunction of the two
shells this hole may be covered with wax or varnish to resist the wet.
The detonating powder being placed in the end of the cap or shell,
Fig. 2, and covered as shewn, the inner cap, Fig. 4, is to be placed
within it, and they are then drawn together and united by the ordinary
means of drawing percussion caps, thereby making the two into one
entire cap, as shown at Fig 6, and 7. Figs 8, and 9, represent the
elevation and vertical section of an ordinary copper cap or shell, similar
to Fig 1, and 2, but in this instance the detonating powder is not
placed at the end of the outer cap or shell, but is contained within an
inner case, represented in elevation and sect" at Fig 10, and 11.
This inner cap is shewn at B, perforated with a small hole similar to
that at Fig. 5; the powder is, however, prevented from falling through
by means of a disc of tin foil or other waterproof material placed at
bottom of the shell, which also serves to protect it from damp, as in the
former instance. This inner shell is intended to receive a small plug
of metal c, and which I denominate the striker; it is excavated as
shewn in the section, Fig. 11. This striker or plug c, being inserted
into the inner shell b, confines the detonating powder between them.
The shell and the plug are then placed within the outer shell, as
represented in the section, Fig. 13. The two shells are then drawn
together and finished, producing the perfect cap, as represented at
Fig. 12, and in section at Fig. 13. I would here remark that, if
preferred, the detonating composition may be inserted into a small
recess made for that purpose in the striker, and the cap finished in the
manner described. In reference to the cap shewn in the Figures of A,

page_text: it is not absolutely necessary to make the inner cap or shell of so great
a depth as is represented in the Drawing, Figs 3, and 4. I sometimes
make it no longer than is represented in Fig. 14, or I sometimes
substitute for the inner cap a disc of metal with a hole made in its
centre, as at Fig. 15, which is to be inserted into the inside end of the
onter cap in place of the inner cap. Sometimes I make the inner cap or
shell or the disc to be used in place of the shell, of very thin metal, and
in these cases I do not find it necessary to make the small hole at the
bottom, but I generally prefer doing so. Another mode of making the
cap is with an indentation or recess at the end of the outer shell,
which is done when the piece of metal is in the blank, and the
detonating powder is placed therein and properly covered and protected
with tin foil or other suitable material; then the blank of the inner
sbell, perforated with the small hole in its centre, is placed thereon.
and the two shells formed together by drawing, and the cap finished in
the ordinary way.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I claim as
the Invention secured to me by the hercin-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the construction of percussion caps in the manner
above shewn and described, whereby they are effectually protected
from becoming injured by damp, also the detonating powder is pre-
vented from escaping accidentally when the cap is removed from the
cone or nipple, as is sometimes the case with ordinary caps; and like-
wise that a more concentrated body of fire is driven through the cone
or nipple, by means of these caps, into the breech of the gun, in
consequence of a considerable portion of the flame being compelled to
pass through the small perforation in the end of the inner cap or metal
disc, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Starkey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June. One thousand
THOMAS (L.s.) STARKEY.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Sixteenth day of
June, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Thomas Starkey
came before our Lady the Queen, in Her Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was
stamped according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and
Inrolled the same Sixteenth day of June, in the year above
written.