IMPROVE- MENTS IN SELF-CAPPING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Pratt at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th July
1862.
I, ALFRED PRATT, of Devonshire Place, Wandsworth Road, in the County
of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN SELF-CAPPING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in improved arrangements in connection with fire-
arms, by means of which the nipple may be capped by the action of the lock
when raising the hammer to full cock. I propose to place or insert in the
stock of the gun, extending from any desired distance from the lock, a metal
tube, the entrance to which is at the lock side of the stock, and which tube
terminates at the entrance of a chamber or casing formed in one pieco with
the lock plate in the front and upper part and inside thereof. This chamber,
open at top and bottom, contains a second or inner chamber, closed at top and
bottom, which is made to rise out of the first chamber and move in a forward
direction over and on to the nipple of the gun or other fire-arm by the
following means-The inner chamber is provided with a curved projection
which descends from the centre of its under surface and terminates in front
and below the outer chamber or casing; attached by a screw to the extremity
of this projection a flat curvilinear spring extends upwards and between the
orifice caused by the separation of the lower plate of the inner chamber and
the lower margin of the outer casing thereof. Just below the inner chamber,
and on the projection, an arm or connecting rod is hinged; this arm passes in
a downward oblique direction from the projection and chamber and backwards

page_text: towards the tumbler of the lock, and a flat metal spring acting upon the
projection constantly tends to force back this arm against or into gear with a
tooth or catch which abuts from the tumbler of the lock in front or above the
notch which sets the gun or other fire-arm at half cock.
The action of the apparatus is as follows:-A quantity of percussion caps
being inserted in a reversed position into the entrance of the tube, and the
gun or other arm being held in a suitable position for loading, the caps will
slide down the tube and the lowermost cap will pass through the entrance of
the outer casing into the inner chamber, and consequently, when the hammer
is raised, the tooth or catch in front of the tumbler will force up the arm which
rests upon it and drive the inner chamber out of the casing and into a forward
position until it covers the nipple of the piece, on to which the cap is thereby
pressed; and the bearing surface of the arm against the tooth or catch of
the tumbler being made of such angular direction that, just at or before
the moment of the hammer arriving at full cock, the tooth or catch shall
have passed along the entire bearing surface of the arm, it follows that
the arm will escape from the catch and be suddenly drawn down and back to
its first position by means of an auxiliary main spring bearing on a pendant
pinned or hinged to the curved projection a little below the hinge or pivot
on which the arm or connecting rod is thereto attached. The force of the
auxiliary main spring tending to bear down the front of the chamber, and the
connecting arm tending to push the chamber upwards and forwards, it follows
that the chamber will be tilted over on to the nipple, as before stated, when
cocking the gun. The gun or arm may now be discharged, if desired, and the
connecting rod or arm, being previously out of gear with the tooth of the
tumbler (as described), will, by the act of discharging the piece and the
falling of the tumbler into its lowest position, permit the connecting arm from
the chamber to spring back into gear upon the catch of the tumbler ready for
raising the inner chamber again for the next operation of capping the gun or
arm, by which time another cap will have entered the inner-chamber. The
flat curvilinear spring rising with the inner chamber serves to close or shut off
the entrance of a second cap into the chamber until the chamber has fallen
into its primary position. The Invention is applicable to various descriptions
of fire-arms carried by the soldier or sportsman, such as the rifle, the musket,
pistol, or fowling piece, or other modification of such fire-arms.