Ax IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAMMERS AND PANS TO THE LOCKS OF ALL KIND OF FOWLING PIECES AND FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1815

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN MANTON, of Dover Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-
first day of July, in the fifty-fifth year of His reign, did, for Himself,
His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Manton, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power,
sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said John Manton, my exors,
admors, and assigns, and every of us, by myself and themselves, or by
my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I,
the said John Manton, my exors, admňors, or assigns, should at any time-
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the terin of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "Ax IMPROVEMENT IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF HAMMERS AND PANS TO THE LOCKS OF ALL KIND OF
FOWLING PIECES AND FIRE-ARMS" within that part of His said Majesty's

page_text: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such man-
ner as to me, the said John Manton, my exors, admors, or assigns, or
any of them, should in my or their discretion seem meet; in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that if I, the said John Manton,
should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to
be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advan-
tages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and
become void, anything therein-before contained to the contrary thereof
in anywise notwithstanding, as in and by the said Letters Patent,
relation being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Manton, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in
manner following, that is to say:
My Invention consists of a ridge or projection along the seat of the
hammer and a projecting ridge or division along the centre of the
bottom of the pan, from the touch-hole end to the opposite end, which
ridge and division I exemplify by the Drawings in the margin of these
Presents, and further illustrate by the following explanation (viz³):—
The seat of the hammer, instead of being flat or hollowed in the usual
manner, is made with a ridge or projection, continued from one end to
the other, as shewn by the Drawing marked A, which ridge or projection
may be made in an angular or prismatic form, or curvilinear, or may be
composed of two curvilinear surfaces, either of which forms will answer
the purpose, though I prefer the angular or prismatic form. The ridge
or projection in the seat of the hammer may be formed from the solid
part of the seat of the hammer, or may be made separate, of iron, steel,
or any other metal or metals fit for the purpose, and fastened on with
screws, rivetts, or dovetails, or any other way the workmen may prefer..
The height of such ridge or projection must be varied, according to the

page_text: depth of the pan, leaving a space between such ridge or projection, and
the projecting division in the pan sufficient to prevent them coming in
contact, as represented by the Drawing in the margin marked B. The:
space or interval between the two ought to be no more than is sufficient
to permit the grains of powder to pass. The division in the pan is repre-
sented by the Drawing in the margin marked C; such division is made.
in the centre of the bottom of the pan, from the touch-hole end of the.
pan to the opposite end, and may be formed out of the solid, or may be
made of iron, steel, or any other metal or metals fit for the purpose, and
may be fitted in after the pan is formed, by cutting a dovetail notch in
the centre of the bottom of the pan from end to end to receive it. The
sides of the notch should be closed with a set punch after the division
is fitted, in to prevent it moving; this division should be about one six-
teenth of an inch in height, and about the thirtieth of an inch thick,
and it should extend the whole length of the inside of the pan; but I
state these proportions by way of exemplification only; and as the ones
which I have found convenient for others will also answer the purpose,
the pan may be made either oval or straight, the latter I prefer. The
principal use of the ridge or projection in the seat of the hammer is to
divide the priming in the pan, and thereby forming two angles, or a
curve in the prime, produce a greater surface, of powder in the pan
with the same or less quantity of powder than if the priming lay
flat in the usual way in a pan of the same dimension, which will
increase the quickness and certainty of ignition. The use of the pro-
jecting division in the pan is, to prevent the powder in the pan from
shifting from one side of the pan to the other when the muzzle of the.
gun is elevated or depressed. To give these improvements the fullest
effect it is necessary to have a hole in the ridge or projection on the
seat of the hammer somewhat larger than the touch-hole, which hole
must be made opposite the touch-hole, pointing downwards, and coming
out through the centre of the ridge or projection about one eighth or
one tenth of an inch from the touch-hole end of the pan, as shewn by
the Drawing in the margin marked A, so as to allow the powder to
pass freely from the touch-hole into the pan when compressed with the
wadding; but I do not claim this hole as a part of my said Invention.

page_text: And I further do hereby declare that the above Drawings and descrip-
tion are given by me for the illustration of my said Invention and the
assistance of workmen using it, but that the particulars thereof may
be altered and varied; and that my said Invention does consist in the
convexity, projection, or ridge on the seat of the hammer, and the
division of the pan in whatever way such convexity, projection, or ridge
may be made on the seat of the hammer, and such division in the pan
only, so that there may be two spaces left in the pan for the powder to
be in, which spaces communicate with each other, and an interval left
between the projecting part of the pan and the projecting part of the
seat of the hammer.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Manton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifteen.
JN° MANTON. (L.S.)
⚫ AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Thirty-first day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1815, the aforesaid John Manton came before our
said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknowleged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified,
in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stampt
according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifteen: