AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS OF ALL KIND OF FOWLING PIECES AMD FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN MANTON, of Dover Street, Piccadilly, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gunsmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great-Scal of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth
day of July, in the second year of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Manton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, His special licence, full power;
sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said John Manton, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, and every of us, by myself and them-
selves, or by my and their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or
such others as I, the said John Manton, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter, during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my
Invention of AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS OF ALL
KIND OF FOWLING PIECES AMD FIRE-ARMS," within that part of His said
Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called Eng-

page_text: land, His Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, in
such manner as to me, the said John Manton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and 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 scal, and cause the same to be enrolled in His 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 advantages whatsoever thereby granted,
should utterly cease, determine, and become void, any thing 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 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 in forming the scar of the lock so as to have
the back end placed crosswise in the plate instead of lengthwise, which
is a great advantage, as it admits of the trigger blade being so formed
as to require only a small notch in the trigger plate instead of a long
onc, as with the common trigger, which lets in much wet, thereby
rusting the trigger and the notch in which it acts and impeding its
action, and also that of the sear, and consequently causing considerable
danger. This Invention I exemplify by the Drawings at the foot of
these Presents, and further illustrate by the following explanation (that
is to say) The sear, instead of being formed in the usual manner, as
represented by the Drawing marked B, is made in the form represented
by the Drawing marked A; and the Drawing marked B, is inserted
with a view of shewing the difference between the scar invented by
me and the one in general use, the latter of which such Drawing
represents. In the Drawing marked C, the situation and position of
the sear is shewn, and it is there marked D. The trigger of the lock

page_text: to which the sear is applied is fitted to the trigger plate in the same
manner as a pocket pistol (that is to say) with a blade nearly upright,
so as to press upon the shank of the scar, which shank in the Drawing
C, is marked E.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Manton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of September, One
thousand eight hundred and twenty-one