IMPROVEMENTS ON THE LOCKS AND BARRELS OF FIRE- ARMS, AND ALSO AN IMPROVEMENT OR ADDITION TO BAYONETS
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
FRANCIS RICHARDSON, of Queen Street, Westminster, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of May,
in the fifty-sixth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the
said Francis Richardson, my exors, admiors, and assigns, His special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Francis
Richardson, my exors, adñors, and assigns, during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed,
my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS ON THE LOCKS AND BARRELS OF FIRE-
ARMS, AND ALSO AN IMPROVEMENT OR ADDITION TO BAYONETS;" in which said
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging nie, the said Francis
Richardson, under my hand and seal to cause a particular description
of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the

page_text: said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being there-
unto had, may more fully and large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Francis Richardson, do hereby declare that by this instrument in
writing, under my hand and seal, is particularly described and ascer-
tained the nature of my said Invention, and manner in which the same
is to be performed, as well by a description in writing as well also by
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
Fig. 1, represents the inside of the lock with all its parts shewn. (A),
part of the improvement, is a lever moving upon the pivot (a), to one
end of which is attached the sliding piece (b), acting in a dovetail groove
in the solid part of the lock plate between the pan and barrel; to the
other end of this lever is a pin (c) passing perpendicularly through an
aperture in the solid part of the lock plate, which slider (6) and pin (c)
are raised or lowered alternately upon the pivot (a). The object of this
sliding piece will be better understood by observing that Fig. 2, (d)
is a small piece of metal attached to the side of the barrel against the
touchole, through which a sufficiently large perforation is made to
enable the powder to pass in loading from the barrel to the pan,
as seen in the section of the barrel. Fig. 3, at (d); and here it should
be remarked that I propose this touchole should be about twice the
diameter of those generally made, and removed to the distance of about
one quarter of an inch from the breech. Fig. 4, represents a view
looking down upon the pan, and shows the slider (b) as before described,
and the necessary recess in the lock plate for admitting the piece (d)
to lie close to it. Now the action of the lever and sliding piece will
be this whenever the hammer is shut down, as in the act of loading,
the slider will be forced down, also shewn in Fig. 1, and the powder
admitted through the touchole, described before, will pass into the pan,
there being an opening at the top of the slider for that purpose. The
gun being loaded and thus primed, whenever a discharge takes place
the cock will strike the hammer, open and liberate the slider (b), which
is at the same instant raised by the shoulder of the cock bearing down
the pin (c), seen in Fig. 5, and the fire of the priming passes through
a small touchole in the slider presented at the same time exactly

page_text: opposite to the large touchole in (d), ignition is thus communicated to
the powder in the barrel. The connected situation of the piece (d)
when the cock is screwed to the gun is shewn by red dotted lines upon
Figs. 1, and 5. My next improvement in the construction of gun
locks consists in a different connection of its parts, as seen in the
Drawings. First, I lengthen the solid part of the lock plate about one
inch, and instead of a screw to hold the sier spring, as heretofore, a pin
(e) is introduced into the solid part to hold it. Fig. 6, is the bridle
detached, but seen in its place upon the lock in Fig. 5, with the
necessary perforations to admit the sier (9) as well as the pin of the
sier spring, and also a hole for the admission of the serew pin that
passes through the stock in the solid part of the lock plate, attaching
the lock and barrel together. My last improvement consists in the
addition of a piece of a sharp steel fixed on the bend of the bayonet.
for the purpose of cutting the cartridge instead of biting it off, as shewn
in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Richardson, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixteen
FRANCIS (L.s.) RICHARDSON.
FRANCIS (t.s.) RICHARDSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of
November, in the year of our Lord 1816, the aforesaid Francis
Richardson came before our said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specifi-
cation aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.