Year: 1812

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH MANTON, of Davies Street, in the Parish of Saint George,
Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Thirtieth
day of April, in the year of Our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
twelve, and in the fifty-second of His reign, for Himself and His
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Manton, my exors,
adñiors, and assigns, His special license, full power, sole priviledge and
authority, that 1, the said Joseph Manton, my exors, adñiors, and
assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and
their deputy or deputies, servants or agents, or such others as I, my
exors, adiiors, and 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 expressed, should and lawfully night make, use, exercise,
and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon

page_text: Tweed, my new invented "IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNS AND PISTOLS;" in
which Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the
said Josephi Manton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause
the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calender months next and immediately after the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being
thereunto had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
the said Joseph Manton, do hereby declare that my said improvements
upon guns and pistols consist in the following particulars:
First, what I call a gravitating stop, which being applied to the lock
of a gun or pistol.will render the same less liable to be accidentally
discharged while loading if it should have been inadvertently set at the
full cock.
Secondly, in an inverted breeching, which contains proper cavities
to permit the escape of any water which may fall upon the breeching
of a gun or pistol when used in rainy weather. And also,-thirdly,
lip added to the hammer of guns and pistols, which will turn off
the water into the said cavities, and render it less liable to enter into
2
the pan.
Fourth, what I call a musical spring or bar, which being applied
within the trigger plate will cause the speaking or click (that is, the
sound produced by drawing back the cock,) to be a pleasant and
musical sound. The particulars of these Inventions are explained by
the Drawing hereunto annexed. Figure 1, is a side view of a double
barreled gun to which the improvements are applied; the gravitating
stock is marked A, B, C, it is a bent lever moveable on the centre pin
C, which is supported by a bridge D, screwed against the plate of the
lock; the circular part A, is a weight or counterpoise which governs the
action of the gravitating stop; the arm B, is so situated that it may be
moved towards the centre of the cock, and passing under a hook B,
formed out of the cock, it becomes a stop to the cock and prevents its
striking the hammer. Although the trigger is discharged whenever the

page_text: gun is used for shooting, the weight A, disposes the gravitating stop
as in Figure 1, in which position it has no action; the arm which
carries the weight A, fall against a part of the bridge D, and removes
the arm B, so far from the centre of the cock that it does not interfere
with the hook E, the gun may therefore be fired off without any inter-
ruption from the stop B. Now suppose the gun placed in such a
position that its barrel is vertical, or nearly so, as it will be when the
but end or heel plate of the stock is placed flat on level ground (or if
the barrel is ever so much inclined so that the trigger is on the upper
side), then the gravitating stop will prevent the discharge of the gun,
because it assumes the position shewn in Figure 6; the weight A, now
inclines the stop B, to rest under the hook E, of the cock, and thus
prevents the gun from being discharged by holding up the cock, even
if the trigger should be accidentally drawn. The gun maker should in
general dispose the gravitating stop in such a position that when the
gun barrel is inclined about an angle of eighty degrees to the horizon,
the weight A, will be just upon the point of falling over towards the
cock; it is evident that in this case the gun cannot be used to shoot an
object at a greater distance than eighty degrees, but as very few sports-
men will require so great an elevation as this, the gravitating stop may
be made so as to fall over at a less angle, in which case the gun will
be more safe from accidents, though it cannot be used to shoot at so
great an elevation. Other sportsmen may wish to have a gun which will
shoot perpendicular; in this case the gravitating stop must be made
accordingly, so as not to fall over when the barrel of the gun is vertical;
the adjustment of the stop must be made by trial, bending one or other
of its arms until it will fall over when the barrel is in the intended
position. It is necessary that the gravitating stop should be. perfectly
free in its movements, for which purpose the pivots must be well fitted,
and it should be raised so as not to rub against the lock plate in its
motion; this is shown in Figure 7, which is an edge view, shewing how
it clears both the lock plate and the bridge D, in consequence of the
part which surrounds the centre pin being so much thicker; the gravi-
tating stop is also shewn detached in the same Figure, the same letters
denoting the same parts.

page_text: Respecting the gravitating stop, I have farther to observe that it may,
if required, be adapted to catch the cock at half cock, which will render
the
gun less liable to go off at half cock while loading, though, I do not
attach much value to this idea, because no well made lock will be in
any danger of discharging at the half cock; it will be effected by filing
away the hook of the cock or the end of the arm B, until the stop will
fall under it at the half cock, in the same manner as is represented in
Figure 6, at full cock.
Secondly, the inverted breeching is shewn in Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5.-
The water which falls upon the barrels F, G, Figure 2, drains down by
the side of top piece H, and in the common double barrelled gun is
liable to enter the pan, but in my improved inverted breeching this
water drains down two inclined planes I, K, which pass beneath the
top piece H, and are brought together into one mortice formed between
the breeches of both barrels, and the mortice being continued down
through the stock permits the water to pass away from the gun, the
mortice between the breechings L, M, is shown in Figures 3, and 5, at
N. The continuation of the mortice down through the stock is shown
at O, Figure 3; it is a square tube of metal fitted into the wood, and
round the upper end of it a quantity of leather is placed, upon which
the breeches of the barrels L, M, are pressed down when in their places,
and this forms a water-tight joining of the tube O, P, with the mortice
N. The manner in which I apply the inverted breeching to a single
barrelled gun or pistol is shewn in Figures 8, 9, and 10, which repre-
sent a breech of this kind detached from the barrel into which it is
fastened by the screw A, in the common manner, and B, is the hook
by which it is attached to the false breech; C, C, is the flat side filed
to the breeching in which the touch hole is formed by a piece of
platina D, Figure 9, screwed and rivetted in the usual manner. Now
my improvement consists in a passage or mortice F, the lower sur-
face of which forms an inclined plane E, F, G, down which the water
that may drop upon it runs and escapes from the gun on the side
opposite to the lock; at G, a small lip is formed to turn the water
fairly over the wood of the stock and prevent it getting in the joint
between the wood and the breech. In guns.and pistols for military

page_text: purposes it will not be necessary to leave the square or flat H, on the
top of the breech.
Thirdly, the lip formed on the hammer is explained in all the Figures
where the hammer is shewn, but particularly in Figure 3, which is a
transverse section taken through the touch hole of the double. barrelled
gun. a, b, c, is a section of the hammer, shewing the manner in which
its lip a, overhangs the upper edge of the inclined plane K, and turns
off any water which may drop upon it, rendering it less liable to get into
the pan; the lip of the hammer is applied to the single breeching,
Figure 9, in exactly the same manner, overhanging the sharp edge E,
of the inclined plane E, F, G. The form of the hammer, and the
manner in which the lip is made out of it, is explained by Figures 11,
12, 13, which represent it in different views. On the left hand side of
Figure 3, one of the pans is shewn open; the same letters here refer
to its lip as in the opposite side. Figure 14, represents the fourth
particular of my improvements, namely, the musical spring or bar; in
this Figure d, d, represents the trigger plate, which is screwed into the
stock of the gun by a screw which is tapped into the socket; 9, 1, 1,
are the triggers which pass through the trigger plate, and are moveable
on the centre; e, f, is the small spring, which keeps them always in
contact with the seer; all these are the parts of the common trigger;
but my improvement consists in a spring or bar k, screwed to the plate,
and each of the triggers has a small pin i, fixed into it, when the cock
is drawn back, and the seer gives the trigger a sudden jirk by falling
into the hents of the tumbler; those pins strike upon the spring or
musical bar, and as the triggers return instantly, they suffer the
spring to vibrate and produce a vibrating sound which will be more
pleasing to the car than the dead click produced by the
common manner striking upon the trigger plate d, d.
may be made curved, as in the Figure, or it may be
at the fancy of the maker, because as it is only intended to produce
a vibration by the triggers striking upon it, its form and size will
only affect the sound it will produce, and this is merely a matter of
fancy, and may be applied to single guns and pistols as well as
double. It is scarcely necessary to observe that the spring must be so
trigger in the
The spring k
made straight,