Iш- PROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS, CARBINES, FOWLING PIECES, AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Napoléon Néron, of No. 119, Rue Saint Lazaro, at
Paris, in the Empire of France, Gentleman, for the Invention of "Iш-
PROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS, CARBINES, FOWLING PIECES, AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS."
A communication
Sealed the 28th November 1854, and dated the 5th June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Napoléon Néron at the
.Office of tho Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
.June 1854.
I, NAPOLEON NERON, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS, CARDINES, FOWLING PIECES, AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS,"
a communication, to be as follows:-
To a musket (as example) I propose to apply the following improvements:―
1st, a priming apparatus containing, say, 22 percussion caps, by means of
which apparatus the cap is placed on the nipple by the simple act of
cocking the gun. This priming apparatus consists of a rounded tube, fixed
to the barrel by a screw at the extremity, opposite the cock, and to the cock
by another screw. 2nd, a "sight" or sight piece, without the numbers, (as now
used,) easily fixed and understood. 34, a new plug, to be fixed to the
cock by a spring, and destined to prevent the destruction of the nipple.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed!
by the said Napoléon Néron in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th November 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NAPOLÉON
NERON, of No. 119, Rue Saint Lazare, at Paris, in the Empire of France,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Napoléon Néron, Her especial license that I, the said Napoléon Néron, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Napoléon
Néron, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter. during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,
and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for ." IMPROVEMENTS IN
MUSKETS, CARBINES, FOWLING PIECES, AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Napoléon Néron, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
inonths next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Napoléon Néron, do hereby déclare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and forming part of this my Specification. I would premise that my
Invention is applicable to fire-arms as at present constructed as well as to new
ones; I mean fire-arms, such as muskets, fowling pieces, carbines, or others,
whether the means of igniting the charge be by percussion or flints.
My Invention consists, firstly, of a metal primer, forming a tube square in
its interior, and circular on its exterior surface, to contain caps or capsules; I
intend the usual number of these capsules to be contained at one filling to
be twenty-two, but more or less may be used, as may be found most convenient
or desirable, facility for their renewal when used being provided. This tube,
which is shewn in the Drawing at Figures 1 and 2, at the letter a, (similar
letters of reference denoting similar parts in each of the diagrams respectively,)

page_text: and again detached at Figure 4. The end of this tube furthest from the cock
is furnished with an opening, destined to admit the capsules, which is shut or
closed when they have been introduced therein by a stopper (shewn at c, Figures
1 and 2), which prevents their falling back at Figure 4. This stopper is seen
withdrawn, to allow the supply of capsules to be received, by means of
charging tube 7, in which the capsules are ranged, as may be seen at c, at
Figure 5, and detached also at *. The capsules are retained in this tube by
the notch or nick f; they descend into the priming tube on a spring 9 being
pressed, which, permitting the capsules to pass, returns to its position, and the
stopper closes the orifice, as aforesaid. At the extremity of the primer, and
fixed thereto (as seen by reference to Figures 1 and 2) by a screw h, a break
is seen, denoted by the letter i, and connected as shewn, which, when the piece
is put on full cock, has the effect of drawing the primer towards the cock,
and to cause it to deposit the capsule on the nipple by a lowering move-
ment and consequent pressure. To disarm, it is sufficient to raise with the
finger the break, and the capsule, being seized by the claw of the primer,
returns to its primitive place, and by these means all accidental discharge of
the fire-arm is provided against. By the movement I have just described,
the priming a gun is effected by the aid of a groove, formed at the extremity
of the primer furthest from the cock (as shewn at k, Figure 4). This groove
made in the iron box (seen at 4, Figure 2,) gives to the primer the liberty
of following the movement of the cock; from whenco it results, that when the
gun is fired off, the cock falling on the nipple, as formed by my system, the
feeding capsules retire to such distance from the nipple that no fear need bo
entertained that they or any of them will take firo at the letting off of the
piece. At Figure 6 is seen the construction of the fire-arm under the primer
at that part corresponding with the cock. m is the slant or slope which permits
the capsules to arrive on the nipple. n represents a spring, which is charged
with the duty of allowing only one capsule to arrive on the nipple at a time.
O, a feeder placed above and before the groove m. p is the claw, serving to
draw up or clear away the remains or ashes of the burnt or discharged cap or
capsule, which it is indispensable to effect before the piece can be recharged.
The system of priming, the mechanism of which I have herein-before de-
scribed, is, it will be perceived, both easy to handle and may be placed and
kept in working order with facility. Caps or capsules of a much smaller size
may be used. The soldier will not be obliged to take each in his fingers for
the purpose of placing it on the nipple. The economy attained in the price
of my capsules, in comparison with those in ordinary use, will be found very
500n to repay the first cost of the application to fire-arms of my system of

page_text: priming. The advantages which distinguish this Invention arc, first, that the
priming apparatus is capable of being affixed to guns or pistols of all sorts.
In raising or removing the primer, the operator finds himself at once with the
ordinary gun. This lifting or raising is effected in a few moments, for the
whole apparatus is held thereon simply by two screws; one x, (Figure 1,) fixing
it to the 'cock, and the other, to the iron box-enclosing the groove, which
facilitates the movement of the carriage, by which it operates. These two
screws 'and 'are made of different forms, so that no error may occur in
their use, and that the refixing of my apparatus on the gun may be as rapid
as the removal, both being effected by the soldier, who should carry a screw-
driver.
Secondly, in a plug or stopper,' seen at Figure-3, projecting.at r.from the
head of the cock, and retained in position by a spring s, which, passing.over.the
end of the cock, terminates in a tail-piece t, which is fixed to the plug by a metal
burr and a screw. This plug is made of bulls-pizzle, of vulcanized gutta percha,
or other suitable material, and contains in its centre and throughout its entire
length a piece of copper wire of sufficient thickness; this copper takes the
place of the ordinary cap, and must be so placed as to correspond exactly
with the centre of the nipple, and if properly fixed will never deviate or
become detached..
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
it is carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I do not
confine myself to the relative proportions of parts of the priming apparatus
herein-before described and -illustrated in the Drawing, or to the size of the
caps 'or capsules, as such may, and indeed must be varied, to suit the various
description of fire-arms, without at all departing from the principle of my
Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Napoléon Néron, have hereunto affixed
my land and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
JOSEPII MERLE,
Rue Vivienne, No. 18,
Paris.
NAPOLÉON NERON. (L.S.)