CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1817

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH MANTON, of Davies Street, Berkley Square, in the Parish of
Saint George, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gun
Maker, send grecting.
WHEREAS I did by petition humbly represent to His present
Majesty King George the Third, that I had invented "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN LOCKS FOR FIRE-ARMS;" His Majesty was pleased to issue
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth of September, in the fifty-
seventh year of His reign, which Letters Patent do give and grant unto
me, the said Joseph Manton, and to my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or to my and their servants or agents, His said Majesty's
especial licence, full power, and sole priviledge to make, use, exercise,
and vend my said Invention within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, and to have and enjoy the whole profit and ad-
vantage arising by reason of the said Invention, during the term of
fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent, by which His
Majesty also requires and strictly commands all His subjects whatever,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, that
during the continuance of the said term of fourteen years they shall

page_text: not, either directly or indirectly, make, use, or put in practice my said
Invention, or any part of it, or in any ways counterfeit, imitate, or
resemble the same. The same Letters Patent also contain a proviso,
obliging me, the said Joseph Manton, to 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 Majesty's High
Court of Chancery within six calendar months after the date of the
said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto
had, may more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in fulfilment of the said proviso, I, the
said Joseph Manton, have executed this instrument in writing, by
which I do declare that my improvements in locks for fire-arms consist
in making that part of the lock called the pan (and which receives the
powder of the priming) in the forms or shapes represented by the Draw-
ings in the margin of these Presents. First Nos. 1 and 2, represent
a lock detached from the piece to which it belongs. The pan A, which
is to contain the powder for the priming, is made with overhanging sides
or edges, so that the part where the powder lies is larger-than the open
part of the pan where the powder is exposed to the sparks struck by
the flint from the hammer. The bottom of the pan or space to contain
the priming is flat, and the sides are not at right angles thereto, but
inclined towards each other in the manner of a dovetailed groove, so
as to contract the open part. This is clearly represented in No. 1,
which shews the mouth of the pan, or that end thereof which applies
to the touch-hole of the piece, but the cross section of the pan is the
same at every other part. Other improvements are to make the pan in
the forms shewn in No. 3, or 4, in which the bottom of the pan or space
to contain the priming is made concave, and the sides are a continuation
of the same concavity, so that the edges approach each other, and con-
. tract the open part at the top to a smaller size than that part where
the priming powder lies. In either of the improvements the cross section
of the interior space or cavity of the pan is of the same size in that
part which applies immediately to the touch-hole as in every other part,
so that the insides, measured in a direction parallel to the touch-hole,

page_text: are straight lines, and the edges of the open part of the pan are parallel
lines as shewn in No. 2. The extreme end of the pan opposite to the
touch-hole is made overhanging in the same manner as the sides of the
pan, so that the open part is shorter as well as narrower than the space
where the priming powder is contained. These improvements will cause
a piece to fire quickly, because the priming powder contained in the
pan is in some measure confined by the contraction of the open part of
the pan, and when the priming is ignited the energy of its explosive.
force will be greater than if the priming was contained in a pan the
usual form, and will therefore communicate the fire to the touch-hole
more quickly.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Manton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.
JOSEPH (L.s.) MANTON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-fifth day of
March, in the fifty-eighth year of the reign of His Majesty King
George the Third, the said Joseph Manton came before our said Lord
the King, in Elis Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of His said
Majesty's reign.
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of March. One thousand eight
Inrolled the Twenty-fifth day of March. One thousand eight
hundred and eighteen.