IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-PRIMING APPARATUS FOR FIRE- ARMS, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF PERCUSSION PRIMERS TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1858

page_text: Sealed the 7th January 1859, and dated the 10th September 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Lemuel Chester
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th September 1858.
I, JOSEPH LEMUEL CHIESTER, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Penn-
sylvannia, one of the United States of America, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SELF-PRIMING APPARATUS FOR FIRE-
ARMS, AND IN THE PREPARATION OF PERCUSSION PRIMERS TO BE USED THEREWITH,"
the same being in part a communication from a foreigner residing abroad,
and I am the first and true Inventor of the remainder, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to accomplish the self-priming of fire-arms by
new arrangements and devices.
The Invention consists in the manner of constructing and applying a tube

page_text: or charger holding flat metallic percussion caps or primers; the charger is
provided with a moveable false bottom supported underneath by a spiral spring.
The spring is contracted and restrained until the tube is charged and placed in
position by forcing a pin attached to the false bottom, & projecting through a
slot cut longitudinally in the side of the charger, down until it meets a lateral
slot into which it is turned and secured; the primers are then filled in. Thus
charged the tube is placed into a receiver located behind the cone, & between
it and the lock; here it is secured by means of a loose nut on the end of the
charger, which is screwed on to the receiver; a longitudinal groove is made in
the receiver for the pin above mentioned. When the arm is to be primed
the charger is to be turned in the receiver so as to disengage the pin when
the primers acted upon by the liberated spring are forced up and pressed
against the priming plate or carrier, also in the construction and mode of
operating the carrier. This is a long narrow plate having the end introduced
into the lock plate formed with a slot, by which it is connected to and operated
upon by the tumbler of the lock, so that with the hammer it is moved forward
and backward as the tumbler rotates. A circular hole is cut in the plate to
admit a primer, and the plate is but thick enough to admit one primer only
at a time. This plate is adjusted so that the hole as it passes backward over
the charger shall receive, only between the half & full cock, a cap which it
carries forward and holds directly over and on the cone just at the time the
nipple of the hammer falls upon and explodes it. The carrier is also provided
with a cone cleaner formed by extending the plate and converting the end into
a thick surface, plain or serrated underneath, so that as the carrier moves
backward this surface comes in contact with the top of the cone, and scrapes
off the sediment that may have settled upon it; it also serves to protect the
cone in rainy weather; the cone cleaner may be dispensed with, if preferred,
a longitudinal opening in front of cap hole may be made as a vent for the
smoke.
Also in covering the side of the cap coming in contact with the cone with
tinfoil or other similar material instead of copper for the purpose of economy,
and of presenting less obstacle to the action of the percussion powder.
And in preparing the caps whether covered entirely or in part with
copper or other material, so that they may be handled more conveniently by
forming them into rolls and attaching them together, one upon the other, by
gum, shellac, or other adhesive matter, which may also render them waterproof
etiher of itself or in combination with other waterproof materials. In this
form a number of primers may be readily introduced into the charger in a roll

page_text: instead of singly; they are also preserved from moisture and can be stowed for
transportation in less room.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Lemuel Chester in the Great Seal Patent Office.
on the 8th March 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
LEMUEL CHESTER, of the City of Philadelphia, State of Pennsylvania, one of
the United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Joseph Lemuel Chester, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph
Lemuel Chester, and my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Joseph Lemuel Chester, or 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 SELF-PRIMING APPARATUS FOR FIRE-ARMS, AND IN THE
PREPARATION OF PERCUSSION PRIMERS TO BE USED THEREWITH,"
a part of which
is a communication from a foreigner residing in the United States, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Lemuel Chester, or my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Lemuel Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
The improvement in the preparation of the primers which are composed of
the usual ingredients, but made into thin flat discs, consists in arranging them

page_text: one upon another in a tube or other similar device, and then or subsequently
moistening them with gum shellac, caoutchouc, or other adhesive matter having
waterproof qualities, so that they will adhere together in the form of rolls
when removed from the tube, and said roll be covered with a coating thereof.
By using these rolls cut into suitable lengths the charging of the charger
hereafter mentioned is effected very expeditiously; other advantages in this
Invention are rendering the primers waterproof and compact for transportation,
and the substitution for copper of tinfoil or other thin metallic or other
covering for the side coming in contact with the cone and even for the whole
primer, thus offering less obstruction to the action of the powder, creating less
sediment, and being more economical.
The improvement in the self-priming apparatus is represented in the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to which reference is had, analogous parts being
represented by the same letters.
Figures 1 represent the plan and side view of the priming plate or carrier A
showing the cone cleaner B, the vent C, the primer chamber D, and the
slotted projection E, by which it is connected to the arm X of the tumbler Y
of the lock. Figure 2 represents the lock plate Z, showing the position of the
receiver N, and when the haminer, is at half cock of the carrier A and its
chamber D. Figure 3, the position of the last, the hammer being at full
cock; and Figure 4, when the hammer is in the act of exploding the primer
on the cone. Figure 5 represents the internal arrangement of the charger F,
exhibiting the false movable bottom G, its projecting pin I, and the spiral
spring ; also a roll of primers J, the loose nut K is also shown. Figure 6,
the exterior of the charger to show the longitudinal slot L, and the lateral
one M; Figure 7, the interior of the receiver N, showing the grove P cut
for the passage of the pin I; Figure 8 represents a roll of primers.
The following description of the operation of the apparatus will at the same
time detail its arrangement. The charger or tube F provided with the
movable bottom G sustained on spring H is prepared for charging by forcing
the pin I attached to G (and which projects through slot L) down to the
slot M, into which it is turned and left. Into the space thus made a roll of
primers is introduced and the charger is placed in the receiver, to which it is
secured by the loose nut K. When the primers are to be used, the charger
is turned on K sufficiently to disengage the pin I from the slot M, the
bottom G now set free, its spring I forces it up, and presses the roll constantly
to the lower surface of the carrier A. The carrier is so adjusted that at
half cock the circular chamber D shall not be concentric with the orifice of

page_text: the charger F, but is located a little in advance of its centre in order that the
top of the roll cannot find entrance into the cavity D. By this arrangement
if the hammer should, as is sometimes the case, go off at half cock, no primer
will be presented to its action. In the act of cocking the carrier is drawn
further back, and when the chamber is concentric with the charger the end of
the roll is received, in its further passage the plate cuts off and detaches
the top primer which is of equal thickness with it, and retains it within the
chamber. By cutting off the primer during the backward movement of the
carrier the main spring of the lock is relieved from the exertion it would
be required to make if the detachment were made when the carrier was in
the act of moving forward. When the trigger is pulled, the primer is in the
chamber carried forward until it is placed directly over the cone, just as
the hammer falls upon and explodes it. A vent C is made in advance of the
chamber, as shown in the Drawing, to allow the smoke to pass quickly off';
the cone cleaner B removes the sediment that may have collected on the cone,
and also acts as a protective from moisture when the piece is at full or half
cock, especially if armed with india-rubber.
The self-priming apparatus may be employed without using a cone cleaner
or vent, or without the precise adjustment as described of the chamber, as the
plate may be allowed to receive and cut off the primer as the carrier is driven
forward, or without the loose nut on the charger, or with primers used singly
and without being rendered waterproof, or the carrier may be attached to the
hammer, and various alterations may be made in other as well as in these
matters. Nevertheless, so long as the general principle of feeding the primers
into the chamber D in the manner substantially as described in combination
with the mode of operating the carrier is retained, I consider such omissions
or alterations not to affect the said Invention of self-priming.
Having now described the said Invention as invented by and communicated
to me, what I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1st, the preparation of percussion primers substantially as described to bo
used with the within described or any other self-priming apparatus to which
such primers when so prepared are adaptable.
2d, the manner of constructing the self-priming apparatus when the same
consists of a mode of feeding the primers into the chamber substantially as
described, and of a mode of operating the carrier by means of the lock tumbler,
substantially as described.
3d, the mode of operating the carrier, whether said carrier is constructed
as within described, or in any other manner for a similar purpose.

page_text: 4th, the adjustment of the chamber D in relation to the charger at the
different stages of the cocking for the object herein described.
Finally, the use and employment of the loose nut on the end of the charger,
and also the application of the cone cleaner for its several purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Lemuel Chester, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, on this Thirtieth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOS. L. CHESTER. (L.S.)