IMPROVEMENTS IN LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN BLASTING
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Barry Lord, of Sandgate, in the County of
Kent, Veterinary Surgeon, Royal Artillery, and Frederic Hughes Gilbart,
of the same Place, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN BLASTING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Barry Lord and
Frederic Hughes Gilbart at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th September 1862.
We, WILLIAM BARRY LORD, of Sandgate, in the County of Kent, Veterinary
Surgeon, Royal Artillery, and FREDERIC HUGHES GILBART, of the same Place,
Gentleman, do bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN BLASTING," to be as follows:-
It is well known to military men and sportsmen that the interior of the
barrel of a rifle or other fire-arm becomes damp from the state of the atmo-
sphere; such moisture causes the powder to adhere to the rifling of the barrel,
and in loading causing foulness. We propose to use an apparatus which shall
entirely prevent the powder used in loading coagulating in the inside of the
barrel. Each Enfield rifle has a screw threaded on the point of the ramrod;
on to this we screw a small piece of metal (when the ramrod has no screw

page_text: this piece is furnished with a spring to seize and hold the point) with oper
sides; to this piece bangs a cylinder of capacity to hold the exact charge of
powder. At the bottom of the cylinder (which is partly open) is a mushroom
valve connected by a pin (which passes through the bottom of the cylinder to
a deeply grooved projecting head or ball. The action is thus:-The piece
being screwed on to the end of the ramrod the cylinder is placed in the barrel
vertically, the ramrod being in a horizontal position. The charge for loading
is then poured into the cylinder; the ramrod raised vertically, passes the
eylinder down to the breach; the head or ball on touching the bottom pushes
up the mushroom valve, and the powder at once escapes through the grooves
of the head or ball into the breech. The apparatus is then retired, and the
loading completed in the usual manner. With little modification our Invention
may be used to deposit the blast powder in mines.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Barry Lord and Frederic Hughes Gilbart in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th March 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
BARRY LORD, of Sandgate, in the County of Kent, Veterinary Surgeon, Royal
Artillery, and FREDERIC HUGHES GILBART, of the same Place, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of September, in the year
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors. give and
grant unto us, the said William Barry Lord and Frederic Hughes Gilbart,
Her special licence, that we, the said William Barry Lord and Frederic
Hugbes Gilbart, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as we, the said William Barry Lord and Frederic Hughes Gilbart, our
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
LOADING FIKE-ARMS AND IN BLASTING," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said William Barry Lord and Frederic Hughes Gitbart,

page_text: our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,
or one of our 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
5 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said William Barry Lord and Frederic
Hughes Gilbart, do hereby declare the nature of our 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
Sheet of Drawing hereunto annexed, and forming part of this our Specification,
and to the figures and letters of reference marked thereon :-
It is well known to military men and sportsmen that the interior of the
barrel of a rifle or other fire-arm becomes damp from the state of the atmo-
sphere, and that such moisture causes the powder to adhere to the inner
periphery or rifling of the barrel, producing foulness in loading. The object
of our Invention is to entirely prevent coagulation of the powder on the inside
of the barrel by the use of the apparatus herein-after described and shown in
the Drawing. Each Enfield rifle has a screw threaded on the point of the
ramrod; we screw on to this point the small piece of metal a, a, with open
sides, see Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawing (where the ramrod has no screw
this piece is furnished with a spring to seize and hold the point); to this pieco
hangs loosely the cylinder 6, which is of capacity to hold the exact charge of
powder required to load. At the bottom of the cylinder, which is partly open,
is a mushroom valve c (shewn in dotted lines, Figure 2,) connected by the
pin or stem d (which passes through the bottom of the cylinder b) to the
deeply grooved projecting ball e, the pin or stem ending in the head f. The
action is as follows:-The piece a, a, being screwed on to the end of the
ramrod, the cylinder b is placed in the barrel of the fire-arm, where it hangs
vertically, the ramrod and piece a, a, (which pivots on the pins or studs g. g.)
being in a horizontal position. The charge of powder is then poured into the
eylinder b, and the ramrod being raised vertically the cylinder is passed down
to the breech, the apparatus descending in the position shewn, Figure 1.
The end of the pin or stem d on touching the bottom of the breech of the
barrel of the fire-arm pushes up the mushroom valve c into the position shewn
in dotted lines at Figure 2, and the powder at once escapes through the
grooves of the ball e into the breech. The apparatus is then withdrawn, and
the loading completed in the usual manner.

page_text: Our Invention is also used for depositing the blast charge of powder in mines,
for which purpose the construction of the apparatus is sometimes slightly
modified, but without departure from the principle of the apparatus above
described and illustrated in the annexed Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederic Hughes Gilbart, for myself
and my Co-patentee, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-
eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
FRED. H. GILBART. (L.S.)