AN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
HENRY WILKINSON, of Pall Mall, in the County of Middlesex, Gun
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing.
date at Westminster, the Twenty-second day of June last, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Wilkinson, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Henry Wilkinson, my exors, adiiors, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Wilkinson, my exors,
adiñors, or assigns, should' at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times during the term of years therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales; and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained
a proviso, that I, the said Henry Wilkinson, shall cause a particular
description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be enrolled in. Her said Majesty's High,
Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately.

page_text: after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear:
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Henry Wilkinson, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, to be as follows
(that is to say):
The improvement in fire-arms consists in a new arrangement of the
mechanism by which fire-arms may be discharged, herein-after described,
either in combination with or without a new method of priming, also
herein-after described. The advantages of this improvement, in my
opinion, consist,―
1st. In the simplification of the whole arrangement of the lock, which
according to my plan consists of three or four separate principal parts
instead of twenty-five or thirty pieces as usual in a common flint
musquet lock; and these three or four parts (screws not included) per-
form all the offices or functions of an ordinary lock, including the trigger
and guard also. 2nd. The stock is much stronger, in consequence of there
not being either lock, mechanism, or side piece to let in on the sides,
and no screws through the sides as usual. 3. My improved fire-arms
being much simpler in all its parts and easier to manufacture, must be,
of course, cheaper. 4th. This plan admits of adopting the common
copper caps, and greatly facilitates the application of my new method
of priming, which offers great advantages to the soldier and to all per-
sons employing it. The Drawings will explain all the particulars of
my Invention, and the same letters are employed to distinguish the
same or corresponding parts in all the Figures.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 A, the stock; B, the barrel; C, the plug or breeching, re-
presented by dotted lines, which also shew the section of the whole.
a, the mainspring and cock combined in one piece and represented at
half cock; b, the trigger, sear, and tumbler, also in one piece; c, the
guard cast in brass; d, the trigger spring held by the screw m; e,
the nipple screwed into the under side of barrel; f, f, a long strap

page_text: of iron forming the trigger and lock plate, concave at that part
which surrounds the nipple e, to give more room, and on which the
whole of the action is fixed, so as to work or act quite independantly of
the wood, the said iron strap being bent to suit the curve of the stock
and let flush into the wood; i, i, two screws to hold on the front part
of guard; 9, 9, are screws to hold the plate f. f. in the wood, one of
which may hold the mainspring and the other the guard also. When
this strap is required to be used with the new method of priming, to be
hereafter described, there must be a groove down the middle of the
under side capable of receiving the priming magazine, in which case
one of the screws g, in the fore part of the stock cannot be used, but
the strap ff, must, be secured by screws on the side so as to leave the
end of priming tube open. Fig. 2, and Fig. 4, side view of the main-
spring and cock a, taken off the plate, and Fig. 4, the under side of the
same, and lettered in the same way as in Fig. 1. h, is a conical raised
piece of steel, either forged solid with the spring, or better if made to
screw in so as to be renewed when worn by striking on the nipple.
Fig. 3, the strap or trigger plate f, f, the holes being all lettered to
correspond with the screws on parts which enter them, as described in
Fig. 1; e, is the nipple in the centre of the concave part. Fig. 5, the
trigger, &c. b, shewn separately, with its spring d, and pin m. Fig. 6,
front view of the guard within the sides of which the triggers, &c. works,
and is fixed to the plate f, f, by two screws i, i; Fig. 7, another arrange-
ment complete, as ready to let into the stock, in which the action is
reversed, the parts corresponding with the action or mechanism, Fig. 1,
being marked the same; the mainspring n, is here separate from the cock,
and acts on the tail of it; h, the part which strikes the priming on the
nipple; o, is a thin piece of steel projecting beyond h, and intended to
separate the primers in the tube or magazine, herein-after described,
from the fire of that which is discharged, and which piece or projection
o, passes between the said priming tube and the parts Fig. 10, which
supplies the place of the nipple e, Fig. 1,, when the priming magazine
is employed, but is not required for copper caps; this piece o, may
be applied to either of the arrangements Fig. 1, or Fig. 7. Fig. 8, a
rectangular brass tube having a narrow slit 2, 2, throughout its whole

page_text: length, and made to fit the primers Fig: 9, so as to allow them to slide
easily along. A small spring a, enters the tube a little at , to prevent
them from falling out and to deliver one at a time as pressed forward
by the button r, as required, which button fits the tube and slides through
it, being retained in its place either by its own fitting or by a light spring.
Fig. 9, two views of the primer intended, which may be made of card
punched out with a small hole in the centre, into which a pellet of
fulminating powder is placed, and both sides covered with a disc or circle
of thin paper, and then varnished to render the whole waterproof, or
they may be made of copper or other suitable metal. These primers
are introduced into the tube or priming magazine by merely pulling out.
the slider 7, and chopping them in when required. Fig. 10, the tube
or nipple suitable for these primers out of the barrel, the edges at top
being slightly undercut or dovetailed, to prevent the priming from falling
out until it has been exploded by the action of the cock, when it is cither
blown to pieces, or sufficiently altered in form to fall out when the cock
is raised. Fig. 11, part of the under side of the shaft of stock A; into
which the priming magazine p, p, is inserted by making a groove in the
wood; one end is entered under a small plates, and the other being
pressed down is retained in its place by a spring t, screwed into the wood
under it, so that the priming magazine may be easily removed and refilled
or replaced by another full one. If, however, the arrangement Fig. 1,
be employed, which is preferable to Fig. 7, the priming magazine has
no slit.
The spring must be placed on one side to leave the end
open, and the primers must be pushed forward by means of a narrow
long strip of metal fitting the tube and sliding in a groove in the stock
in a line with the magazine, so as to enter it when pressed into its
place. Fig. 12, a side view of the priming magazine out of the wood,
with the spring and pin t. N.B. The ramrod must be placed, a
little on the right side of the shaft of stock looking towards it, to avoid
the screws or magazine in the centre, which is rather an advantage
than otherwise.
Now I do not claim as new the placing of a lock on the under side of
the barrel, which has been done before; nor any of the springs, screws,
straps, tubes, or pieces aforesaid, separately; but I claim as my Invention

page_text: the general combination and arrangement substantially herein-before
described in the mechanism for discharging fire-arms; and whether the
same is used in whole or in part, it being obvious that my new method
of priming herein-before described may be used either as a part of my
said general improvement, or separately applied to fire-arms of the
ordinary construction. And such my Invention being, to the best of
my knowledge and belief, new, I declare this to be a true Specification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Wilkinson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine
HENRY (L.s.) WILKINSON.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of
December, in the year of our Lord 1839, the aforesaid Henry Wilkinson
came before our said Lady the Queen, in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein con-
tained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification
aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for
that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and thirty-nine.