CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF CERTAIN OF THE PARTS OF FIRE-ARMS, AND ALSO IN THE SHOEING OF HORSES
Year: 1816

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1,
JOSEPH MANTON, of Davies Street, Berkeley Square, in the Parish of
St. George, Hanover Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS did, by petition, humbly represent to His present
Majesty King George the Third, that I had invented "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF CERTAIN OF THE PARTS OF
FIRE-ARMS, AND ALSO IN THE SHOEING OF HORSES," His Majesty was
pleased to issue His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of
February, in the fifty-sixth year of His reign, which Letters Patent
do give and gránt unto me, the said Joseph Manton, and to my exors,
adiňors, and assigns, or to my and their servants or agents, His said
Majesty's special license 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 advantage 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

page_text: and strictly commands all His subjects whatever, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, that during the con-
tinuance of the said term of fourteen years they shall 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 said 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Joseph Manton, have executed this instrument, by which I do de-
clare that my improvements in the construction and use of certain of the
parts of fire-arms are applicable to and may be substituted for those
parts of fire-arms which are for the purpose of fireing the gunpowder or
discharging the piece. A piece constructed according to my improve-
ments has no pan or magazine to contain powder for priming, nor any
hammer and flint, but instead thereof, that part of the cock which holds
the flint in common locks is made with a proper aperture to receive and
hold a small tube, which contains a minute quantity of some of those
substances which will produce fire and explosion when subjected to a
sudden blow or pressure; and which are called detonating or fulminating
substances or powders. To fire off or discharge such a piece the trigger
must be drawn as usual, and the spring of the lock will throw the
cock containing the tube suddenly forwards, by which the perforated
end of the small tube which contains the detonating substance is made
to strike suddenly on that part of the piece in which is the opening of
the touch hole or passage leading to the charge in the barrel, so that
the perforated end of the tube will cover the opening of the touch hole,
and by the blow or concussion occasioned by the sudden striking of the
tube as aforesaid, a pressure is caused to act suddenly upon the deto-
nating substance with sufficient force to explode it, and the flame pro-
duced by the explosion issuing with violence from the perforated end: of
the tube passes through the touch hole or passage into the barrel. of the

page_text: piece and give fire to the charge of gunpowder contained within.
When the piece is reloaded the said tube which contained the deto-.
nating substance can be readily detached from the cock and replaced
by another, which is ready charged with the detonating substance; a
sufficient number of such small tubes must be provided and kept ready
charged for use. Now I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not
make claim to the Invention of discharging fire arms by detonating or
fulminating powder or substances, the same having been long since
practised; but my Invention consists in the improvements of the
mechanism for the production and application of the fire which are
herein described. The advantages of a piece constructed in this man-
ner are, that it fires with great quickness and is less liable to miss fire
than guns with pans or priming magazines, and the perforated end of
the tube and the touch hole may be covered with as much bees' wax or
any such substance as will completely exclude damp air, and such
covering of wax will form no impediment to the fire passing into the
charge; such a piece is also much safer to use, being less liable to acci-
dental discharges whilst loading or whilst carrying or handling in a
loaded state, because the tube or tubes being removed from the cock or
cocks there is nothing to produce fire.
.
This is attained by so constructing the aforesaid tube which contains
the detonating substance, and also the cock to receive the said tubeė,
that the said tube can be readily detached from the cock or applied
thereto for use.
My improvements in the shoeing of horses consist in the application
of a machine or instrument to bore holes in the hoof of the horse's foot
for the reception of the nails, pins, or screws by which the iron shoe is
to be fastened on.
The shoe is to be made with holes and countersinks in it and fitted
to the hoof in the usual manner, and being applied in its place the tool
or instrument is to be placed flat against the shoe to. bore through the
holes and countersinks thereof and penetrate into the hoof, or may be
placed upon the hoof after the situation of the holes are marked; and
its construction is such that it will be certain to enter the hoof in a
direction perpendicular to the flat surface of the shoe or hoof until the

page_text: borer comes out in the inclined or sloping part of the hoof; by this
means the nervous or feeling part of the horse's foot will not be pricked,
and the nails, pins, or screws, when inserted in their places, will follow
the same direction. For a more complete description of the construction
of my improvements I have hereunto annexed a Drawing, of which
Figures 1, to 6, represent a lock for fire arms, constructed according to
my improvements in such a manner that it may be applied to a gun,
pistol, or any other piece to which a gun lock with a flint is or can be
applied. The Figures are of the full size, and those parts which are of
my Invention are marked with numeral characters for reference, but
those parts which are marked with the letters of the alphabet are such
as have been before used, and to which I make no claim, but are neces-
sarily introduced to shew their connection with the parts of my Invention.
A, B, Figures 1, 5, and 6, is the lock plate; C, D, 10, the cock. The
tumbler, main spring, seer, and other parts behind the lock plate, which.
actuate the cock, may be made in the usual manner, or in any other
improved manner, such being no part of my present Invention.
1, Fig. 2, is the detached tube to contain the detonating substance,
and which is made up in the form of a small pellet b, and fitted to the
bore of the tube; e, is a cylindrical wire fitted into the tube, and when
it is in its place one end bears upon the pellet b, as shewn in Fig. 3,
whilst the other end projects beyond the end of the tube 1, and being
struck with a sudden blow will press upon the pellet b, and explode it;
the end of the tube 1, is perforated with a small hole f, through which
the fire issues; a number of such tubes, each with its wire è, must.
be provided and kept charged ready for use, in which state they will be
like Fig. 3; and the hole at the end f, is to be stopped up with soft
wax to secure the detonating substances from damp air, but that is not
necessary in fine weather, when the tubes are carried in a bag or in the
pocket; this wax will make no sensible impediment to the fire passing
through the hole f. The wire e, must be accurately fitted to the bore, of
the tube, and must be slighly waxed with soft wax, to prevent its falling
out of the tube; two small notches are made in the wire, near its end,
for the convenience of taking hold of it to draw it out of the tube. To
apply these detached tubes to use the upper part 10, of the cock has

page_text: a cylindrical hole bored into it to receive and exactly fit the tube 1,
when it is inserted as in Fig. 1; the end of the hole is plugged up by
a screw 4, the end of which is in contact with the projecting end of the
wire e, as shewn in the section Fig. 4. The tube, when inserted, is held
into its place by a tooth projecting from the spring 5, and entering into
one of the notches made in the tube at 6, 6, Fig. 3; this prevents the tube
being withdrawn, but by turning the tube round on its axis the cylin-
drical surface of the tube between the notches 6, 6, applies itself to the
tooth of the spring and presses it back, and then the tube can be drawn
out for the convenience of turning the tube round with the finger and
thumb the end at 1, has three projecting rims which are milled or
made rough.
The small screw 8, which holds the spring 5, in its place, enters into
the plug screw 4, sideways, and prevents its being withdrawn or getting
loose. When the trigger of the piece is drawn the motion of the cock
carries the end of the tube 1, down in the dotted lines Fig. 1, and its
end f, applies upon the surface 12, in which is the opening of the touch
hole or passage leading to the charge, as shewn at 16, in Fig. 4, so that
the small hole in the end f, of the tube will coincide with the opening
of the touch hole or passage. By striking upon the surface 12, the
motion of the tube 1, is arrested with a sudden stop, and by the motion
of the cock the plug screw 4, presses upon the projecting end of the
wire e, and communicates a sudden blow to the pellet of detonating
substance, which causes it to explode; the flame thus produced blows
through the small hole f, in the end of the tube into the touch hole or
passage 16, and gives fire to the charge. The construction of the touch
hole or passage is fully explained by Fig. 6, which is a cross section of
the lock and breech through the touch. E, represents the solid of the
breech, and F, the centre hole or passage to communicate with the
charge in the barrel; from this hole the touch hole a, is carried side-
ways, and if the lock of the gun was of the common kind the pan for
the priming would be placed against the hole; but when constructed
according to my improvements, that part of the lock plate A, B, which
applies against the touch hole a, has a hole or passage H, through it,
forming a continuance of the touch hole. The outside of the hole H, is

page_text: plugged up by a platina screw with a smaller hole through the centro
of it, opening to the air at 13, from the passage H; a small touch hole
or passage proceeds sideways in such a direction that it will exactly
coincide with the axis of the tube 1, when the lock is discharged, as in
Fig. 4, and 5; the surface 12, in which the touch hole opens must be
fitted to the end of the tube, so as to make a good joint, and the hole in
the cock for the reception of the tube 1, should be so directed that the
perforation in the end f, of the tube will coincide with the touch hole or
passage 16, leading to it. But to make the communication of the fire
certain, even if the position of the tube should not be exactly correct,
the end f, of the tube is hollowed out to a cup much larger than either
the perforation through the end or the opening of the touch hole. The
small perforation 13, through the center of the plug, which is screwed
into the end or opening of the passage H, communicates from the touch
hole to the open air and is made to allow the escape of part of the fire
produced by the explosion of the detonating substance.
By this means I can charge the tube with rather more of the
detonating substance than is absolutely necessary to produce sufficient
fire to explode the gunpowder in the barrel, and this will render the
explosion of the detonating substance by the concussion more certain
than if a less quantity was used, and at the same time the quantity of
flame thrown through the touch hole into the charge of powder will
not be so great as to dislodge or give motion to the charge before the
powder is set on fire. The perforation at 13, should be of such size
that the grains of the gunpowder which is intended to be used in the
gun will not run through it; the said perforation 13, also allows the
air to escape from the barrel when the charge is rammed down in
loading the gun. As the violence of the blast from the explosion of
the detonating substance renders it liable to penetrate and enter into
the joints between the parts, I make a circular channel in that part of
the inside of the lock plate A, B, which applies to the breech E, Fig. 6,
which channel surrounds that part which fits against the touch hole a.
The section of this channel is represented by m, m, Fig. 6, and from it
four small holes are drilled through the solid of lock plate and open
on the outside, as shewn in Fig. 5; by this means, if any flame or

page_text: vapour escapes at the fitting between the lock plate and the part of the
breech immediately surrounding the touch hole a, it will be received in
the circular channel m, and escape through the four small holes into
the open air, without being so liable to penetrate beneath the lock plate
into the works of the lock as it might otherwise do.
Figures 7, and 8, represent a double barrelled gun constructed pur-
posely for the application of my improvements; in this the tube 1, and
the cock C, D, 10, are made just the same as the former, but the
opening of the touch hole or passage 16, which leads to the charge in
the barrel, and on which the end of the tube strikes, is made in the
brecch of the barrel, instead of being made in a part of the lock plate.
For this purpose the breach screws of the barrels are constructed as
shewn in Figures 9, 10, and 11; the dotted line N, Fig. 10, is the con-
cavity which forms the bottom of the barrel, and on which the charge
of the powder lays; n, is the passage leading from it; m, is a cross
passage, which at the out side end is plugged up with a screw having a
small perforation, as shewn at 13, Fig. 7, to permit the escape of the
superfluous fire, as before described, but too small to allow the powder
to run through, as before described. The orifice 16, of the touch hole
is made in the surface 12, and the direction of the hole is shewn in
Fig. 10, at 16, to explain how it communicates with the cross passage
m. The surface 12, is so inclined as to make a joint with the end of
the tube 1; when the cock is down the direction of the touch hole and
the passage is nearly the same in this as in the former, but the passages
are made wholly in the breech, instead of being partly in the breach
and partly in the lock plate. In a gun thus constructed the locks do
not project sideways so far as in other guns, as is shewn by Figure 8,
and the barrels fit down upon the upper edge of the lock plates A, B,
as shewn by Fig. 7, so that the barrels can be removed from the
stock and replaced without first taking off the locks.
The detonating substance which I use is that which is known to
chemists by the name of oxymuriate of potash with a proportion of
sulphur; this proportion must be such as is to render its explosive
action moderately violent, but at the same time sufficient to fire off the
piece by a small quantity, as must be ascertained by trying the piece in

page_text: which it is intended to be used. The detonating substance of which
the strength is so ascertained must be made up with gum water into
pellets of proper size to fit the tube, and each containing the proper
quantity to fire off the piece.
The preparation of the detonating substance being well known, and
being no part of my Invention, need not be described; the wax which
I use to wax the wire and stop the tubes with, as before described, is
of this mixture, four parts bees' wax with one part mutton suet.
My aforesaid improvements in shoeing of horses is represented on
half size in Figures 12, and 18. A, B, C, is the horse shoe of the
common form, or in any other approved form; 1, 1, is a flat plate of
iron, to which a tube 2, 3, is attached, and to the perforation of the
tube a cylindrical pin or bore 4, is well fitted, so that it can either turn
round or slide backwards and forwards; on one extremity is a handle
5, to turn it round by, and at the other end is the borer 6, which is to
pierce the horse's hoof; the form of this borer may be like an augur,
or any other form adapted to bore the horn, and the size of the hole
which it will perforate must be less than the nails or pins which are to
be inserted into the holes for fastening on the shoe; when screws are
to be used for this purpose the holes must be exactly the size of the
bottom of the thread of the screw, and the screws being made cylin-
drical, as at L, will hold very fast. The plate 1, 1, to which the tube
is fixed is to be applied flat against the surface of the horse shoe or
hoof, and by this means the tube 2, 3, will be held perpendicular
thereto and will bore the holes in the hoof in that direction.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Manton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixteen.
JOSEPH (L.S.) MANTON.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within
named Joseph Manton (being first
duly stamped), the interlineations being

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-eighth day of
August, in the year of our Lord 1816, the aforesaid Joseph Manton came
before our said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified, in form above written. And also the Specification afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-eighth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixteen.