VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS ON FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1806

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I;
JAMES FREDERICK MATTHEY, of Suffolk Street, in the City of West-
minster, Lieutenant in His Majesty's Regiment De Meuron, do send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the. Third,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Fourth day of December, in the forty-seventh
year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said James
Frederick Matthey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His
special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
James Frederick Matthey, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
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 "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS ON
FIRE-ARMS;" in which Letters there is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said James Frederick Matthey, under my hand and seal, to cause
a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
B

page_text: manner the said various improvements are to be performed, to be
enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, may
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said James Frederick Matthey, do hereby declare that the said In-
vention of "VARIOUS IMPROVEMENTS ON FIRE-ARMS," may be comprehended
under the four following heads, which are also more fully explained by
the Drawings bereunto annexed:-
1st, those intended more effectually to exclude water and dampness
from the powder in the pan and touch hole; 2, those intended to
encrease the power of the priming, so as to set fire to the charge with
more strength and velocity; 3%, those intended to facilitate to prime
during damp, rainy, or windy weather; 4th, and those preventing the
soldier on the right in the ranks being incommoded by the flash of the
musket upon his left. Head the first.-To secure the powder against
the admission of water the edge surrounding the bowl or basin of the
pan is to be a complete oval, as a, b, Fig. 1, or other convenient shape,
but without the usual interruption or opening towards the barrel.
The bottom of the hammer is to bear a similar edge or rim as e, e,
Fig. 2, or e, e, in the sections Fig. 3, and 4, the interior circumferenco
of which is exactly of the same shape and dimensions as the exterior
circumference of the pan, and so as to shut it like a box when let
down. To prevent the admission of water betwixt the lock and the
barrel a short conical pipe 1, Fig. 1, or Fig. 4, its section is to be left,
and managed so as to fit a conical cavity exactly of the same shape in
the side of the barrel; the lock being screwed fast, it closes so nicely
as to become necessarily air tight because of the conical shape of the
pipe; through this pipe the touch hole is bored from p, to 1, Fig. 1, or
from p, too, section Fig. 1. To secure the priming against any
moisture it might contract, either from the almost unavoidable capilary
attraction or from any dampness in the atmosphere with which salt-
petre has so great an affinity, the bowl of this sort of pan is to be
surrounded by two similar edges as a, b, Figs 5, and 7, separated by a

page_text: groove g, g, Figs. 5, & 7, 8, the sections. The outer edge a, Figs. 5,
and 7, may be somewhat lower than the inner one b; in this case the
bottom of the hammer, Fig. 6, is not only to bear, as above described,
a rim or guard b, b, and d, Figs. 7, and 8, to encompass the whole pan
and prevent the admission of water, but also an inner edge as c, c,
Fig. 6, or C, Fig. 7, and 8, intended to fit part of the groove g, Fig. 7,
the lowermost part of which o, o, Figs. 7, 8, must be fitted up by a
ring of leather or other soft substance moderately imbibed with oil.
The pan being shut and the principal pressure of the hammer made
to bear upon this soft substance, the capilary attraction will be cut off
by the oil or grease it contains, the pan and hammer will be air tight,
and consequently the powder secured against any dampness whatever.
Should the above two edges be made of the same height as b, Fig. 17,
then the whole groove a, must be fitted up with the ring of leather,
when the inner edge of the hammer may be suppressed. Head the
second. For to encrease the strength of the priming and render the
communication of its fire into the charge infinitely quicker and almost
infailable, a hole r, s, Fig. 8, or r, in the other sections, Fig. 7, and 17,
is to be bored into a solid piece of metal left under the pan for that
purpose; a screws, Fig. 8, is to fill part of this cavity or hole, leaving
the space 1, as a small magazine, which communicates with the pan by
the small holen, Fig. 5, and 8. Another hole or communication,
coinciding with the touchhole within the pipe, is to be bored as r, t,
Fig. 8. The priming being put in the pan this small magazine is also
filled up through the communication n. Fig. 5, and 8, and the priming
and the powder in the magazine being inflamed at the same instant,
part of the explosion of the magazine presses itself with great strength
and velocity into the charge through the touchhole.
The common
touchhole n, t, might of course be suppressed, but it will be found
useful in case of any clogging. The capacity and power of the maga-
zine are to be regulated by turning the screw 8. Head the third.-
This improvement consists in fixing and adapting behind and upon the
hammer a cilindrical reservoir, intended to contain a certain quantity
of powder for the priming; the several parts composing this reservoir
are, 1", the outer barrel Fig. 9, and a, p, o, Fig. 13, (the section of the

page_text: reservoir) with a bottom at the end a, and open towards b; 2, tho
iuner barrel or hollow box, Fig. 10, or c, e, e, e, Fig. 18, the section
with a bottom either soldered, screwed, or otherwise fixed at each end;
one of the bottom is to bear an axle C, and the other a square centre
as d, Fig. 10, upon which the small handle or thumb latch Fig. 11, is
applied and fixed by means of a small screw as i, Fig. 12, and 18.
This inner barrel or circular box is to work into the outer barrel Fig 9,
and to be made to fit it exactly, by being ground upon each other so as
to be extremely smooth and air tight by means of a little oil; 3, a
springs, s, s, Fig. 14, and 18, its section like that of a watch, and
adapted in the same manner (though shorter and stronger), is to occupy
the space c, d, Fig 9, and 13, having one end fixed to the outer barrel
and the other e, Fig. 14, into the groove c, of the axle Fig. 10. The
small handle Fig. 11, serves not only to turn the box within the outer
barrel about 180 degrees, or from h, to p, Fig. 18, and 17, but is also
intended to keep the whole together by end o, Fig. 11, being placed
behind the shoulder o, p, Fig. 9, and 13. This handle should be of
-properly hardened steel, the inner box of brass, except the outer
bottom d, which ought to be of steel or iron, as well as the outer barrel.
All these being put together as in the sections Fig. 13, and 17, and the
two corresponding holes m, Fig, 9, and n, Fig. 10, placed in opposition
as m, n, Fig. 13, and 17, the box is completely shut, but the handle h,
being brought to p, Fig. 13, and 17, puts the hole in conjunction, when
the powder flows into the pan through a corresponding communication,
which of course is to be bored through the bottom of the hammer. as i,
Fig. 17. The handle being abandoned, the spring forces it into its
former position, in which the powder is effectually secured against any
sort of accidents. lead the fourth.-To prevent men firing in a line
from being incommoded by the course grains of powder or crude
particles which invariably fly from the touchhole into the face of every
right hand man from the discharge of the musket upon his left, the
part a. of the pan Fig. 15, and its section Fig. 166. Should be hollowed
deeper than the rest of the pan 1, of about the diameter of the touch-
hole, the upper part of which is not to be higher than the side c. of the
pan, which part c, acting as a solid guard, effectually repels those

page_text: troublesome particles. This guard, if adopted in His Majesty's service,
would revive the well-known advantages resulting from a musket
priming itself from the inside through a large inclined touchhole, as t, t,
Fig. 15. Although the above detailed various improvements are in some
respects closely connected with cach other, it does not follow, however,
that every one of them should be invariably applied to all sorts of fire-
arms, their selection depending materially on what kind of fire-arms
they are intended for, and as they are susceptible of being used
separately as well as collectively, I consider it as the right and
privilege granted unto me to use and apply the said various improve-
ments, any one, any two, or more of them together.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Frederick Matthey, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the First day of June, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seven.
JAMES FREDERICK MATTHEY.
(L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same first day of June,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid James Frederick Matthey
came before our Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged
the Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained, in
form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped
according to the tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same First day of June, in the year above written.