AN ADVANTAGEOUS METHOD OF DISCHARGING OR GIVING FIRE TO ARTILLERY AND FIREARMS, MINES, CHAMBERS, CAVITIES, AND PLACES IN POWDER OR OTHER WHICH GUN. COMBUSTIBLE MATTER IS OR MAY BE PUT FOR THE
Year: 1807

page_text: FORSYTH'S SPECIFICATION.
SHALL COME, I,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS
ALEXANDER JOHN FORSYTH, Clerk, of Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, in
Scotland, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King George the Third, in and by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of April now last past the date
hereof, for Himself, His heirs and successors, did give and grant unto,
me, the said Alexander John Forsyth, my exors, admors, and assigns,
His special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I the
said Alexander John Forsyth, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or
deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I, the said Alexander
John Forsyth, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no other, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "AN ADVANTAGEOUS
METHOD OF DISCHARGING OR GIVING FIRE TO ARTILLERY AND
FIREARMS, MINES, CHAMBERS, CAVITIES, AND PLACES IN
POWDER OR OTHER
WHICH GUN.
COMBUSTIBLE MATTER IS OR MAY BE PUT FOR THE

page_text: PURPOSE OF EXPLOSION," within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, His Majesty's Dominion
of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad; in which said Letters
Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging ne, the said Alexander
John Forsyth, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature by my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, of an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar mouths next and immediately after the date of the said recited
Letters Patent, as in and by the saine, reference being thereunto had,
will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Alexander John Forsyth, do hereby declare that the nature of iny
said Invention of an advantageous method of discharging or giving
fire to artillery and all other fire-arms, mines, chambers, cavities, and
places in which gunpowder or other combustible matter is or may be
put for the purpose of explosion, is expressed in the foregoing general
description thereof, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed is as follows, that is to say:
.
First, as to the chemical plan and principles thereof, instead of
permitting the touch-hole or vent of the pieces of artillery, fire-arms,
mines, chambers, cavities, or places to communicate with the open air,
and instead of giving fire to the charge by a lighted match, or by flint
and steel, or by any other matter in a state of actual combustion applied
to a priming in an open pan, I do close the touch-hole or vent by
means of a plug or sliding piece, or other fit piece of metal or suitable
material or materials, so as to exclude the open air, and to prevent
any sensible escape of the blast or explosive gas or vapor outwards, or
from the priming or charge, and as much as as possible to force the
said priming to go in the direction of the charge, and to set fire to the
same, and not to be wasted in the open air; and as a priming 1 do make
use of some or one of those chemical compounds which are so easily
inflammable as to be capable of taking fire and exploding without any
actual fire being applied thereto, and merely by a blow, or by any

page_text: sudden or strong pressure or friction given or applied thereto without
extraordinary violence; that is to say, I do make use of some one
of the compounds of combustible matter, such as sulpbur or sulphur
and charcoal, with an oxymuriatic salt, for example, the salt formed
of dephlogisticated marine acid and potash (or potasse), which salt is
otherwise called oxymuriate of potash; or I do make use of such of
the fulminating metallic compounds as may be used with safety, for
example, fulminating mercury, or of common gunpowder mixed in due
quantity with any of the before-mentioned substances, or with an oxy-
muriatic salt as aforesaid, or of suitable mixtures of any of the before-
mentioned compounds; and these compounds or mixtures of compounds
I find to be much better for priming than gunpowder used alone, which
cannot be made to explode without some sparks or actual fire applied i
thereto, or else without such a degree of extraordinary and violent per-
cussion as cannot conveniently be made use of in gunnery, or with any
of the fire-arms or artillery that are in most general use. But it is to
be observed that I do not lay claim to the Invention of any of the said
compounds or matters to be used for priming, my Invention in regard
thereto being confined to the use and application thereof to the purposes
of artillery and fire-arms as aforesaid; and the manner of priming and
exploding which I use is to introduce into the touch-hole or vent, or
into a small and strong chamber or place between the said touch-hole
and vent, and the plug or sliding piece, or other piece by which the
communication with the external air is cut off, a small portion of
some or one of the chemical compounds herein-before mentioned (for
examplo, as for priming to a musket, about the eighth part of a
grain), and when the required discharge is to be made I do cause
the said chemical compound or priming to take fire and explode by
giving a stroke or sudden and strong pressure to the same, commuui-
cated by and through the said plug or sliding piece, or other piece
before mentioned or described, in consequence of which the fire of
the priming is immediately communicated to the contents or charge
placed within the said piece of artillery, fire-arm, mine, chamber, cavity,
or place, and the discharge accordingly follows.
And, secondly, I do hereby further declare, for the better illustration

page_text: of my said Invention, and as auxiliary to the use thereof in relation to
the mechanical parts thereof, that I have hereunto annexed Drawings
or Sketches exhibiting several constructions which may be made and
adopted in conformity to the foregoing plan and principles out of an
endless variety which the subject admits of. Figure 1, represents
the section of a piece of artillery where the charge is inflamed upon
the upper side. Figure 2d, represents the section of a piece of artillery
where the charge is inflamed at one of its ends through a touch-hole in
the line of direction of the barrel or bore of the piece. Figure 3d, is a
representation of the same thing as Figure 2d, except that the narrow
part of the touch-hole is lengthened more than in Figure 2ª. The
same letters auswor for the description of Figures 1, 2, & 3d.
In Figure 1, A, A, represents the section of a piece of artillery;
B, the touch-hole, of a cylindrical bore, excepting at the bottom,
where it becomes a small perforation leading to the chamber. C, is
a cylindrical punch or plug fitting the bore of B, and (if need be)
clothed, packed, or faced near its upper part with leather or binding,
or any other material proper to render its fitting more correct, and
its motion easy and smooth. The lower part of C, is made to fit
the lower part of the touch-hole B, and there is a a small internal
cavity at the lower part C, in which a portion of the said chemical
compound may be lodged by dipping the said punch or plug therein;
or a sufficient quantity of the said chemical compound is let fall into
B, part of which lodges upon the shoulder at B, Figure 1st, or in
the bottom of the bore at B, Figures 2d, and 3d; and in this state
the said punch or plug C, is to be inserted in the touch-hole; and a
smart blow being given on its upper end, the said chemical compound
being suddenly compressed between the two faces nearly in contact
will explode and give fire to the remaining portion, and also to the
charge. The apparatus, Figures 1, 2, & 3, is chiefly to be recom-
mended for its simplicity, but it is attended with several obvious incon-
veniences.
Figure 4th, represents the section of an apparatus which may
be used to prime and discharge a musket, or any other fire-arm, a
great number of times, even altho' the breech of the same is under

page_text: water. A, A, represents a section of the barrel of the piece; D, the
chamber of the barrel, which is contracted to a narrow touch-hole at I,
and open up to about double the diameter of the narrowmost part of the
touch-hole at B, b. Into B, b, is introduced the rod or or plug C, C, C,
at b; where the touch-hole is opened wider there is another hole F, of
the same diameter as B, b, and at right angles to B, b. A cylindrical
piece of any proper metal with a hole nearly through it in the line of
direction of the axis passes through the solid breech of the barrel as
near to I, and b, as can be done with safety and convenience. There
is also another hole in one side of the cylinder at right angles to its
axis, and corresponding with the hole F, in the breech of the gun when
the cylinder is fixed in its proper place; or, as the cylinder must be
accurately fitted into the breech, and move round freely, this last-
mentioned hole may stand either at F, or K. This first-mentioned hole
in the cylinder E, is filled with any of the chemical compounds before
mentioned; when the piece is to be primed the hole in the side of the
cylinder E, is brought directly over F, and the powder falls out of the
cylinder through F, into the small cavity at b, between the point of the
rod or plug C, C, C, and the contracted part of the touch-hole at I, where
the piece is to be discharged; the side hole in the cylinder E, is turned
round to K, and the rod or plug C, C, C, impelled forward by the stroke
of a hammer or spiral spring as at G, G, G, or by any other mechanical
contrivance, so that by its pressure or concussion against the shoulder
at I, it fires the priming contained in the cavity at b. H, H, is a screw,
by which the power of the action of the spiral spring G, G, G, may be
increased or diminished as necessary.
Figures 5, and 6, represent another apparatus, which may be used
in the same manner as the preceding. The inner circle B, represents
a section of a flat cylindrical piece, having a central stem on the opposite
side or face to be screwed into the barrel where the touch-hole is com-
monly placed (another section of the cylinder B, is given Figure 7th).
The axis or central line of the said stem is perforated or drilled up to
half the hickness of the cylindrical piece so as to meet another hole D, B,
drilled or made in the edge of the said piece. The space A, A, between
the inner and outer circle denotes another flat piece, of which the

page_text: At E, is a plug or punch
inner part is hollowed out so as very accurately to fit the outside of
the first-mentioned cylindrical piece, and to be capable of revolving
upon it when turned by the handle C.
inserted in the hole in the edge of the imoveable piece, and kept
from immediately touching the same by means of a spring of any
suitable form. On the opposite part of the circumference of the
moveable piece, and through the haudle at C, there is bored a hole
or cavity K, quite through to its inner surface, in which a con-
siderable quantity of the chemical compound before mentioned is put
and confined. G, is a cock or arm for giving a stroke upon E; it may
be set, discharged, and impelled by the same machinery and means as
are used with respect to the cock of a common gun lock, or the stroke
may be given by any other means. The several parts of the mechanism
are secured in their places by caps and screws, or by any other well-
known means commonly used in works of this kind. In the use of the
apparatus last described, the hammer G, is to be raised and cocked, and
the handle C, brought round to the position, as in Figure 6th, where it is
stopped by a pin or projecting piece H. At this instant the hole or cavity
K. is brought immediately over the channel or hole D, B, into which a
priming falls out of K, in consequence of the slight stroke or jar pro-
duced by the sudden stoppage of C. Immediately after this operation
the handle is to be returned to its first position, as at Figure 5th, which
brings the plug or punch E, directly over the channel or hole 1), B, in
which position only it is possible to give the stroke so as to inflame the
priming and discharge the piece. When this last effect is required to
be produced the trigger is to be drawn, and then G strikes E, and.
the contents of D, B, taking fire explode through the touch-hole, and
set fire to the charge without allowing the escape of the gas or vapor
in any direction but into the chamber and towards the muzzle of the
piece.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander John Forsyth, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand night ...
ALEXR J. FORSYTH. (L.S.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fourth day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1807, the aforesaid Alexander John Forsyth 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 aforesaid
was stampt according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Third day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seven.
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