AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS IN ALL KINDS OF FOWLING PIECES AND FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1829

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE HENRY MANTON, of Dover Street, Piccadilly, in the County of
Middlesex, Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Second day of September, in the tenth year
of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said George Henry
Manton, my executors, admors, and assigns, His especial license, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Henry
Manton, my executors, admiors, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS IN ALL
KINDS OF FOWLING PIECES AND FIRE-ARMS;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said George Henry
Manton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to
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 His

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as
in and by the same (reference being thereunto had) may more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said George Henry Manton, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
are particularly described and ascertained in, and by the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and the following description thereof (that is
to say):
My said improvement in the construction of locks in all kinds of
fowling pieces and fire-arms has for its object the lessening of the
recoil occasioned by the rapid inflammation of the gunpowder in fowling
pieces and other fire-arms fired by means of percussion locks; and
I attain this object by giving, a greater vent of the gaseous. matters
generated in the explosion of the gunpowder at the time of firing,
although I keep the said vent closed or shut, and protected from wet,
and so as to prevent the loss of any part of the charge of gunpowder in
the act of loading. And I hereby clain as my Invention, and the
object of this my said Patent, any and every mode of attaining these
ends; as, however, it is desirable to afford examples of methods of
carrying my said improvement into effect, I shall proceed to do so-by
referring to the Figures which are contained in the Drawing, which, as
aforesaid, iš aiinexed to the Specification, and in which said Drawing
Figure 1, represents part of a double barreled fowling piece with the left
hand lock in its place, the right hand lock being not shewn. a, is the
lock plate; b, the percussion cock, represented as being upon the half
cock; c, the cover of the vent hole, which is shewn as open in Figure
2, at d. This cover is affixed at one end of a bent lever e, which turns
upon a stud, affixed in the lock plate as shewn in Figure 8; this
stud is farther secured by its outer end entering a hole made inside of
bridle, Figure 4, and which bridle is secured to the 'lock.plate a, by
Lwo screws, passing through the plate and fitted into screwed holes
made in the bridle to receive them, as likewise shewn in Figure 4.

page_text: Figure 5, is a side or edge view of the bridle, and Figure 6, a plan or
top view of it. The bridle also served to keep the lever e in its place,
as shewn in Figures 1, and 2. The lever 'e, is moved or actuated by
means of the front edge of the cock b being in contact with the shorter
end of it, the lever e, being pressed against it by the-action of the
spring h, and its friction roller i, shewn separately in Figures 7; and 8,
and in contact with the toe of the lever e, in Figures 1, 2, and 9. In
Figure 1,.the cover c, is shewn as.being pressed up by the action of the
spring h, and closing the vent d, the gun being at half cock. In Figure
2, the cock is shewn in its position when the gun is discharged, and
the front part of it has acted upon the shorter end of the lever e, and
raised it, at the same time lowering its longer end, and has, thus
removed the cover c, from the vent hole d, so as to allow the escape of
the gaseous matter produced by the explosion, and also at the same
time permitting the entrance of air into the barrel of the gun through
the vent hole, both of which causes considerably aid in lessening the
recoil of the piece. Figure 10, is an underview of the bent lever e;
and Figure 11, an edge or side view of it... c, the part against, which
the front edge of the cock acts;, the toe of the lever against which
the friction roller i, of the spring h, acts; k, Figure 10, the hole in the
lever which fits upon the stud f, shewn in Figure 3;-c, the cover of
the vent hole. d, Figure 12, is another outside view of the bent lever
e, with the addition of a friction roller 7, mounted in its shorter end,
with a view to lessening the friction occasioned by its sliding along the
front edge of the cock b, when thought necessary. Figure 7, is an edge
view of the spring h, and its friction roller i; m, is a screwed hole
intended to receive a screw, which is passed through a hole n, Figure
3, made in the lock plate, and it is farther steadied by means of the
stud o, Figure 8, entering a cap p, made in the lock plate, Figure 3,
to receive it. I do not mean or intend hereby to claim as my Invention
any of the various parts shewn and described herein, which may
already be known or in use. But I do hereby claim the opening and
closing the vent hole or holes in the barrel or barrels of percussion
fowling pieces and other fire-arms which are fired by percussion, and

page_text: whether effected in the modes herein shewn and described, or in any
other method.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henry Manton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-