AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN AND PISTOL Locks
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM WESTLEY RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, 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 Tenth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-one, reciting that I, the said William Westley
Richards, had by my petition humbly represented to His Majesty that
I had, after considerable application and expence, found out or invented
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN AND PISTOL Locks," which
I conceived would be of great public utility; that I was the first and
true Inventor thereof, and that the same had not been made or used by
any other person or persons, to the best of my knowledge or belief, I, the
said Petitioner, therefore most humbly prayed that His said Majesty
would be graciously pleased to grant me, my exors, adñiors, and assigns;
His Majesty's Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
Britain, for the sole working, constructing, making, selling, using, and
exercising my said Invention, and all other benefit and advantage thereof,
within that part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

page_text: called England, the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick upon
Tweed, for the term of fourteen years, according to the Statute in that
case made and provided, and stateing that His Majesty being willing to
give encouragement to all arts and inventions which might be for the
public good, was graciously pleased to condescend to my request; it is
made known, therefore, that His Majesty, of His special grace, certain
knowledge, and mere motion, did give and grant unto me, the said William
Westley Richards, my exors, adfiiors, and assigns, His Majesty's special
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William
Westley Richards, my exors, adñiors, 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 T, the said William Westley Richards, my
exors, admiors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the said term of
years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, and exer-
cise, and vend, my said Invention within that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said
William Westley Richards, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or any of
them, should in my or their discretion seem meet; and that I, the said
William Westley Richards, my exors, adñiors; and assigns, should and
lawfully might have and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and
advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising
by reason of the said Invention for the term of years therein mentioned,
to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, powers, privileges,
and advantages, therein-before granted unto me, the said William West-
ley Richards, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, for the term of fourteen
years from the date of the now reciting Patent, according to the Statute
in such case made and provided; and by the said Letters Patent it is
(amongst other things) provided, that if I, the said William Westley
Richards, should not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and cause the
same to be enrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within
two calendar months then next and immediately after the date of the

page_text: said Letters Patent, then the same Letters Patent, and all liberties and
advantages whatsoever, should utterly cease, determine, and become
void, as by the said Letters Patent, reference being thereto had, will
more fully appear.
acted
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said William Westley Richards, do hereby declare that my said Invention
consists of an improved method of displacing or raising the priming
magazine which contains the priming or detonating powder, and any
cover for protecting or covering the priming, whether loose or envelloped,
used with percussion gun and pistol locks, by means of a moveable bar
upon at one end thereof by the cock, or by the tumbler of the lock,
and at the other end acting upon the priming magazine or cover, which
improved method, and its manner of acting, I further explain and specify
as follows, and the same is further explained and described in the
Drawings respectively numbered 1, 2, and 3, hereunto annexed. A, A,
in Drawings 1, and 2, is the said bar, which I call the sliding or pro-
pelling bar or purchase, connected with the lock plate by means of pins
or screws, the perforations through which such pins or screws pass being
of a suitable size and shape to allow a curvilinear, progressive, and
retrogressive motion in the sliding or propelling bar when acted upon at
either end by the cock C, or the magazine D, in Drawings 1, and 2.
Drawing Number 1, the lock at half cock; C, the cock; D, the
priming magazine or cover, resting on the pan at E; A, A, the said
sliding or propelling bar, one end thereof being in contract with the
breast of the cock at a, and the other end in contact with the foot of
the magazine or cover at 6; if the lock be then full cocked and let
down, it will in its descent or motion, by acting at its breast or at the
part a, on the end of the sliding bar at d, propel the sliding bar in a
curvilinear direction, causing the opposite end of the sliding bar at c, to
act in the foot of the priming magazine or cover at b, and to raise it,
for which purposes suitable forms must be given to the breast or pro-
jecting part of the cock at a, the foot of the magazine or cover at b, and
the ends of the said sliding or propelling bar.
Drawing Number 2, is a drawing or plan of the same lock after the
cock has been let down, showing the position of the sliding or propelling

page_text: bar after it has been acted upon by the cock and has raised the
magazine.
The sliding or propelling bar may be made of iron, steel, or any other
suitable material, and may be curvilinear, as in the Drawings 1, and 2,
or in the form Drawing Number 3, and in this case it is connected
with the plate of the lock at f, and is also further retained in .its
situation by a pin or screw, with a 'head or shoulder passing through
the perforation at g.
This latter form I generally prefer; or the sliding of propelling bar
may be made of a variety of other forms, giving the ends of the bar,
the foot of the imagazine or cover, and the breast of the cock suitable
corresponding forms to produce the desired motion. The sliding or
propelling bar may be placed on the outside or inside of the lock plate,
the pins or screws used to connect or attach it may be fixed in any
situation inost convenient for the purpose, according to the form of the
sliding or propelling bar, and the perforations may be of any form.
number, or size suitable to the use for which they are intended.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Westley Richards, have
hereunto set my hand and scal, the Fifth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two.
WILLIAM WESTLEY (L.s.) RICHARDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of January, in
the year of our Lord 1822, the aforesaid William Westley Richards
came before our said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein
contained and specified, in form above written. And also the Specifica-
tion aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made
for that purpose.
Inrolled the Seventh day of January, in the year of our Lord One