CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TOUCH-HOLES AND PRIMERS SUITABLE TO PERCUSSION GUNS AND PISTOLS, AND ALL SORTS OF FIRE-ARMS FIXED UPON THAT PRINCIPLE
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM WESTLEY RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of February, in the
first year of reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Williain Westley Richards, His especial
licence, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Westley
Richards, my executors, administrators, and assigns, and such others
as I, the said William Westley Richards, my executors, administrators,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention
of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE TOUCH-HOLES AND PRIMERS SUITABLE
TO PERCUSSION GUNS AND PISTOLS, AND ALL SORTS OF FIRE-ARMS FIXED
UPON THAT PRINCIPLE;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso, that I, the said William Westley Richards, shall cause. a

page_text: particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in said
His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said William Westley Richards, do hereby declare that the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, is
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following descrip-
tion thereof, reference being had to the hereunto annexed and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention of certain improvements in the touch holes and
primers suitable to percussion guns, pistols, and all other sorts of fire-
arms fired upon that principle, consists in the adaptation of a newly
contrived shield or cover to the touchhole, and a pin or plug containing
the 'priming charge fitted to the said shield. The disadvantages of the
copper caps commonly employed are well known. When copper caps are
used the pieces of the cap in bursting are often projected away from the
nipple with considerable force, to the injury of the face, eyes, and hands
of the sportsman, and from the quantity of percussion powder contained in
them the flash and report are much greater than necessary. I have so
constructed my improved shielded touch hole and primer as to obviate
these defects, and to enable a smaller quantity of percussion powder to
discharge the piece. The shielded or covered touch hole is so constructed
that the fuze or smoke arising from the explosion of the percussion
powder and charge is allowed to escape through an aperture or apertures
iiade, in the side of the shield, near the touch hole and away from
the person firing the gun. The primers are made larger than the
copper cap commonly used, and are more easily affixed to the gun in
cold weather, when the fingers of the sportsman are benumbed with
cold, consequently are not so liable to be dropped or lost, and aro
capable of being recharged with percussion powder as often as required:
Having stated the advantages of my improved shielded touch hole and
primer I proceed to describe my method of constructing the same:-I

page_text: . I
take a piece of steel or other. metal, about. five eighths of an inch long
and three eights in diameter; on one end I cut a screw sufficiently
long, to secure it in the breech of the barrel, and through which screw
the touch hole is pierced to communicate with the charge; I then drill
down at the other end, about three eighths of an inch deep and one
eighth of an inch in diameter, more or less, so as to admit of and hold
the primer. I make an aperture or apertures at the side of the shield
near the touch holes for the p
purposes before mentioned. The primer
consists of a metal pin or plug of a suitable size for the interior of the
shield, and in one end of it is a recess for the reception of or affixing
the percussion powder, and near the other end a spring or springs is
attached for securing the primer in its place, and on the end last men-
tioned it is intended for the hammer to strike when the piece is to be
discharged. But for the purpose of rendering this Specification of
my Invention better understood I have hereunto affixed Drawings
exhibiting. ny improved touch hole and primer as attached to a fowling
piece, and also detached Figures of the same, that is to say, Fig. 1, is
the touch hole, shield, and primer, drawn of the full size, attached to a
gun. Fig. 2, is the same touch hole, shield, and primer detached from
the gun. Fig. 3, is the same, but for the sake of explaining it more
clearly is drawn twice the real size. Fig. 4, is a side view of the same.
Fig. 5, is the pin, plug, or primer removed out of the touch hole and
shield. Fig. 6, is a section of the touch hole and shield; and Fig. 7,
is a section of the primer; all the letters referring to similar parts in all
these Figures. a, is the screwed part of the shielded touch hole, which
secures it in the breech of the gun; b, is the touch hole; c, the shield;
d, the aperture for the escape of the smoke; f, the primer with its recess
g, to contain the priming; h, h, are suitable springs attached to the
primer, which embrace the outer edge of the shield when the primer is
pushed into the touch-hole, and by these springs the primer is secured
in its place. In describing my method of making my improved shielded
touch hole and primer I do not confine myself to the dimensions stated
or the particular mode of securing the primers in the shield or the
affixing of the percussion powder on or in the primer. What I claim
as novel and useful in my Invention or improvement is, firstly, the

page_text: constructing of touch holes for fire-arms fired on the percussion principle,
as before described, with the shield and its aperture or apertures; and,
secondly, the detached primer suitable for such shielded touch hole, as
before explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Westley Richards, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-one.
WILL WESTLEY (L.s.) RICHARDS.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Ninth day of April, in
the first year of the reign of His Majesty King William the Fourth,
the said William Westley Richards came before our sade Lord the
King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged the instrument, aforesaid,
and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the instrument aforesaid was stamped according to
the tenor of the Statute made in the fifty-fifth year of the reign of His
late Majesty King George the Third.
Inrolled the Eleventh day of Auril. One thousand eight hundred