CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MECHANISM OF THE COCKS OF GUN LOCKS, APPLICABLE TO ALL KINDS OF FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1799

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EDWARD THOMASON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, 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 Twenty-eighth day of November, in the
fortieth year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the said Edward
Thomason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, His special.
licence, full power, sole priviledge and authority, that I, the said Edward-
Thomason, my executors, administrators, and assigns, during the term
of years therein expressed should and lawfully might make, use, exercise,.
and vend my Invention therein mentioned, to wit, "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MECHANISM OF THE COCKS OF GUN LOCKS, APPLICABLE TO ALL
KINDS OF FIRE-ARMS," within that part of Great Britain called England,
the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such
a manner as to me, the said Edward Thomason, my executors, adminis_
trators, or assigns, should seem meet; to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy
the said license, powers, privileges, and advantages therein granted or
mentioned to be granted unto me, the said Edward Thomason, my

page_text: executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and until the full
end and term of fourteen years therein expressed; in which said Letters
Patent there is (among other things) contained a proviso, that if I, the
said Edward Thomason, 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 inrolled in the High Court of Chancery within one
calendar month immediately after the date, of the said Letters Patent,
that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages
whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, determine, and become
void, as in and by the said recited Letters Patent, reference being there-
unto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Edward Thomason, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, that is to say:
A
In respect to principle, I cause the flint, by means of the machinery
herein-after described, to present a different angle to the hen or hammer
of the gun or pistol lock at every time the gun or pistol is fired, which
is performed by the action of the double or single locking of the gun or
pistol lock alone, and does not require any separate movement after the
cocking of the lock.
Now I do declare that the above-mentioned principle comprehends
the real object of my Invention, and in order for the better compre-
hension and understanding how the same may be reduced to practical
use, I do hereby further declare that, although I vary my mode of con-
struction as a difference in circumstance may require to produce the
same effect and obtain the main purpose intended, yet I principally
adhere to the method herein-after described, as being fully answerable
to what is required, and best calculated to be understood from the
Drawings and descriptions thereof; and the same is described fully in
the six Sections and one Drawing represented in the margin of these
Presents. The letters in the six Sections refer to the same parts in
Drawing N° 1.
Section 1, represents that part of the gun lock which fits on the axis

page_text: or square of the tumbler of the lock, and fastened thereto with a screw
at A, as in the customary manner; the upper of the section N° 1, is
turned or made round from B, to C, on purpose to receive section N° 2,
upon it. D, is a square which projects sufficient to fasten or screw the
end Z, of the spring of section No. 3. E, is a part which projects out.
and is the support for the wheels, section No 4, which wheels are screwed
upon it.
Section 2, represents the upper part of the cock, and fits on the
spindle or round part of section No 1, as the cylindrical part, viz', from F,
to G, being hollow as a tube. HI, H, in section N° 2, represents the
jaws or mouth piece to hold the flint I; and K, is the screw to force
and screw such jaws together, for the purpose of holding fast the flint.
L, is a loop which projects on purpose to hold the other end of the
spring as at X, in section No 3.
M, in section N° 2, is a part which
projects and works in the cogs of the upper wheel W, in section. No 4,
and thereby receives action by the moving of such wheel.
Section Nº 3, is a spring made of iron, steel wire, or any other
substance of which springs can be made, one end of which, as at Z, is
fastened with a screw at D, in section Nº 1, and the other end is con-
fined in a loop, at L, in section N° 2, by which means it keeps the
projective part M, in section N° 2, tight and firm, in one of the teeth
of the wheel W, in section N° 4.
Section No 4. represents wheels with cogs, and which wheels are
pinned or joined together; the uppermost wheel. being made what is
frequently termed or called snail form.
.
Section No 5, represents a large screw with a shoulder to it, and
when screwed into the top of section No 1, keeps section N° 2, fast on
the spindle of section N° 1.1
Section No 6, represents a piece of steel, iron, or any other metal or
▸ sufficient substance, and is screwed or fastened to any convenient part
of the gun stock, lock, or cock, and is now shewn by reference to the
Drawing No 1, in the margin of these Presents, and marked with the
letter S. The end of this piece of iron or steel (or any other substance
sufficiently proper for the purpose) must be so fixed as to catch one tooth
of the lower wheel marked Y, on the double cocking of the gun; but

page_text: this may be also done by the single cocking of the gun, by which means
it gives action to both the wheels respectively marked W, and Y, and
moves them the space of one cog, and thereby occasions at the same
time that part of the cock to move which is marked F, L, M, G, K, I,
HI, HI, or in fact the whole of section N° 2, and to perform such part of
a revolution as occasions the flint to be in a different angle or position to
what it was before the gun was double cock'd; and, therefore, each time
the gun is double cock'd, the flint forms or presents a different angle to
the hammer of the lock. These gun or pistol locks may be made of
any kind of metal such as iron, steel, copper, brass, or any other metal
or composition of metals, or any substance or substances that may be
found sufficiently proper for the purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Thomason, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine.
Sealed and delivered (being first duly
stamped) in the presence of
Jos" HATELY, Atty, Birm".
JOHN OTLEY.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day
of December, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Edward
Thomason came before our Lord the King, in His Chancery, and
acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing 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 Twenty-fourth day of December, in the year above
written.