CERTAIN IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO FOWLING PIECES AND OTHER FIRE-ARMS IN PLACE OF LOCKS
Year: 1829

page_text: LAWRENCE AND CRUNDWELL'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
DAVID LAWRENCE, of Strood, and JOHN CRUNDWELL, of Ashford, both
in the County of Kent, Gun Makers, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Fifteenth day of September, in the
tenth year of His reign, did, for Flimself, His heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said David Lawrence and John Crundwell,
our exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said David Lawrence and John
Crundwell, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such other persons as we or
they should appoint or agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of fourteen years therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, our Invention of "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE APPLIED TO FOWLING PIECES AND OTHER
FIRE-ARMS IN PLACE OF LOCKS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that we, the said David Lawrence and John Crundwell,
within the space of six calendar months next and immediately after the

page_text: date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, should cause to be in-
rolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery a particular
description of the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and scal of one of us, as in and by
the said Letters Patent, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we,
the said David Lawrence and John Crundwell, do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention to consist, first, in attaching the nipple to
a moveable plate or primer partly let into the side of the fire arm and
turning on a hinge or pivot at one end. Secondly, in the apparatus or
new arrangement of parts by which we cause the blow to be given to
the cap when on the nipple or to the ball contained. in the primer; and,
thirdly, in a new mode of securing the sear pin from being shaken or
jarred, and thus preventing those accidental discharges of the fire arm
which are incidental to the plans now in use; and in further com-
pliance with the said proviso, we, the said David Lawrence and John
Crundwell, do hereby describe the manner in which our said Invention
is to be performed by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing annexed, and to the figures and letters marked
thereon, that is to say:
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
:
Figure 1, represents the appearance of our said Invention as applied
to a gun or fowling piece, by which it will be seen that the said several
improvements aforesaid are all referable to that place where the lock is
usually situated, and in fact may be considered, when taken collectively,
is forming a lock, though of a new kind. A, is the moveable plate or
prinier to which, in this instance, the nipple is attached; B, is a small
hinge catch to keep that end of it to the side of the fire-arm; C, are
holes for the escape of air at the time of explosion; and D, is a screw
bolt forming, a hinge for the moveable plate or primer to turn on when
opened out from the side of the fire-arm to get at the nipple, for the
purpose of putting on the cap or priming; P, is what.in ordinary guns

page_text: would be called 'the lock plate. Figure 2, is a plan of the moveable
plate, which we shall henceforward call the primer; E, is the nipple ;.
D, the hole for the screw or pivot on which it turns; and B, is. the
catch to keep the plate A, to the side of the gun. Figure 3, is a front
view of the primer separated from the gun; and it may here be stated
that where similar parts occur in the different Figures similar letters
are used to denote them, to avoid the necessity of a second description.
Figure 4, represents the appearance of the parts under the plate A,
when the primer is opened, E, being the nipple, and F, a piece of.
leather let into the plate P, for the primer to shut against. Figure 5,
represents the apparatus by which the blow is given to discharge the
gun, and which apparatus is fitted to the inner side of the plate P,
where the works of the lock are usually fixed; G, is an ordinary lock
spring, and H, an ordinary sear and pin; I, is a crank, acted upon by
the spring G, and acting in turn upon the bolt with a square head J;
the head of this bolt moves in the space K, and strikes the cap on the
nipple E, when the crank I, is released from the sear H, as will be:
easily understood on looking at this Figure. It will be necessary here
to state that the gun is what is called cocked by the action of the
primer when opened to put the cap on the nipple, on which occasion
the circular part of the primer through which the nipple passes pushes
against the square head of the bolt J, which acting against the crank I.,
forces it back till the sear catches it, when the gun may be called
cocked. The bolt J, is pressed upon by a spring, which retains it back
against the crank I, but which is not shewn, it being underneath, and
it is scarcely necessary to add that this arrangement requires the touch
hole to be bored at the end of the barrel, and in a direct line with it;
e, is a small spring for the catch B, to act against. Figure 6, and 7,,
shew an arrangement whereby the gun may be discharged. by deto-
nating balls in place of caps, to accomplish which the whole of the
parts excepting the nipple are similar to those already described, there-
fore the same letters of reference indicate similar parts. A, the
moveable plate or primer, in which there is a recess S, to receive the
ball from the magazine or chamber R, which magazine or chamber is.
made conical on the inside, and open at bottom sufficiently to allow of

page_text: a ball dropping out when the recess in the priming plate is brought
underneath by the opening of that plate for the purpose of priming,
and at the same time cocking the gun. t, is the part which receives
the blow from the bolt. J, and communicates it to the ball and causes
the discharge, and it will be seen that the part t, is returned. back to
its proper position by a spring. In order to use this arrangenient it
will be necessary to place detonating balls within the magazine or
chamber R, which is to be done by the cover or top v, which may be
either screwed on or retained down by a spring; when it is desired to
prime and cock the gun, the plate A, is thrown back on its hinge, which
brings the recess S, under the bottom and open part of the magazine
or chamber R, and receives 'a ball therefrom, and, as already described,
the opening of the plate A, causes the bolt J, to be forced back against
the crank 'I,. till the gun is cocked, and in discharging the gun, the
bolt J, is forced against the part t, which gives the blow to the ball; a
touch hole is made in the priming plate to correspond with that in the
barrel, as indicated by dotted lines. Figure 8, represents my mode of
securing the sear pin from being shaken or jarred so as to cause danger,
and this is effected by having a hole L, in the trigger for the sear pin
to pass through, and a lever, paul, or stop, a, a, d, e, acted upon by a
springf, and turns on the fulcrum b. It will be observed that the end
e, of the lever rests froin d to e, on the trigger plate, and acts against
the trigger so as to prevent its being moved, while the part d, of the
lever descends below the trigger plate through a mortice cut in it for
that purpose; by this arrangement it will be seen that when the hand
grasps the stock, in order to raise the gun to the position for firing, the
lever a, a, d, e, will be pressed into the stock to the position shewn by
the dotted lines, and in consequence of the notch cut in the trigger at 1,
sufficient freedom will thus be given to the trigger to allow the gun to
be fired in the ordinary manner; and by this arrangement it will be
seen that there must be a simultaneous pressure upwards on the lever,
and backwards on the trigger before any accidental discharge of the
gun could take place. Now whereas we claim as our Invention the
following improvements, that is to say, first, the moveable plate or
primer A, B, C, D; secondly, the arrangement of the parts I, J, K,

page_text: with reference to the discharging of the priming; and, thirdly, the
mode herein-before described of securing the sear pin by means of the
hole L, and the lever a, a, d, c. And such our Invention being to the best
of our knowledge and belief entirely new, and never before used within
that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland called England, His Dominions of Wales, and Town of Berwick
upon Tweed, we do hereby declare this to be our Specification of th
same, and that we do verily believe this our said Specification doth
comply in all respects fully, and without reserve or disguise, with the
proviso in the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent con-
tained, whereof we hereby claim to maintain exclusive right and
privilege to our said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, John Crundwell, have hereunto set my
hand and scal, this Fifteenth day of March, in the eleventh
year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth, by
the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and in the year of our
1
JOHN (...) CRUNDWELL.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of Marchi,
in the year of our Lord 1880, the aforesaid John Crundwell came before
our said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Spe-
cification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Fifteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty.