IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris,
Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMING FIRE-ARMS."
A communication
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 15th April 1854.
I, PETER ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMING
FIRE-ARMS to be as follows:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in adapting a slide piece for
receiving percussion caps, and putting them on to the nipple from a suitably
disposed tube let into the stock.
Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawing represents a portion of a musket, with the
principal parts fitted thereto; the other Figures are views of its several parts
detached, the same letters indicating similar parts in all the Figures. B,
barrel; S, stock; H, hammer; P, priming piece fixed to the stock; C, it's

page_text: side; D, spring fitted to the priming piece, which expands by pushing down
the knob F, and opens the aperture a, Figure 2, so as to admit the percussion
cap from the tube T, fixed partially in the stock. The holder A presents the
caps to the nipple N, and the punch e, by the stroke of the hammer H, when
set free, strikes the cap, and discharges the piece. The ring R is fixed to the
nipple; it rises at option, and serves to protect the caps against fire; V, sup-
plementary cap holder; X, percussion piece for common caps, to be screwed
on in lieu of the punch e, in which case the ring R should be taken off;
v, screw for regulating the opening a.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND le Comte DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of 4, South Street, Finsbury,
London, and 39, Rue de l'Echiquier, Paris, Patent Agent, send greeting.'
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special licence that I,
the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times, there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PRIMING FIRE-ARMS," Communicated to me by a foreigner residing
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, -the-said-Peter Armand
le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in employing a suitably
disposed tube let into the stock, and certain mechanism in connection there-
with, for receiving and placing the percussion caps on the nipple of the gun or
other like fire-arm.
Figure 1 represents in elevation a portion of a musket with the improve-
ments applied; Figure 2, an elevation of the priming mechanism, the other
Figures shewing details thereof, in all of which the same letters of reference
represent similar parts.
A, priming piece, which when raised, as represented in Figures 1 and 2,
lodges the cap on the nipple. When the trigger is pulled, the striker e of the
hammer H strikes and explodes the cap. B, barrel; S, stock; D, spring,
fixed to the priming piece A. The spring D distends on pushing down the
knob F, and allows the caps from the tube to fall into the aperture a, Figure 2.
When the knob F is raised the spring D contracts again, and the screw V,
which is screwed to the spring D, with its end extending into the interior of
the aperture a, presses and supports the cap; c, nut for fixing the knob F to
the priming piece; P and Q, front and side views of the plate enclosing the
priming piece, screwed to and let into the stock; R, cap guard, serving as a
protection during the discharge of the cap; it is screwed to the nipple and can
be taken off when required; T, tube let into the stock, capable of containing
about sixty caps, which falls successively into the. aperture a; V, tube con-
taining a reserve of caps; a, shifting bell, kept in reserve in case the priming
mechanism, herein-before described, should get deranged, when it is screwed
into the hammer in lieu of the striker e. The nipple being uncovered by the
removal of the cap guard R, the caps pass successively down the priming
piece by their own gravity.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not con-
fine myself to the precise details herein laid down, provided the general
features of the Invention be retained. But what I claim is, the application of
a tube, and the mechanism in connection therewith, for priming guns and

page_text: other like fire-arms, as herein-before described and referred to in the Figures
of the accompanying Drawing..
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereto set my hand and seal, this Second day of
October, in the year of our Lords One thousand eight hundred and 5
fifty-four.
1
L' DE FONTAINE MOREAU. (L.S.)