AN IMPROVED CARTRIDGE POUCH
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Augustus Munn, of Throwley House, near
Faversham, in the County of Kent, late a Major in the East Kent
Regiment of Militia, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED CARTRIDGE
POUCH."
Sealed the 18th December 1860, and dated the 21st June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Augustus Munn
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 21st June 1860.
I, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS MUNN, of Throwley House, near Faversham, in the
County of Kent, late a Major in the East Kent Regiment of Militia, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CARTRIDGE
РOUCH," to be as follows:-
The cartridge pouch is made in the form of a circular box, the depth being
rather greater than the length of a cartridge. The top of the pouch or box is
capable of being removed for the purpose of filling the pouch. In the inside
of the pouch or box, and in the centre of the bottom, there is a pin, the length
of which is equal to the depth of the box or pouch. The cartridges are placed
in elastic loops attached to the side of a strap, the width of the strap is a little
less than the internal depth of the box. There is a loop or pipe at one end of
the strap into which the above-mentioned pin fits loosely. The strap with the
cartridges in the elastic loops is coiled round and placed in the box like the
mainspring of a watch in the box wheel, the loop or pipe at the end of the

page_text: strap being slipped over the pin. There is an opening in the side of the box
sufficient to allow the strap with the cartridges to be drawn through it when
uncoiled. The outer end of the strap is brought through the opening, and
attached to a small roller fixed on the outside of the box. The roller has a
slot in it into which the end of the strap, which is made thicker than the other
part, is slipped. The roller is supported and works in pieces of metal, which
project from the outside of the box, and the axis of the roller is parallel to the
pin inside the box. At one end of the roller there is a ratchet wheel fixed
with a spring click attached to one of the supports of the roller, and at the
same or the other end of the roller there is another ratchet wheel, the teeth of
which point the opposite way to those of the first-mentioned ratchet wheel; a
click attached to a lever works in the teeth of the secondly-mentioned ratchet
wheel. The lever works in a pin fixed to the box, so that when the lever is
moved in one direction the click attached to it, laying hold of one of the teeth
of the secondly-mentioned ratchet wheel, causes the roller to revolve to a
certain extent. The first-mentioned ratchet wheel preventing the roller from
revolving in an opposite direction, the motion of the lever can be reversed, and
the click attached to it being by this means made to lay hold of another tooth
of the secondly-mentioned ratchet wheel upon the lever being moved again, as
first mentioned, the roller will again be made to revolve to the same extent it did
before. By the revolution of the roller the strap is gradually uncoiled and drawn
out of the box, and rolled round the roller, and the extent to which the roller
revolves by each movement of the lever backwards and forwards is so regulated
that so many cartridges only as are required are drawn out of the box by each
such movements backwards and forwards. A piece of leather, elastic, or
other suitable substance is attached to the outside of the box to protect the
cartridge when drawn out of the box. A cartridge being drawn out of the
box in the manner above described, it can be easily removed from the elastic
loop on the strap which holds it, and when another cartridge is required
it is drawn out of the box by the motion of the lever in the same manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Augustus Munn in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
AUGUSTUS MUNN, of Throwley House, near Faversham, in the County of
Kent, late a Major in the East Kent Regiment of Militia, send greeting.

page_text: .
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Augustus Munn, Her special licence that I, the said
William Augustus Munn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said William Augustus Munn, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others
from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "AN IMPROVED CARTRIDGE POUCH," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Augustus Munn, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 William Augustus Munn, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the several Drawings
therein referred to and hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My said Invention consists of a cartridge pouch which will securely retain
ball or other cartridges, keeping them separate from each other, out of which
each cartridge may be separately taken without disturbing any other one, and
which may be filled or replenished at once with as many cartridges as it will
hold, formed in a packet, bundle, or case, and therein already fixed and
arranged in a manner convenient for their separate withdrawal in a similar
way from the pouch, whereby the usual injury to the cartridges by pressure,
friction, and shaking is prevented, as well as the usual noise occasioned by
their rattling in the pouch through the motion of its wearer, and the re-
plenishment of the pouch with ammunition in battle or elsewhere is effected
in a rapid and effectual manner, without the usual risk of loss or injury to the
cartridges.
:
One manner of performing the said Invention is as follows:-The cartridge
pouch, which may be made of tin plate or japanned or other metal, and may
be covered with leather for its better protection and more seemly appearance,

page_text: should be of the form shewn in the annexed Drawing, Figures A, B, and C,
in which Figure A represents a front, and Figure B a side view, of the pouch.
The pouch is worn in the usual way by passing a waistbelt through two
staples attached to the back of the pouch. The lid, No. 1, Figures A and B,
is made to lift up in the direction shewn in Figure B by the dotted line, and
is kept closed by means of a hasp at the bottom of the pouch, or by a rim, or
by any other contrivance.
Figure C represents a front plan of the pouch with the lid removed.
No. 2 in Figure C is a pin fixed in a socket in the back of the pouch in which
it revolves, the length of which is equal to the depth of the pouch, and which
depth should be rather greater than the length of the cartridge intended to be
used. This pin is a hollow cylinder, having an opening or slot along its
entire length. There are two projections, Nos. 3 and 4, from the side of the
pouch composed of similar materials to it, one of which is shewn in Figure A,
No. 3, and the other in Figure C, No. 4. No. 5 is another hollów cylinder,
having a slot similar to No. 2, which passes completely through the projection
No. 4, being furnished at one end with a handle No. 6, and a ratchet wheel
and click Nos. 7, 8, respectively, to prevent its turning but one way, and at
the other end with a collar groove No. 9, into which the collar No. 10, which
is particularly shewn in Figure D, can be made to close at pleasure.
No. 11, Figure C, represents a band or strap of leather or other substance
somewhat less wide than the depth of the pouch, to one side of which a
number of elastic cylindrical loops are attached for the reception of the
cartridges Nos. 12, &c. This band terminates at one end in a solid roll, a
little less in diameter than the inside of the pin No. 2, but larger in diameter
than the slot in the pin, and terminates at the other end in a similar roll,
which fits into the slot in No. 5.
The method of using the pouch is as follows:-When it is required to fill
it with ammunition, the lid No. 1 should be lifted up, and the cylinder No. 5
withdrawn, the collar No. 10 being for that purpose raised out of the collar
groove No. 9, and the band already coiled up like a watch spring, with the
cartridges inserted in the loops should be delivered into the pouch, and one
end secured by inserting the roll into the hollow cylinder or pin No. 2, and
the other end, after being passed through a slit or aperture in the side of the
pouch No. 13, Figure C, sufficiently wide and broad to admit of the band
and cartridges being easily drawn through it, and which aperture is closed
upon the band by means of the lid or cover No. 14. Figures A and C should
be secured by passing the roll at the end into the slot in No. 5, and returning
the cylinder No. 5 to its place. When the cartridges are wanted for firing,

page_text: the cylinder No. 5 being partly turned round by the handle No. 6, each
cartridge in succession as it is drawn through the aperture should be removed
from its loop. When the whole supply of cartridges is exhausted, the empty
cartridge band may be readily removed from the pouch, and room made for
the reception of a fresh coil of cartridges by lifting the lid, withdrawing the
roll from the cylindrical pin Number 2, and releasing it from the cylinder No. 5.
The handle No. 6 works loosely on the cylinder No. 5, and a click No. 15 is
fixed to the handle which takes into the ratchett wheel (No. 7. When the
handle is turned in the direction of the arrow, the cylinder No. 5 is made to
revolve, and when the handle is moved in the opposite direction, the cylinder
No. 5 is not stirred. By working the handle backwards and forwards, the
cartridges are one by one brought out of the aperture No. 13.
Another, and which I consider to be a preferable manner of performing,
the said Invention, is as follows:-The cartridge pouch, composed of similar
materials, and worn as before mentioned, should be made of the form shewn
in the annexed Drawing, Figures E, F, G, and H, in which Figure E repre-
sents a front, and Figure G a side view of the pouch. The lid No. 1 is made
to lift up, and is kept closed by means of a hasp, No. 2, at the bottom of the
pouch, or by a rim, or both combined, or by any other contrivance. In the
lid as an aperture, No. 3, large enough to admit of the insertion of the fore-
finger and thumb for the purpose of taking a cartridge from the pouch, and
which can be opened or closed at pleasure by means of a sliding plate
attached to the handle No. 4, as more particularly shown in Figure F, No. 5.
Figure F represents a front plan of the pouch with the lid lifted up, and
Figure H, a side plan or section of it with the lid closed. No. 6 is a pin
fixed to the back of the pouch; No. 7 is a circular box closed at the back and
sides, but open in front, and nearly as deep as the pouch, which can be placed
in or removed at pleasure from the pouch, and made to revolve therein upon,
the aforesaid pin by means of a hollow tube running through the centre of
the box. The box is fitted with forty, or more or less cartridge holders or
compartments, see Figure F, Numbers 8, &c., each formed to contain a single
cartridge placed parallel to the axis of the box, and which compartments are
each somewhat less in depth than the length of a cartridge, so as to leave
enough of it exposed to afford to the finger and thumb a sufficient grasp for
its removal. The cartridges are retained either by the elasticity of the metal car-
tridge holders, Figure F, Numbers 8, which close upon and hold the cartridges,
or there may be straight-sided compartments radiating from the centre, over
which a piece of leather or other elastic substance is strained, having slits or
small holes in it, as represented in Figure I, through which the cartridges

page_text: The box is provided with
of the pouch is closed, a
can be thrust into the compartments. The exposed tops of the cartridges are
represented in Figure H by the Numbers 9, &c.
a ratchetted rim, No. 10, into which, when the lid
spring, catch, or lever, No. 11, attached to the to the sliding plate No. 5, works
in such a manner as simultaneously with each closing of the aperture No. 3
with the sliding plate to bring some one or more of the cartridge holders
opposite to the aperture, and which cartridge holders are retained in the same
position on the withdrawal of the sliding plate from the aperture by means of
a spring click, No. 12, attached to the lid of the pouch, and working into the
ratchetted rim of the box. It is evident that by moving the handle No. 4 to
and fro, every cartridge holder in succession will be brought opposite the
aperture. The pouch is supplied with ammunition by inserting in it the
circular box already filled with cartridges, and is replenished with ammunition
by removing the box when empty, and inserting a full one in its place.
The said Invention may likewise be performed by employing an irremoveable
metal box of octagonal or polygonal form, revolving on an axis within the
pouch, and having a circular ratchetted rim, as before described, into which
box may be inserted a case made of paper, pasteboard, or other light and
cheap material of a similar octagonal or polygonal form to the metal box filled
with cartridges, similarly arranged and placed as in the metal circular box
already mentioned. The pasteboard case, owing to the coincidence of its
polygonal form with that of the metal box, will necessarily revolve along with
the latter, on motion being communicated to it by the handle and lever acting
on the ratchetted rim. And it will be easy so to arrange the relative positions
of the ratchetts and sides of the metal polygon as to ensure the bringing of
each of the cartridge holders of the pasteboard case in succession opposite to
the aperture in the lid of the pouch already described. On the pasteboard
case being emptied of its cartridges, it can be removed from the polygonal
metal box, and a similar case full of cartridges inserted. in its stead. The
cases or packets of whatever material may, when filled with ammunition, be
tied together in packets of four or more each, for the more convenient delivery
of the ammunition to troops in action or on parade, and the cases may be
separately distributed to the men on cutting open the packet. The aperture
for withdrawing the cartridges from the pouch may be made either in the
Jower or upper part of the lid, as may be found most convenient, or in either
side of the pouch.
I claim as my Invention a cartridge pouch so constructed as to admit of its
being filled or replenished at once with as many cartridges as it will hold,
formed in a packet, bundle, or ease, and already therein fixed and arranged

page_text: in a manner which will prevent injury to them by pressure, friction, or
shaking, as well as their rattling or making a noise in the pouch on the motion
of its wearer, and which will enable each of them, by means of an apparatus
connected with the pouch, to be separately withdrawn from it without dis-
turbing any other cartridge.
I claim as my Invention the mode of fixing and arranging cartridges in
packets, bundles, or cases proper for this purpose, and the form of such
packets, bundles, or cases.
And also a pouch and apparatus constructed for the purpose of holding
cartridges so fixed and arranged, and for effecting their separate withdrawal
therefrom without disturbance of any other cartridge.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Augustus Munn, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. AUGUSTUS MUNN. (L.S.)