IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMERS FOR FIRE-ARMS."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMERS FOR
FIRE-ARMS." A communication.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward
Newton at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3d March 1853.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRIMERS FOR FIRE-ARMS" to be as
follows:
In place of having separate percussion caps, which must be placed
on the nipple previous to every discharge of the arm, the Inventor
proposes to employ a disc or wheel, made of metal or other suitable
substance, around which and near its outward edge are made or
punched any convenient number of small holes, which are to be filled
with detonating powder, properly protected by varnish or otherwise
from contact with the air. This disc or wheel is placed in a chamber

page_text: made in the lock for the purpose, and is so arranged that the holes
containing the detonating-nowder may, by the rotation of the wheel,
be brought in turn over
rotate by simply drawing back
The disc or wheel is made to
amer of the lock; or this opera-
tion may, if preferred, be effected by means of a separate lever, as in
fact will sometimes be found most convenient, as in some breech-
loading arms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton, in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 3d September 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the sixteenth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Ifer heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I,
the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said William Edward Newton, 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
terin 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN PRIMERS FOR FIRE-ARMS," being a communication from abroad, upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton,
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 William Edward Newton, do

page_text: hereby declare the nature of the 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 drawing
hereunto annexed (that is to say):
The ordinary mode of exploding the charge of fire arms is by means
of a percussion cap, containing some detonating preparation which,
when struck with force, will explode, and the fire therefrom will pass
down a hole made in the nipple of the arm, and ignite the charge.
When percussion caps are employed for this purpose, a fresh cap must
be placed on the nipple after every discharge. This is an operation
which, in cold weather especially, requires some time to perform.
In place of having separate percussion caps, which must be placed on
the nipple previous to every discharge of the arm, various plans have
been proposed to adapt self-acting primers to fire arms; but most of
these have been objected to by practical men in consequence of their
requiring complicated mechanism to work them. The Inventor of
the improved plan for which I have obtained Letters Patent, as afore-
said, proposes to employ a disc or wheel made of metal, or other suit-
able substance, around which and near its outward edge are made or
punched any convenient number of small holes, which are to be filled
with detonating powder, properly protected, by varnish or otherwise,
from contact with the air. In the accompanying drawing I have
shown one of these improved primers, which may be provided with any
convenient number of holes. The central hole is made for the purpose
of enabling the primer to be placed upon a pin or stud, situated in a
chamber made in the lock for the purpose. The holes in the disc,
containing the detonating powder, are so arranged that they may, by
the rotation of the wheel, be brought in turn over the nipple or hole
communicating with the interior of the barrel. The disc or wheel
containing the detonating powder or composition is placed upon a pin
or stud, which is provided with a ratchet wheel, and is made to rotate
by simply drawing back the hammer of the lock, which, by means of a
click, takes into the ratchet on the pin or stud of the disc wheel, and
moves the latter round one tooth, and just sufficient to bring a fresh
detonating charge over the hole which communicates with the interior

page_text: of the barrel. The rotation of the disc or wheel containing the deto-
nating composition may, if preferred, be effected by incans of a sepa-
rate lever, instead of by means of the cock or hammer of the lock. In
breech loading fire arms this will be found the most convenient
arrangement. I do not, however, intend to confine myself to any
particular plan for causing the disc or wheel to rotate, as this object
may be effected in a variety of ways, as has been heretofore done with
other self-acting primers; and I would here observe, that although
the Inventor prefers to use metal, such as brass, copper, or tin, for the
disc or wheel containing the detonating composition, I do not mean to
confine myself thereto, as cardboard, wood, or other materials may be
employed, if preferred. I would further remark, that I do not intend
to claim adapting a detonating composition to a long strip of metal,
cloth, wood, cardboard, or any other material; but that which I con-
sider to be new, and therefore wish to claim as the Invention secured
to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, is the use and application to fire
arms of a dise or wheel, provided with any convenient number of holes
or recesses for receiving a detonating composition, and which wheel or
disc, when adapted to the arm, may be caused to rotate either by
drawing back the hammer, or by means of a separate lever, as above
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have
hereunte set my hand and seal, the Third day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)
Witness, J. W. MOFFATT, 66, Chancery Lane.