CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN- POWDER FLASKS, POWDER HORNS, OR OTHER UTENSILS OF DIPPERENT SHAPES, SUCH AS ARE USED OR CAN BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING GUN- POWDER THEREIN, IN ORDER TO LOAD THEREPROM GUNS, PISTOLS, BLUNDERBUS'S, AND OTHER FIRE ARMS
Year: 1826

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHARLES RANDOM Baron DE BERENGER, of Target Cottage, Kentish
Town, in the Parish of Saint Pancras and County of Middlesex, 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 Twentieth day of December, in the
seventh year of Ilis reign, did, for Himself, Ilis heirs and successors.
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Random Baron de Berenger,
His especial licence that I, the said Charles Random Baron de Berenger,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Random Baron de Berenger, my exors, adññiors, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN-
POWDER FLASKS, POWDER HORNS, OR OTHER UTENSILS OF DIPPERENT SHAPES,
SUCH AS ARE USED OR CAN BE USED FOR THE PURPOSE OF CARRYING GUN-
POWDER THEREIN, IN ORDER TO LOAD THEREPROM GUNS, PISTOLS, BLUNDERBUS'S,
AND OTHER FIRE ARMS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a pro-
viso, obliging me, the said Charles Random Baron de Berenger, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe

page_text: and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Charles Random Baron de Berenger, do hereby declare the nature
of my said Invention to consist :
First, in attaching the charger, or that part of the powder flask or
horn which holds the charge, to an arm projecting from the thumb knob
in such manner that the charger is carried over the delivery hole, or
hole out of which the powder runs from the flask or horn, by the action
of removing the cutter from the said hole, and brought to the side of
the flask by the reaction which closes the delivery hole or allows it to
close. Secondly, in a contrivance, which I call a funnel, for loading at
the side of the powder flask or horn without turning it over the muzzle
of the fire-arm to be loaded. And, thirdly, in a safety plug or valve
for cutting off the communication between the powder in the flask or
horn and that in the charger in ease of explosion. And in further
compliance with the said proviso, I, the said Charles Random Baron
de Berenger, do hereby describe the manner in which my said Inven-
tion 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 a powder flask furnished with my said first and
second improvements; A, is the charger attached to and consequently
moving with B, which is the thumb knob; C, is a part of the cutter,
which in this position closes the delivery hole D; E, is a small hole
closed by a slide for shaking out any loose powder that may at any time
get into that part of the flask, which will be more particularly described
hereafter; G. is a tube open at both ends through which the powder
runs from the charger, which I call the funnel, and by which it is
guided into the muzzle of the barrel to be loaded.
It should here be

page_text: stated that the charger here shown is open at its lower end and stopped
at its upper end by means of H, which is a patch of leather cut to fit
tightly into the charger, and thus serving to retain the powder while
the charge is filling from the flask, but which would easily blow out
in case of the charge exploding while in the act of loading. J, is a
small adjusting screw to regulate the quantity of powder in the charger,
which is made of two tubes, one within the other, in the ordinary way:
M, is the rim or mounting of the flask containing the female screw, into
which N, which represents the head of the flask, screws. Figure 2,
represents the top part of Fig. 1, when the thumb knob is acted upon,
which it will be seen removes the charger from the side of the flask to
and over the delivery hole; and it will be hereafter shown, by reference
to the other Figures, that this same action removes the cutter from
the hole, and thus opens a communication between the flask and the
charger. The dotted lines show the position from which the charger
is supposed to have been removed by this action; and it will be proper
here to state that the same letters are used to denote similar parts in
all the figures. Figure 3, shows the internal arrangement of the head
of the flask. C, is the cutter, which it will be seen is moved by the
action of the lower or interior arm L, of the thumb knob B, acting
against the small pin or stud S, while the reaction is obtained by means
of a small spiral spring wound round the axis i, on which the cutter
turns; P, is the main or principal spring, against which the lower or
interior arm of the thumb knob acts. At R, is seen the under side of
the funnel or tube G, in order to prevent as much as possible the
powder from getting into the head of the flask, and thus fouling it and
impeding the action of the springs. I make two projections e, e, one at
each side of the works, to which I screw the plate, Figure 4. This plate,
it will be seen, is furnished with a tube T, which should fit as accurately
as possible against the under side of the cutter. and by this means very
little powder, if any, will escape into the head of the flask' among the
works while filling the charger, and in case any should find its way
there it will be easily shaken out at the hole E, before described.
will be seen that this plate, Fig. 4, is furnished with a male screw, by
which the head of the flask is screwed on to the mounting M. Figure
5, is a separate plan of' the cutter; and: Figure 6, is a similar plan of
It

page_text: the thumb knob, and its upper or exterior arm; while Figure 7, is a
section of the thumb knob, shewing both its upper and lower, or exterior
and interior arm. Figures 8, 9, and 10, are illustrative of the third
part of my said improvements. Fig. 8, is a plan of part of the head
of the flask, showing the charger A, attached as before to the upper arm
of thumb knob B; but it will be seen in this head the upper arm of the
thumb knob answers also the purpose of the cutter or covers the delivery
hole at all times, except when the charger is brought over the delivery
hole by the action of the thumb on the thumb knob. In this view
the leather patch is supposed to be removed from the upper end of the
charger, so as to show the lever O, one arm of which projects into the
charger through an aperture or slot made in its side for that purpose,
while the other arm V, is connected to a valve or plug X, better shewn
in the other Figures; this lever turns on the pivot or axis W. Fig. 9,
is a section of Fig. 8, showing the charger open at its lower end and
the tube G, as before. It will be seen by this Figure that the plug X,
where not put into action, remains in a cavity in the under side of the
upper arm of the thumb knob, but if an explosion should take place in
the charger the arm O, of the lever would be forced up and the arm V.
forced down, which would press the plug or valve X, into the delivery
hole, and thus at once stop all communication between the powder in
the flask and that in the charger. On this plan it is evident that the
spring of the common flask head will be sufficient, since, as has before
been explained, the upper arm of the thumb knob serves for the cutter,
which in this case acts on the outside of the flask head instead of the
inside, as in the first Figure described. This is certainly a more simple
plan than the one before described and less expensive, since the parts
marked C, i, S, L, and P, in Fig. 3, are not in this case required. It
will only be necessary further to add, that in the use of this flask the fore-
finger may be applied to the lower end of the funnel, instead of the upper
end of the charger, as in ordinary flasks. Now whereas I claim as my
Invention the following improvements, that is to say:-First, attaching
the charger to an arm projecting from the thumb knob in such manner
that the charger is carried over the delivery hole by the action of the
thumb
upon the thumb knob, or by the action of removing the cutter
from the delivery hole, and, is brought to the side of the flask, horn,, or

page_text: other vessel which contains the powder by the reaction of the thumb
knob or reaction of the cutter which closes the delivery hole. Secondly,
the tube or funnel G, at the side of the flask, horn, or other vessel which
holds the powder, for the purpose of enabling the persons loading the
fire-arm to put in his charge without turning the flask, horn, or other
vessel which holds the powder in reserve over the muzzle of the barrel.
And, thirdly, the safety plug, shown in Figures 8, 9, and 10, marked
with the letters O, V, W, and X, and applied in manner and for the
purpose herein-before stated. And whereas these said improvements
being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely new, and never
before used in that part of His said Majesty's United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, His said Dominion of Wales, or
Town of Berwick upon Tweed, I do hereby declare this to be my
Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe this my 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 contained. Wherefore I do hereby claim to maintain exclusive
right and privilege to my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Random Baron de
Berenger, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and twenty-seven.