AN IMPROVEMENT IN WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1834

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD WALKER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the
Fourth, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of June, in the
fifth year
of His reign, did, for Himself, His heirs, and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Richard Walker, His special licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said Richard Walker,
my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Walker, my exors, adiiors, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said
Richard Walker, shall cause a particular description of the nature of
my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery, within

page_text: two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
in part 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 Richard Walker, do hereby declare the nature of
my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following description thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing in the margin hereof, and to the
figures and letters marked ilicreon, that is to
say:
My Invention consists in the application of metallic dises (having suit-
able apertures for the passage of air) to the purpose of waddings for fowl-
ing pieces and such like fire-arms, as will be fully described hereafter.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1, represents a circular disc of metal, which is made to the size
required for the bore of the intended fowling piece, and in such manuer
as to touch the barrel all round, except at the parts a, a, which are
apertures or openings, through which the air in the barrel passes in
the act of ramming down the wadding. Figure 2, shews another
metallic wadding, having perforations b. b, in place of the parts a, a. cut
out of the outer edges in Figure 1; and Figure 3, represents another
wadding, having short slit c, c, for the passage of the air. It will be
evident that the shape or form of the apertures will not be material.
care being observed not to make them of such dimensions as will allow
of the passage of the powder. It will be evident from the above
description that various advantages will be derived in the application of
these metallic discs as wadding for sporting purposes, in place of the
ordinary pasteboard, paper, or other wadding formerly employed; amongst
other advantages will be the close contact of the shot to the powder,
and the consequent compactness of the charge, and it will be desirable
to remark that in ramming down such metallic wadding it will be
materially tend to cleanse the interior of the barrel after each
lischarge.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would remark
that usually form such dises as above described by means of the

page_text: ordinary fly press, and I usually cut them from thin sheets or plates of
brass, from one hundredth to one hundred and twentieth of an inch in
thickness, such brass being trimmed. Although I prefer brass. I do
not confine myself to that metal, but intend to avail myself of other
metals or compounds of metals suitable for the purpose, care being
observed that in whatever metal chosen for the purpose of making
such wadding, that its hardness shall be such that the ordinary worm
or screw on the ramrod shall readily pass through when it is desired to
withdraw the charge, and it is desirable that whatever metal is used,
that it should possess a degree of elasticity, that the disc or wadding
being formed in the slighest degree larger than the bore, it shall by
pressing against the sides of the barrel offer suflicient resistance to
retain it securely to the plate to which it is rammed, and it will be.de-
sirable further to remark that lead should not be used, owing to its
want of such degree of elasticity, but more particularly as it would
add to that prejudicial effect usually produced by the shot in discharging
a fowling piece termed "leading," and which my improved wadding
has a tendency to remove.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect. I would have it understood that I do
hereby expressly confine my claim of Invention to the application of
metallic discs (having suitable apertures for the passage of air), to the
purpose of wadding for fowling pieces and such like fire-arins, as above
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Walker, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the
voar of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-four
RICHARD (L.S.) WALKER.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-first day of
30 August, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
thirty-four, the aforesaid Richard Walker came before our said Lord
the King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification afore-
said, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form

page_text: above written, and also the Specification aforesaid, and stamped ac-
cording to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
above written, and also the Specification aforesaid, and stamped ac-
cording to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our