IMPROVEMENT TO THE LOCKS AND BREECHES OF FIRE-ARMS, BY RENDERING THE PANS OF LOCKS AND COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PRIMING AND LOADING OF FIRE-ARMS WATER- PROOF
Year: 1814

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
EMANUEL HEATON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Finisher, send greeting.
WHEREAS I, the said Emanuel Heaton, have, after much labour,
study, and expence, found out and invented an "IMPROVEMENT TO THE
LOCKS AND BREECHES OF FIRE-ARMS, BY RENDERING THE PANS OF LOCKS AND
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN THE PRIMING AND LOADING OF FIRE-ARMS WATER-
PROOF" And whereas, on representing the same to His present Majesty
King George the Third, His said Majesty, by Letters Patent bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-third day of March, in the fifty-
fourth year of His reign, hath given and granted unto me, the said
Emanuel Heaton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, the special licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority of His said Majesty, that I, the
said Emanuel Heaton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and every of
them, by myself and themselves, or by my and their deputy or deputies,
servants or agents, shall and lawfully may make, use, exercise, and
vend my said Invention within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, called England, the Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, the said
Emanuel Heaton, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, or any of them, shall

page_text: in my or their discretion seem meet; and that I, the said Emanuel
Heaton, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, shall and lawfully may have
and enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from
time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the
said Invention, during the term of fourteen years from the date of the
said Letters Patent; and it is by the said Letters Patent provided that
if I, the said Emmanuel Heaton, should not particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in the High Court of
Chancery within two calendar months next immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent, that then those Letters Patent, and all
liberties and advantages thereby granted, should utterly cease, deter-
mine, and become void, anything therein contained to the contrary
thereof in anywise, notwithstanding, as in and by the said Letters
Patent inrolled in the High Court of Chancery may more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Emanuel Heaton, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, are par-
ticularly described and ascertained as follows (that is to say):
The pan of the lock may be in the common or any other form;
allowing sufficient capacity that the operator may chuse, but instead of
being open-mouthed at the end next the barrel of the piece, its edge
or lip must be elevated all round, and a rim or small interval lower
than the edge must be left at the end of the pan next the touch-hole.
between the edge of the pan and the barrel of the piece. The touch-
hole may project about the sixteenth part of an inch towards the lock,
and be let into an orifice made through the rim and edge of the pan to
receive it: Around the orifice in the rim of the pan, and also around the
touch-hole, a small groove must be formed, into which must be inserted
a shred of leather or other elastic substance impermeable to water,
that when the lock is screwed to the barrel of the piece the projecting
edges of the leather or other substance in the grooves may be pressed
close and firmly to the barrel and nib of the lock reciprocally. The seat
of the hammer must be of the same form as the pan, and project
beyond its elevated edge all round, and must be hollowed out or made

page_text: concave to the extent of the exterior of the edge of the pan. Into the
cavity of the seat of the hammer must be inserted a piece of leather or
other substance, which, when pressed on it by the hammer spring, will
closely adhere to the edge of the pan; but leather I use, and this must
be secured in its position by a plate of iron or other metal, of the form
and size of interior of the pan, fastened on the leather or other sub-
stance by a small screw passed through the seat of the hammer and
received by the plate. When the whole is thus prepared, the pressure of
the hammer spring on the edge of the pan will force the latter into the
leather or other substance, and prevent the admission of air or water
into the pan, and the projecting edges of the leather or other substance
in the grooves of the rim and round the touch hole will also exclude
air and water from it, and the communication between the priming
and loading of the piece will be waterproof; the touch-hole may project
in the manner above stated, but it is not necessary that it should.
In witness whereof, I, the said Emanuel Heaton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of May, in the
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
year
EMANUEL (L.s.) HEATON.
Signed and sealed by the within-named
Emanuel Heaton, in the presence of
JOHN SIMCOX,
Att', Birm".
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of May,
in the year of our Lord 1814, the aforesaid Emanuel Heaton came
before our said Lord the King, in His Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and
specified, in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stampt according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fourteen.