IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS OR PORTABLE FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Claude Etienne Minié, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, and of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, for the.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Claude Etienne
Minié at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 8th May 1855.
I, CHARLES CLAUDE ETIENNE MINIE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and
of 32, Essex Street, Strand, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS OR PORTABLE FIRE-ARMS" to be as
follows:-
The object of the present improvements is the construction of a gun, musket,
or portable fire-arm, presenting a greater solidity than the arms now in use
for the same purposes, and also being cheaper to make, by using a less number
of implements, and iron instead of wood, and by generally simplifying the
mechanism of the gun.
Fig. 1, on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, shews a longitudinal elevation of
these improvements as embodied in a musket for the army; this musket being
still long enough to be used as a hand weapon or with the bayonet. Fig. 2 is
a cross section through the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1.
As is seen from this Drawing, the stock part is made of iron, the butt end
only being made of wood, and the shape I adopt is that of a cross rib, so as to
ensure both lightness and strength. This rib is rolled or drawn out, and a lump
of iron is left at the front end for being turned cylindrical, and screwing the

page_text: barrel A on. The stock after being planed is bent to a proper shape at a red
heat, and the butt end secured to it by plates and screws. The firing is effected
by means of cap placed on the nipple D. The hammer C is fixed on the stock
part by means of a screw, about which it can be turned by means of a rod E.
This rod passes through the tube F, containing a coiled spring, and has a
roughened button G at the other end outside. Underneath i the rod E carries
a spring, which is sunk into the rod; this spring projecting outside, but being
able to be contained entirely in its recess. At J there is an inclined plane of
steel fixed into the stock. The trigger or detent I has a projection, which is
when the gun is being cocked. The trigger guard
for depressing the spring i
is suitably screwed on the stock. The ramrod, which is very short, may be
fixed in any suitable way on the gun barrel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed by
the said Charles Claude Etienne Minić in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
CLAUDE ETIENNE MINIE, of Paris, in the Empire of France, and of 32, Essex
Street, Strand, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Claude Etienne Minié, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Claude Etienne Minié, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles Claude Etienne Minié, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MUSKETS OR PORTABLE FIRE-ARMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Claude Etienne
Minié, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Claude Etienne Minié, 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:-
The object of the present improvements is the construction of a gun, musket,
or portable fire-arm, presenting a greater solidity than the arms now in use for
the same purposes, and also being cheaper to make, by using a less nuinber of
implements, and generally simplifying the mechanism of the gun.
The annexed Drawing is a longitudinal section passing forward the medial
iron plate A; the latter being used instead of the double T-shaped iron piece,
described in the Provisional Specification. A groove B is made near the
extreme end of the bar or plate A, on which the barrel C is screwed; in the
said groove the hammer D is worked, which strikes the nipple F. The rod E
connected with the hammer passes through the cylinder G, which contains a
coiled spring H, and out of the cylinder the said rod is screwed on the piece I.
In this piece the spring J is adapted, carrying a hook a at its end; said hook
catches a corresponding notch b, made in the bar A, and causes the trigger K
to rise. The gun is shown at full cock.
To fire the arm, the finger presses on the trigger, which releases the hook a
from the notch, when the rod e, yielding to the pressure of the spring H, returns
to its position, and the hammer D strikes the nipple F, in which the cap is
inserted. c, c, c, c, are the screws that secure the iron plate A to both sides
of the stock part; d is a screw that secures the cylinder G to the spring H;,
N is a projection, serving to take aim; it is hinged on the upper surface of the
gun, and carries a guide o, which serves to regulate the inclination of the barrel
in proportion to the distance.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which it is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be distinctly understood
that what I claim as novel, and being secured to me by the herein-before in
parts recited Letters Patent, is, the construction of the arm above described,
and particularly the direct arrangement of the hammer and the trigger.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Claude Etienne Minié, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of November, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred & fifty-five.
ΜΕΤΑΣΤΑ