IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ABRAHAM ADOLPH MOSER, of No. 2, Canterbury Row, Kennington, in
the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS, in consequence of a communication made to me by
a certain foreigner residing abroad, I am in possession of an Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS OF FIRE-ARMS ;" and
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 Fifteenth day of December, in the second
year of his reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Abraham Adolph Moser, my exors, admors,
and assigns, His especial licence, full power, sole privilege and autho-
rity, that I, the said Abraham Adolph Moser, my exors, admors, and
assigns, or such other persons as I or they should appoint or agree
with, and no others; from time to time and at all times during the term
of fourteen years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick

page_text: upon Tweed, and also in all His said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations
abroad, the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CERTAIN DESCRIPTIONS
OF FIRE-ARMS," in such manner as I, the said Abraham Adolph Moser,
my exors, adûiors, and assigns, should deem expedient, in which said
Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Abraham Adolph
Moser, within the space of six calendar months, to be computed from
the date of the said Letters Patent, should cause a particular descrip-
tion of the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High
Court of Chancery, as in and by the said Letters Patent, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Abraham Adolph Moser, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention to consist:-
First, in causing the charge of powder in fowling pieces, muskets, car-
bines, pistols, and other the like small fire-arms, to take fire by placing
the ordinary fulminating substance used for that purpose, and exploding
it within the barrel, beyond or forward of the powder in the fire-arm,
in such manner as to expose the charge of powder to the whole of the
flame issuing from the said substance, and without the intervention of
any confined passage whereby the flame could only issue as a narrow
stream; and, secondly, in a mode of holding a cartridge in the barrel
of such fire-arm às aforesaid in the proper position for being fired out by
means of a pin pressed through the barrel, whereby I am enabled to use
a cartridge of such smaller diameter than the barrel as not to require
a ramrod to force it to its place, the mere act of dropping it into the
barrel being sufficient for that purpose; and in further compliance with
the said proviso, I, the said Abraham Adolph Moser, do hereby describe
the manner in which the said Invention 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.

page_text: mto effect. A, A, is part of the stock; B, part of the barrel; C, the
ramrod; D, the guard; and E, the trigger. Before I proceed to describe
the arrangement of that part ordinarily called the lock, I will just
observe that in this Figure the fulminating substance is supposed to be
a pellet of fulminating mercury, introduced into and closely confined in
a small cavity made for the purpose in a piece of hard pasteboard, as
shewn at F, cut to the size of the bore of the barrel, and glued on to
the bottom of an ordinary wadding G. It will be seen that this wadding
and pellet is placed in the barrell at the forward extremity of the powder
chamber, and I will now proceed to explain the manner in which I
explode the pellet when in that position, by driving forward the point
or end of the steel wire or rod F, into it. I, is the powder chamber,
and J, the hut of the plug, catching as usual into a false breech K;
this false breech in ordinary cases forms one piece with the strap, but
in this Figure it will be seen that there is an additional piece of metal
I, screwed into the false breech which has no strap; this piece has a
chamber M, M, formed in it to receive the springs, sliding tube, &c.
necessary for the action of the wire H. N, is a tube screwed through
the hut J, into the plug, and passing up into the powder chamber I,
through which the wire H, passes, and is thereby directed steadily to
the pellet; this tube N, I call the directing tube. O, is another tube
through which the other end of the wire H, passes, and into which it is
screwed at P, the ball beyond it being the screw head; as this tube O,
has a sliding motion I call it the sliding tube. Q is a collar, passing
loosely over the end of the tube O, as far as shewn in the Drawing,
where a small shoulder on the tube prevents its sliding farther on; the
use of this collar will be shown hereafter, and it is only necessary here
to observe, that the collar Q, must be put on to the sliding tube O, and
the end piece R, screwed in before the wire H, is inserted. U, is a
in corresponding with a flat filed on the other surface of the tube O,
o prevent its turning; when the screw P, on the wire II, is turned
nto its place, the stock should be hollowed out at S, to admit of the
ction of the wire, as herein-after explained. I will just observe that the
ube O, and collar Q, both move with the wire II, and will now proceed
o describe how these parts are thrown forward to strike the wire point

page_text: against the pellet, and afterwards returned to their former posi
the gun has been fired. The forward and return actions are obtained by
two-spiral springs, shown in their compressed positions at e, and r; the
spring e, being within the spring r, the power of the former is applied
between the piece marked V, and the shoulder c, c, of the tube O, while 5
the power of the latter or spring r, is applied between the piece marked
V, and the shoulder d, d, formed in the chamber of the piece L. The
piece marked V, W, and X, performs most important offices in giving the
required action to the wire, and is what I call the conductor; it is fur-
nished with two pins, a and d, one at each end, and the sear pin Y, and
its spring Z, are both fastened to and move with it; the spring fits into a
dovetail mortice and then is held to its place by the screw f. g, is the
piece containing the bents or notches for cock and half cock, which in
ordinary gun locks are cut in the tumbler, but here it will be seen that
the piece is furnished with a catch h, the use of which will be shewn
hereafter. l, m, is a lever, which as it is used to bring the gun to cock
and half cock, I call the cocking lever; this lever turns upon the pivot
or fulcrum t, and its short arm m, acts upon the pin b, and moves the con-
ductor. Of Figures 2 and 3, it is only necessary to observe, that Fig. 2,
represents the position of the mechanism when the gun is uncocked,
and Fig. 3, its position when the gun is fired; and as it will be found
that similar letters are used to denote similar parts in all the Figures,
no further description of Figures 2 and 3, will be necessary.
1
Having now described the various parts of the mechanism necessary
to carry the first part of the said Invention into effect, I will proceed to
describe the action of these various parts when cocking and firing the
fowling piece shewn in this Drawing.
Figure 2, represents the uncocked position. The spiral springs r, and
e, are extended, and the spring r, acting between the shoulder d, d, and
the
.part
V; of the conductor V, W, X, has driven the conductor back
the piece V, of the conductor acting on the collar Q, has pushed that
out, and the collar Q, acting in turn upon the ball or screw head of the
wire H, has pushed that also out; thus drawn back the point of the
wire H, at a distance from the pellet, the conductor being forced back
by the spring r, has also, by means of the pin b, acted upon the

page_text: lever m, t, and thus thrown down the long arm l, of the lever, while the
sear Y, which is attached to the conductor has been drawn away from
the bents on the catch piece 9; it will be observed, nevertheless, that
the sear spring Z, acting on one end of the sear causes the other end to
rise and so keeps the catch h, acting upon the forward end of the sliding
tube O. In order to cock the gun the long arm 7, of the lever l, m, must
be brought to the position shown in Fig. 1; the effect of this will be, to
draw the conductor V, W, X, forward by the short arm m, of the lever
acting upon
the pin b; by the drawing forward of the conductor the
piece V, will compress the spiral springs, and e, for the catch h, it will
be seen still continues to hold back the sliding tube O, which the inner
spring e, would otherwise send forward; the drawing forward of the
conductor has also caused the sear to enter the forward bent on the
catch piece g, and has brought the pin a, immediately over the notch i.
In this position the sear Y, holds the conductor forward and takes the
strain off the lever l, m, which is now only held up by the pin b, and
the gun being thus cocked, the trigger is now ready to be pulled; the
effect of pulling the trigger will be as follows:-The hinder part of the
catch piece g, will be raised, and this will cause the opposite end with
its friction roller, to push down the sear and release it from the bent,
while at the same to prevent the conductor from instantly being driven
back by the spring r, the notch i, in the trigger rises up to the pin a,
and holds the conductor forward, so that the inner spring e, may con-
tinue to act against it, and the catch h, being removed to throw the
wire H, forward against the pellet, and thus ignite the fulminating sub-
stance, which being immediately next to the forward end of the charge
of powder acts with the full volume of its flame upon the said charge,
without the intervention of any touch hole or confined passage, as
herein-before stated. Figure 3, shows the position of the mechanism
after the gun is fired off and before the finger is removed from the
trigger. The conductor being kept forward by the pin a, resting in the
notch i, of the trigger, when the finger is removed from the trigger and
the trigger falls from the pin a, the spring ; again throws the con-
ductor back to the position shown in Fig. 2, and the other parts of the
mechanism resume also the positions there shown; when required to

page_text: uncock the gun without firing the trigger must be pulled in an oppo-
site direction. Figure 4, is merely given to show the best position for
the workman to place the mechanism in for the purpose of adjusting
the various parts, and they can, of course, only be held in this position
by the finger being applied to the lever l, m, which, for this purpose,
must be made to keep the conductor just short of the cocking position.
Figure 5, represents the second part of the said Invention. p, is a lever
turning on the fulcrum q, and attached by a pivot point to the lever l, m,
from which drives the necessary action; u, is a stud or pin passing
through the barrel into the cartridge. Now it will be evident from this
arrangement of parts that when the lever l, m, is pressed up as here
shewn, the point of the stud will remain pressed against the car-
tridge, and will hold it in its place in the barrel, and when the receding
of the conductor pushes down the arm 7, of the lever l, m, it will bring
the lever p, into such a position as to withdraw the pin or stud u, from
the barrel to let the cartridge down. This Figure is intended to repre-
sent a musket, and T, is a ball cartridge to be used therewith, having
a short copper cap with the fulminating substance introduced, in a
similar manner as the pellet in the wadding herein-before described.
This gun is furnished with a strap and false brecch, but has no ramrod.
Now whereas I claim the Invention aforesaid: first, placing the fulmi-
nating substance required to fire the charge of powder in fowling pieces,
muskets, carbines, pistols, and other the like small fire-arms within the
barrel, beyond or forward of the powder in the said fire-arms, and there
igniting it or causing it to explode in manner herein-before described;
and, secondly, the lever p, and pin or stud u, described in Fig. 5, for
holding a cartridge to its place in a musket, pistol, or other the like
small fire-arms when the cartridge is made sufficiently small in
diameter to drop to its proper place without the use of a ramrod; and
such Invention being, to the best of my knowledge and belief, entirely
new and never before used within that part of Ilis said Majesty's
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, His
Dominion of Wales, or Town of Berwick upon Tweed, or in of His
said Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, I do hereby declare
this to be my Specification of the same, and that I do verily believe
any

page_text: 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 the said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Abraham Adolph Moser, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-
two.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord 1832, the aforesaid Abraham Adolph Moser
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 afore-
said was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that
purpose.