Specification of the Patent granted to ALEXANDer John FORSYTH, Clerk, of Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, in Scotland; for a Method of discharging or giving Fire to Artillery, and all other Fire-Arms, Mines, Chambers, Cavities, and Places in which Gunpowder, or other Combustible Matter, is or may be put for the Purpose of Explosion. Dated April 11, 1807.

With a Plate.

To all to whom these presents shall come, &c.

Now KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I the said Alexander John Forsyth do hereby declare, that the nature of my said invention of an advantageous method of discharging or giving fire to artillery, and all other fire-arms, mines, chambers, cavities, and places in which gunpowder, or other combustible matter, is or may be put for the purpose of explosion, is expressed in the foregoing general description thereof, and the manner in which the same is to be performed is as follows; that is VOL. XI.-SECOND SERIES.

Fff

to

to say: First; as to the chemical plan and principles thereof. Instead of permitting the touch-hole or vent of the pieces of artillery, fire-arms, mines, chambers, cavities, or places, to communicate with the open air; and instead of giving fire to the charge by a lighted match, or by flint and steel, or by any other matter in a state of actual combustion applied to a priming in an open pan, I do close the touch-hole or vent by means of a plug or sliding piece, or other fit piece of metal, or suitable material or materials, so as to exclude the open air, and to prevent any sensible escape of the blast or explosive gas or vapour outwards, or from the priming or charge, and as much as possible to force the said priming to go in the direction of the charge, and to set fire to the same, and not to be wasted in the open air. And, as a priming, I do make use of some or one of those chemical compounds which are so easily inflammable as to be capable of taking fire and exploding without any actual fire being applied thereto, and merely by a blow, or by any sudden or strong pressure or friction given or applied thereto without extraordinary violence; that is to say, I do make use of some one of the compounds of combustible matter, such as sulphur, or sulphur and charcoal, with an oxymuriatic salt; for example, the salt formed of dephlogisticated marine acid and potash (or potasse), which salt is otherwise called oxymuriate of potash; or I do make use of such of the fulminating metallic compounds as may be used with safety; for example, fulminating mercury, or of common gunpowder mixed in due quantity with any of the before-mentioned substances, or with an oxymuriatic salt as aforesaid, or of suitable mixtures of any of the before-mentioned compounds; and these compounds, or mixtures of compounds, I find to be much

better

better for priming than gunpowder used alone, which cannot be made to explode without some sparks or actual fire applied thereto, or else without such a degree of extraordinary and violent percussion as cannot conveniently be made use of in gunnery, or with any of the fire-arms or artillery that are in most general use. But it is to be observed, that I do not lay claim to the invention of any of the said compounds or matters to be used for priming; my invention in regard thereto being confined to the use and application thereof to the purposes of artillery and fire-arms as aforesaid. And the manner of priming and exploding which I use, is to introduce into the touch-hole or vent, or into a small and strong chamber, or place between the said touch-hole and vent, and the plug or sliding piece, or other piece by which the communication with the external air is cut off, a small portion of some or one of the chemical compounds, herein before mentioned (for example, as for priming to a musket about the eighth part of a grain); and when the required discharge is to be made, I do cause the said chemical compound or priming to take fire and explode by giving a stroke, or sudden and strong pressure to the same, communicated by and through the said plug or sliding piece, or other piece before mentioned or described, in consequence of which the fire of the priming is immediately communicated to the contents or charge placed within the said piece of artillery, fire-arm, mine, chamber, cavity, or place, and the discharge accordingly follows.

And, secondly, I do hereby farther declare, for the better illustration of my said invention, and as auxiliary to the use thereof, in relation to the mechanical parts thereof, that I have hereunto annexed drawings or sketches, exhibiting several constructions which may be made and adopted in conformity to the foregoing plan Fff 2

and

and principles, out of an endless variety which the subject admits of.

Fig. 1 (Plate XVI.) represents the section of a piece of artillery, where the charge is inflamed upon the upper

side.

Fig. 2 represents the section of a piece of artillery, where the charge is inflamed at one of its ends through a touch-hole in the line of direction of the barrel or bore of the piece.

Fig. 3 is a representation of the same thing as Fig. 2, except that the narrow part of the touch-hole is lengthened more than in Fig. 2.

The same letters answer for the description of Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

In Fig. 1, A A, represent the section of a piece of artillery. B the touch-hole, of a cylindrical bore, excepting at the bottom, where it becomes a small perforation, leading to the chamber. C is a cylindrical punch or plug fitting the bore of B, and (if need be) clothed, packed, or faced near its upper part with leather or binding, or any other material proper to render its fitting more correct, and its motion easy and smooth. The lower part of C is made to fit the lower part of the touch-hole B, and there is a small internal cavity at the lower part of C, in which a portion of the said chemical compound may be lodged by dipping the said punch or plug therein; or a sufficient quantity of the said chemical compound is let fall into B, part of which lodges upon the shoulder at B, Fig. 1, or in the bottom of the bore at B, Figs. 2 and 3, and in this state the said punch or plug C is to be inserted in the touch-hole; and a smart blow being given on its upper end, the said chemical compound being suddeuly compressed between the two faces nearly in contact, will explode, and give fire to the remaining portion,

and

and also to the charge. The apparatus, Figs. 1, 2, and 3, is chiefly to be recommended for its simplicity, but it is attended with several obvious inconveniences.

Fig. 4 represents the section of an apparatus which may be used to prime and discharge a musket, or any other fire-arm, a great number of times, even although the breech of the same is under water. A A represents a section of the barrel of the piece. D the chamber of the barrel, which is contracted to a narrow touch-hole at I and opened up to about double the diameter of the narrowmost part of the touch-hole at Bb. Into B b is introduced the rod or plug C CC at b, where the touch-hole is opened wider. There is another hole F, of the same diameter as B b; and at right angles to B b a cylindrical piece, of any proper metal, with a hole nearly through it, in the line of direction of the axis, passes through the solid breech of the barrel as near to I and b as can be done with safety and convenience. There is also another hole in one side of the cylinder at right angles to its axis, and corresponding with the hole F in the breech of the gun when the cylinder is fixed in its proper place; or, as the cylinder must be accurately fitted into the breech, and move round freely, this last-mentioned hole may stand either at F or K. This first-mentioned hole in the cylinder E is filled with any of the chemical compounds before mentioned. When the piece is to be primed, the hole in the side of the cylinder E is brought directly over F, and the powder falls out of the cylinder through F into the small cavity at b, between the point of the rod or plug CCC, and the contracted part of the touch-hole at I, where the piece is to be discharged. The side hole in the cylinder E is turned round to K, and the rod or plug C C C impelled forward by the stroke of a hammer or spiral spring as at GGG, or by any other mechanical contrivance, so that by its pressure or concussion against

the