United States Patent Office.

GEO. W. DOBBIN, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND. IMPROVEMENT IN
SHOT-CHARGES FOR MEASURING SHOT IN CHARGING GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 654, dated March
24, 1838.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, George W. Dobbin, of the city of Baltimore,
in the State of Maryland, have invented a new and useful machine
for measuring the load of shot for guns, and for charging guns
therewith, by which machine the quantity of the charge is
rendered uniform, and the charge is emptied at once into the gun
with the greatest expedition and without the loss of a single
pellet; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and
exact description thereof, reference being had to the drawing
which accompanies and makes a part of this specification, viz:

To the mouth of that description of bag which is usually
suspended at the right side by a strap passing over the left
shoulder, I attach a tube, A, (see figure,) of any convenient
size�about, for example, say nine-sixteenths of an inch in
diameter and one inch long�bent at an obtuse angle, as in the
drawing, (or curved, as is indicated by dotted lines in the same
figure,) and joined to the middle of another tube, B, of the same
or larger dimensions�say three-fourths of an inch in diameter�and
a communication is opened between the two tubes as large as the
smaller tube, A, will admit of. The larger tube, B, may be three
inches or more in length and closed at the end C, either
permanently or by a cap or plug screwed on or in said end, and
the other end, D, contracted to a size convenient for insertion
into the muzzle of a gun. At about the middle of the larger tube,
B, and at right angles with the direction in which it is joined
by the smaller tube, A, is placed an upright�say three-eighths of
an inch high�in a longitudinal slot in which upright works a
lever, the fulcrum being a pin or screw passing through the
upright and lever. To one end of this lever is attached a gate or
slide which works in a slot cut transversely in the tube B at
such distance from the junction of the tube A with the tube B as
to contain in the interval the desired charge of shot. The other
end of the lever is kept elevated, and the gate kept thus shut
down by a spring, in the manner long known and commonly used upon
shot-chargers known by the name of "lever-chargers."

The operation of the apparatus may be explained thus: The bag or
pouch is suspended at the right side by a strap passing in the
usual way over the left shoulder, and the bag, with the charger
attached, hangs downward. The shot then pass from the bag and
fill the tube A and part of the tube B as high as the dotted line
E. In loading the gun the mouth D of the charger is inserted into
the muzzle of the gun, and the shot by their own gravity fall
into the charger, so as to fill the space between the gate and
the opening from the tube B into the tube A as high as the dotted
line, the rest passing off into the body of the bag. When the
gate, therefore, is raised by pressing the upper end of the
lever, the charge of shot runs into the gun without the loss of a
single pellet, and upon the bag's falling to the side of the
shooter it is instantly ready for use again.

The quantity of the charge may be enlarged or diminished by
increasing the number of slots in the tube B and moving the gate
so as to enlarge or diminish the distance between the gate and
the tube A.

The tube A may be joined to the bag, either permanently or by a
screw or other mode, so that it can be removed in order to fill
the bag with shot; but if it be joined permanently, then the end
C of the tube B should be closed by a screw-cap, when the bag may
be filled by removing the cap.

The machine may be made of brass, copper, German silver, or any
metal or composition suited to the purpose.

I do not wish to be considered as confining myself by the
drawings and description here given to this form of the
apparatus, as the same principle of action may be used under
various modifications of form and yet remain essentially the
same; but

I claim as my invention and intend to secure by Letters Patent�

1. The mode of measuring the charge of shot by their own gravity
in such way that all except the quantity requisite to constitute
the charge shall run off and be separated from the charge.

2. The mode above described of discharging the shot at once into
the barrel of the gun, in connection with the application of the
principle above mentioned.

The lever and gate I do not claim, the same having been long
known and used,

GEORGE W. DOBBIN.

Witnesses: Wm. A. Talbott, David Hoffman, UNITED STATES PATENT
OFFICE.