IMPROVEMENT IN SHOT-CHARGES FOR MEASURING SHOT IN CHARGING GUNS - United States Patent 654

W. DOBBINS.
Shot Pouch.

Patented March 23, 1838.

C

N- PETERS. PHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON, D. C.

United States Patent Office 0

GEO. W. DOBBIN, OF BALTIMOEE/MAKYLANT).
IMPROVEMENT IN SHOT-CHARGES FOR MEASURING SHOT IN CHARGING GUNS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 654, dated March 215, 1838.

To all whom it mat/ concern:

Be it known that I, Geokgke W. Dobbin,
of the city of Baltimore, in the State of Mary-
land, have invented a new and useful ma-
chine for measuring the load of shot for guns,
and for charging guns therewith, by which
machine the quantity of the charge is ren-
dered uniform, and the charge is emptied at
once into the gun with the greatest expedi-
tion and without the loss of a single pellet;
and I do hereby declare that the following
is a full and exact description thei'eof, refer-
ence being had to the drawing which accom-
panies 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 conven-
ient size— but, for example, say nine-six-
teenths of an inch in diameter and one inch
long— bent at an obtuse angle, as in the draw-
ing, (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 perma-
nently 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 ful-
crum 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 in-
terval 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 ex-
plained 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 down-
ward. 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 open-
ing 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, there-
fore, is raised by pressing the upper -£ftdof
the lever, the charge of shot runs into
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 en-
larged or diminished by increasing the num-
ber 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 se-
cure 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 prin-
ciple above mentioned.

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

GEOBGE W. DOBBIN.

Witnesses:

Wm. A. Talbott,
David Hoffman,