[Transcriber's Note: The ^ character is used to signify a superscripted number] [Illustration: _3.Sheets._ _Sheet.1_ _S. Colt._ _Imp-t in Fire Arms._ _No 1304._ _Patented Aug 29. 1839._ Figs. 1-10] [Illustration: _3.Sheets._ _Sheet.2._ _S. Colt._ _Imp-t in Fire Arms._ _No 1,304._ _Patented Aug 29. 1839._ Figs. 11-18] [Illustration: _3.Sheets._ _Sheet.3._ _S. Colt._ _Imp-t in Fire Arms._ _No 1304._ _Patented Aug 29. 1839._ Figs. 19-26] UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. SAMUEL COLT, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY. IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS AND IN THE APPARATUS USED THEREWITH. Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,304, dated August 29, 1839. _To all whom it may concern:_ Be it known that I, _Samuel Colt_, of Paterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, did obtain Letters Patent of the United States for an Improvement in Fire-Arms, which Letters Patent bear date on the 25th day of February, in the year 1836, and that I have made certain improvements in the construction of the said fire-arms, and also in the apparatus for loading and priming the same; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description of my said improvements. My first improvements appertain to rifles, guns, and pistols; my second to the construction of a cap-primer for containing the percussion-caps and placing the same upon the nipples, and my third to a flask and other apparatus for loading the rifle or gun. For the general construction of my fire-arms, as originally patented I refer to the Letters Patent first above named, the same being necessary to a perfect understanding of the improvements thereon, which I am now about to describe. Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings represents a section through the lock and breech of my rifle or gun and two of the chambers of the revolving receiver, B being a part of the barrel of the gun. The mouths of the chambers and the end of the barrel have their edges chamfered or beveled, as shown at _a a_ in the drawings. In all guns of this description there is necessarily a lateral discharge between the receiver and the barrel, and this lateral discharge may endanger the ignition of the powder in the loaded chambers not in contact with the barrel; but the ignited matter, by coming into contact with the beveled edge as it crosses said chamber, is effectually reflected off, and does not enter them. The beveling of the end of the barrel is not a thing of importance, it being intended merely to prevent its scraping or cutting the ball in its passage from the chamber.