Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 2.djvu/876

 ROBERTS V. SCHKEIBER. 869 �a flask, made of considerable length, in order to liold suffi- cient powder to create the force required upon its explosion, the powder is very liable to settle down so far in the flask, on account of the motion and jamming that it necessarily undergoes in being placed in position, as to fall beyond the reach of the fire intended to ignite it. �It was these hazards that the patented device was intended to meet. It is a combination of a flask to contain powder, or Bome explosive material, constructed with a close cover; a priming chamber in the cover being a tube extending down into the interior of the flask; a hollow nipple in the upper part of the priming chamber for the purpose of receiving a percussion cap on its upper end, and a guard around the nipple, extending above it about one inch, serving as a guide to a boit, and keeping it in place directly over the nipple, the boit being used to explode the cap on the nipple, and sliding easily in the nipple guard. A plugis used to stop the lower end of the priming chamber. This description will be more fully understood by observing the mode of operation of the device. The flask is filled with powder, and the priming chamber also, its bottom being closed by the plug, inserted tightly enough to keep the powder from falling out, but not 80 tightly that it will not be driven out when the material in the priming chamber explodes. A percussion cap is placed on the nipple, the lower end of the boit is placed on the guard, an India-rubber tube is drawn over the guard and boit and tied closely at its lower end around the guard, and at its upper around the head of the boit, to keep the percussoin cap dry. Thus equipped the apparatus is lowered to its proposed position in the well, and the torpedo is exploded by dropping a weight guided by the wire that sustains it, which forces the boit upon the percussion cap, thereby exploding the powder in the priming chamber, and forcing the fire and the plug into contact with the explosive material in the flask. �It is this combination of the flask, the priming chamber, the plug, (shutting off the chamber from the body of the flask,} and the nipple, which is the first claim of the patent. It constitutes the first claim. After an examination of the pat- ����