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Figure 6- — False loading muzzle for rifles, patented by Alvan 

 Clark on 24 April 1840. Drawing from patent papers. 



through a distant board with such precision that one would say only a 

 single shot had been fired." 12 Clark reputedly said to Joseph Henry, 

 "You say . . . 'every man ought to make himself a master in some one 

 thing.' Well, I think I am the best rifle shot in the world." 13 



Dissatisfied with the accuracy of common muzzle-loading rifles, Clark 

 devised a false loading muzzle. Its purpose was to secure the patch from 

 injury, to facilitate as tight a loading as could be wished, and to achieve 

 as perfect a delivery as possible. 14 This invention, patented in 1840, con- 

 sisted of a hollow cylinder which is fastened to the end of the muzzle 



12 William B. Hawkins, article in a Boston newspaper ca. 1893, reprinted Popular 

 Astronomy, vol. 34 (1926), p. 379. 



13 Quoted in Garth Galbraith, "The American Telescope Makers," op. cit. 



14 Alvan Clark, "On Rifle Shooting," The American Repertory, vol. 3 (1841), pp. 

 164-169. 



