Joe flDanton 103 



a patent for the rifling and improved loading of cannon. 

 A cup made of alder, or any very soft wood, so turned 

 as partially to receive the ball, kept it steady in its 

 passage through the calibre of the piece, acting also 

 as a circular wedge which stopped the windage. Into the 

 soft wood of the cup the threads of the rifling were 

 indented, and the iron ball was thus prevented from 

 injuring the sides of a brass gun by grazing them, and 

 the thick bottom of the cup also served as a wadding 

 to the cartridge. The experiments, made at the 

 inventor's expense, were so successful that the Duke 

 of Richmond, then Master of the Ordnance, publicly 

 announced that the Government intended to purchase 

 the invention, and by that announcement prevented 

 Joe from taking out his patent in the usual way. And 

 what do you suppose they offered the inventor for 

 the invention of which they thought so highly ? The 

 munificent sum of 500, about half of what Manton 

 had expended in perfecting and testing his invention ! ! 

 Needless to say, Joseph declined the generous offer. 

 " Very well," said the Duke of Richmond, " if you don't 

 choose to take the sum we offer, you may get out your 

 patent as you can." And, remember, Manton was 

 expected to give up his secret, stock, lock, and barrel, 

 to the authorities at Woolwich, and forgo any 

 further profit for that absurd remuneration ! Of all 

 the many shabby acts of which the War Office has 

 been guilty towards inventors, that, I think, is about 

 the shabbiest. 



Before I part from Joe Manton there is one good 

 story of which he is the hero worth telling. When Joe 



