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Single-shot caplock pistol used to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. This type of small handgun is known as a Derringer.

The percussion cap, introduced circa 1820, is a type of single-use ignition device used on muzzleloader firearms that enabled them to fire reliably in any weather conditions.^[1] This crucial invention gave rise to the caplock or percussion lock system.

Before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems that produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the gun's main powder charge (the flintlock mechanism replaced older ignition systems such as the matchlock and wheellock). Flintlocks were prone to misfire in wet weather, and many flintlock firearms were later converted to the more reliable percussion system.

Description[edit]

The percussion cap is a small cylinder of copper or brass with one closed end. Inside the closed end is a small amount of a shock-sensitive explosive material such as fulminate of mercury. The percussion cap is placed over a hollow metal "nipple" at the rear end of the gun barrel. Pulling the trigger releases a hammer that strikes the percussion cap and ignites the explosive primer. The flame travels through the hollow nipple to ignite the main powder charge. Percussion caps were, and still are, made in small sizes for pistols and larger sizes for rifles and muskets.^[1]

While the metal percussion cap was the most popular and widely used type of primer, their small size made them difficult to handle under the stress of combat or while riding a horse. Accordingly, several manufacturers developed alternative, "auto-priming" systems. The "Maynard tape primer", for example, used a roll of paper "caps" much like today's toy cap gun. The Maynard tape primer was fitted to some firearms used in the mid-nineteenth century and a few saw brief use in the American Civil War. Other disc or pellet-type primers held a supply of tiny fulminate detonator discs in a small magazine. Cocking the hammer automatically advanced a disc into position. However, these automatic feed systems were difficult to make with the manufacturing systems in the early and mid-nineteenth century and generated more problems than they solved. They were quickly shelved in favor of a single percussion cap that, while awkward to handle in some conditions, could be carried in sufficient quantities to make up for occasionally dropping one while a jammed tape primer system reduced the rifle to an awkward club.^[1]

The first practical solution for the problem of handling percussion caps in battle was the Prussian 1841 (Dreyse needle gun), which used a long needle to penetrate a paper cartridge filled with black powder and strike the percussion cap that was fastened to the base of the bullet. While it had a number of problems, it was widely used by the Prussians and other German states in the mid-nineteenth century and was a major factor in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War.

In the 1850s, the percussion cap was first integrated into a metallic cartridge, which contained the bullet, powder charge and primer. By the late 1860s, breech-loading metallic cartridges had made the percussion cap system obsolete. Today, reproduction percussion firearms are popular for recreational shooters and percussion caps are still available (though some modern muzzleloaders use shotshell primers instead of caps). Most percussion caps now use non-corrosive compounds such as lead styphnate.^[1]

History[edit]

Inverted percussion pistol, 9.5 mm; made by gunsmith Correvon, Morges, 1854. On display at Morges military museum.

The percussion cap replaced the flint, the steel "frizzen", and the powder pan of the flint-lock mechanism. It was only generally applied to the British military musket (the Brown Bess) in 1842, a quarter of a century after the invention of percussion powder and after an elaborate government test at Woolwich in 1834. The first percussion firearm produced for the US military was the percussion carbine version (c.1833) of the M1819 Hall rifle.

The discovery of fulminates was made by Edward Charles Howard (1774–1816) in 1800.^[2][3] The invention that made the percussion cap possible using the recently discovered fulminates was patented by the Rev. Alexander John Forsyth of Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland in 1807.^[1]

This early system coined "Percussion Lock" operated in a near identical fashion to flintlock firearms and used fulminating primer made of fulminate of mercury, chlorate of potash, sulphur and charcoal, ignited by concussion.^[4][5] It was an invention born of necessity; Rev. Forsyth had noticed that sitting birds would startle when smoke puffed from the powder pan of his flintlock shotgun, giving them sufficient warning to escape the shot. His invention of a fulminate-primed firing mechanism deprived the birds of their early warning, by avoiding the initial puff of smoke from the flintlock powder pan and shortening the interval between the trigger pull and the shot leaving the muzzle.

Fulminate-primed guns were also less likely to misfire than flintlocks; it was not until after Forsyth's patents expired that the conventional percussion cap system was developed. The percussion cap helped lead to the self-contained cartridge, where the bullet is held in by the casing, the casing is filled with gunpowder and a primer is at the end.

Joshua Shaw, an English-born American, is sometimes credited with the development of the first metallic percussion cap in 1814 but his claim remains clouded with controversy as he did not patent the idea until 1822. According to Lewis Winant, the US government's decision to award Shaw $25,000 as compensation for his invention was a mistake. Congress believed Shaw's patent was the earliest and awarded him a large sum of money based on this belief but a claim for the percussion cap was filed in 1819 and granted in 1820 as an addition to an 1818 patent by Francois Prelat, two years before Shaw's patent. Prelat may not be the inventor as he made a habit of copying English patents and inventions and the mode of operation he describes is flawed.^[6] According to historian Sidney James Gooding, the most likely inventor of the percussion cap is Joseph Egg, around 1817.^[7] Shaw's percussion caps used a mixture of fulminate of mercury, chlorate of potash and ground glass contained in a small metallic cup. Other possible claimants include Joseph Manton and Col. Peter Hawker.

This invention was gradually improved, and came to be used, first in a steel cap and then in a copper cap, by various gunmakers and private individuals before coming into general military use nearly thirty years later. The alteration of the military flintlock to the percussion musket was easily accomplished by replacing the powder pan and steel "frizzen" with a nipple and by replacing the cock or hammer that held the flint by a smaller hammer formed with a hollow made to fit around the nipple when released by the trigger. On the nipple was placed the copper cap containing the detonating composition, now made of three parts of chlorate of potash, two of fulminate of mercury and one of powdered glass. The hollow in the hammer contained the fragments of the cap if it fragmented, reducing the risk of injury to the firer's eyes. The detonating cap brought about the invention of the modern cartridge case and made possible the general adoption of the breech-loading principle for all varieties of rifles, shotguns and pistols. Caps are used in cartridges, grenades, rocket-propelled grenades and rescue flares. Percussion caps are also used in land mine fuzes, boobytrap firing devices and anti-handling devices.

Firing devices and fuze mechanisms[edit]

Most purpose-made military booby-trap firing devices contain some form of spring-loaded firing pin designed to strike a percussion cap connected to a detonator at one end. The detonator is inserted into an explosive charge—e.g., C4 or a block of TNT. Triggering the booby-trap (e.g., by pulling on a trip-wire) releases the cocked firing pin that flips forward to strike the percussion cap, firing it and the attached detonator; the shock-wave from the detonator sets off the main explosive charge.

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  USSR booby trap firing device – pull fuze: normally connected to a tripwire. Percussion cap is clearly labelled
  

  
  

  
  


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  Alternative design of USSR booby trap firing device – pull fuze: normally connected to tripwire. Percussion cap is clearly labelled
  

  
  

  
  


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  USSR boobytrap firing device – pressure fuze: victim steps on loose floorboard with fuze concealed underneath
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cross-sectional view of a Japanese Type 99 grenade showing percussion primer
  

  
  

  
  


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  Cross-sectional view of the fuze fitted to a German S-mine. Percussion cap is clearly labelled
  

  
  

  
  


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  Percussion cap nipples, the ignition flame travels though the hole.
  

  
  

  
  


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  Percussion caps
  

  
  

  
  

See also[edit]

• Cap gun


• Caplock mechanism


• Internal ballistics


• Nipple wrench


• Tubes and primers for ammunition

References[edit]

• Winant, L. (1956). Early percussion firearms. Bonanza Books