19th Century
1803:
First tests with so called Granatenkartätschen by the inventor, the English colonel Shrapnel (1761-1842).
Besides the explosive charge they contained lead balls and were called Shrapnels.
1804:
First experiments with a war rocket by the admiralty in Wollrich, England.
1807:
The scotch pastor Alexander Forsyth is granted a patent for the prede-cessor of the percussion lock, the so
called chemical lock, flacon lock or Forsyth lock. For the ignition he used mercury fulminate.
1808:
Samuel Johannes Pauly, a Swiss gunsmith from Bern, living in Paris, is the first to have a metal cartridge with
center fire patented. In addition he designed a suitable breech loader system.
1814:
Invention of the percussion cap by the gunsmith J. Shaw in London England. (Disputed)
1816:
J. Manton uses a firing tube with an ignition pellet and a firing pin. The ignition cylinders were prepared in
advance. When loading, the shooter puts the ignition tube in a depression of the dog head. Because of a
complaint by Forsyth, the production of these weapons was halted.