Joseph Manton
Joseph Manton was a British gunsmith. He innovated sport shooting, improved weapon quality and paved the way for the modern artillery shell. Manton was a sport shooter and a friend of Colonel Peter Hawker.
Gunsmith
From 1780 to 1781, Manton was first apprenticed to a gunmaker in Grantham, Newton. He worked under his elder brother John from 1781 onward. He produced around 100 weapons annually, including both cased duelling pistols and shotguns.Tube lock
In the early-19th century, Manton invented the tube lock, an improvement over Alexander Forsyth's scent-bottle lock. It used single-use pellets or pills in place of storing a reserve of fulminate in a container. The hammer of the gun was sharpened; when it fell, it crushed the tube/pellet, causing the fulminates to detonate.Although more reliable than Forsyth's design and adopted by many sportsmen during the Regency period, it was quickly overshadowed by the percussion cap, which was adopted by the armies of Britain, France, Russia, and America to replace the flintlock.
Artillery
The greater part of Manton's career was spent at loggerheads with the British Army. Manton interested the army in purchasing a larger version of his wooden cup design to be used in rifled artillery.Manton worked tirelessly to improve cannon firing accuracy. He created a new type of ammunition. He advocated the use of a disposable cartridge instead of loose powder, which became the basis for modern bullet design. It helped pave the way for breech-loading weaponry.
Lost sale
The army provided Manton a cannon and funding, and in return expected a greatly improved weapon. Manton's design was superior, although an argument over payment caused the army to declare it of little benefit. A row erupted over how Manton was to be paid; he believed the agreement was to be a £30,000 lump sum. The army argued that since they had already invested money into research and development, they did not want to pay such a huge amount of money for a design that had not been field tested. Manton patented his design, forcing the Army to negotiate. The army offered him one farthing for each shell they produced, but Manton refused this offer. Surprisingly for Manton, the army stood its ground. Manton was frightened that he had spent time and money developing a weapon that the army would not use. The Army rejected his offer, whereby the army could make the shells without paying royalties, while Manton would make the wooden cups. His design was more reliable than Forsyth's design and adopted by many sportsmen during the Regency period.After more than a decade of unsuccessful legal battles, Manton lost his fortune and was declared bankrupt in 1826. His Oxford Street workshop was seized and his stock of guns bought by Joseph Lang, an aspiring gun dealer whose company would eventually become part of Atkin, Grant and Lang. Lang is credited with opening one of the first shooting schools in the premises adjoining the Royal Theatre Haymarket.