The Maynard tape primer was a system designed by Edward Maynard to allow for more rapid reloading of

musket A musket is a muzzle-loaded long gun that appeared as a smoothbore weapon in the early 16th century, at first as a heavier variant of the arquebus, capable of penetrating plate armour. By the mid-16th century, this type of musket gradually dis ...

Invention

Muskets in the early 19th century were

flintlock Flintlock is a general term for any firearm that uses a flint-striking lock (firearm), ignition mechanism, the first of which appeared in Western Europe in the early 16th century. The term may also apply to a particular form of the mechanism its ...

s, which had a high rate of misfire and performed poorly in damp and humid weather. In 1807 the first percussion ignition system was patented by

Alexander Forsyth Alexander John Forsyth (28 December 1768 – 11 June 1843) was a Scottish Church of Scotland minister, who first successfully used fulminating (or 'detonating') chemicals to prime gunpowder in fire-arms thereby creating what became known as pe ...

based on research on fulminates conducted by

Edward Charles Howard Edward Charles Howard FRS (28 May 1774 – 28 September 1816) the youngest brother of Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk, was a British chemist who has been described as "the first chemical engineer of any eminence." Career In January 1799 ...

, but practical

percussion lock The percussion cap, percussion primer, or caplock, introduced in the early 1820s, is a type of single-use percussion ignition device for muzzle loader firearm locks enabling them to fire reliably in any weather condition. Its invention gave ...

systems did not become available until the 1820s, after

Alexander John Forsyth Alexander John Forsyth (28 December 1768 – 11 June 1843) was a Scottish Church of Scotland minister, who first successfully used fulminating (or 'detonating') chemicals to prime gunpowder in fire-arms thereby creating what became known as pe ...

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

had expired. Percussion cap systems relied on small copper caps that were filled with

mercury fulminate Mercury(II) fulminate, or Hg(CNO)2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction, heat and shock and is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and detonators. Mercury(II) cyanate, though its chemical formula ...

. While they greatly improved the reliability of muskets and their performance in damp weather, the slow rate of fire of muskets was still an issue. In 1845, Dr. Edward Maynard, a dentist with an interest in firearms, embedded tiny pellets of priming material in thin strips of paper, then glued a second strip of paper on top of the first, creating a "tape" of primer. The tape could be manufactured quickly and cheaply, since paper was much less expensive than copper. Maynard also developed an automatic feeding system that would advance the tape when the musket's

hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

was cocked. The hammer not only detonated the primer, but would also automatically cut the paper, thus removing the spent portion of the primer tape.

Initial reception

Maynard's new system still required the musket's

powder A powder is a dry solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and ''granular'' are sometimes used to distinguish se ...

and

Minié ball The Minié ball, or Minie ball, is a type of hollow-based bullet designed by Claude-Étienne Minié for muzzle-loaded, rifled muskets. Invented in 1846 shortly followed by the Minié rifle, the Minié ball came to prominence during the Crime ...

to be loaded conventionally into the barrel, but the tape system meant that the percussion cap no longer needed to be manually loaded onto the

's nipple. This saved the soldier a step during the reloading process, which increased the soldier's overall rate of fire. The Ordnance Board was initially hesitant about the design, but the secretary of war, future

Confederate A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Jefferson Davis Jefferson F. Davis (June 3, 1808December 6, 1889) was an American politician who served as the only President of the Confederate States of America, president of the Confederate States from 1861 to 1865. He represented Mississippi in the Unite ...

, was so enthusiastic about the design that it was installed on the

Springfield Model 1855 The Springfield Model 1855 was a rifled musket widely used in the American Civil War. It exploited the advantages of the new conical Minié ball, which could be deadly at over . It was a standard infantry weapon for Union and Confederates al ...

rifle-musket.

Performance in the field

The Maynard tape worked well as long the tapes were kept dry, proving to be fragile in comparison to copper caps, and unreliable under bad weather conditions. In 1860, the Maynard system was deemed by the War Department as unreliable and abandoned. The M1855 was designed to use either the Maynard system or standard percussion caps, and so remained functional even with the problems of the Maynard system. Variations of the Maynard tape system are still used today in modern

toy guns Toy guns are toys which imitate gun, real guns, but are designed for recreational sport or casual play by children. From hand-carved wooden replicas to factory-produced pop guns and cap guns, toy guns come in all sizes, prices and materials suc ...

Citations

References

* Pauly, Roger (2004). ''Firearms: The Life Story of a Technology''. Greenwood Publishing Group. * Coggins, Jack (2004). ''Arms and Equipment of the Civil War''. Courier Dover Publications. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Maynard Tape Primer Early modern firearms Ammunition American inventions 19th-century inventions Firearm terminology