Belton flintlock

The Belton Flintlock was a repeating flintlock design using superposed loads, invented by Philadelphia, Pennsylvania resident Joseph Belton some time prior to 1777. The design was offered by Belton to the newly formed Continental Congress in 1777, and a number of examples were commissioned and tested.cite book |title=Arms and Armor in Colonial America, 1526-1783 |author=Harold L. Peterson |pages=217 - 218|year=2000 |publisher=Courier Dover Publications |isbn=048641244X]

Design

There are no known surviving examples of Belton's gun; in fact, the only evidence of its existence is the correspondence between Belton and Congress. Belton described the gun as capable of firing up to "sixteen or twenty [balls] , in sixteen, ten, or five seconds of time". It is theorized that it worked in a manner similar to a Roman candle, with a single lock igniting a fused chain of charges stacked in a single barrel, packaged as a single large paper cartridge. Despite commissioning Belton to build or modify 100 muskets for the military on May 3, 1777, the order was dismissed in May, 15, 1777, when Congress received Belton's bid and considered it an "extraordinary allowance". [cite book |title=Journals of the Continental Congress |author=United States Continental Congress |publisher=USGPO |date=1907, pages 324, 361]

References