The Maynard tape primer was a system designed by Edward Maynard

Edward Maynard

-External links:*...

 to allow for more rapid reloading of musket

Musket

A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....

s.

Invention

Muskets in the early 19th century were flintlock

Flintlock

Flintlock is the general term for any firearm based on the flintlock mechanism. The term may also apply to the mechanism itself. Introduced at the beginning of the 17th century, the flintlock rapidly replaced earlier firearm-ignition technologies, such as the doglock, matchlock and wheellock...

s, which had a high rate of misfire and performed poorly in damp and humid weather. In the early 19th century the percussion cap

Percussion cap

The percussion cap, introduced around 1830, was the crucial invention that enabled muzzleloading firearms to fire reliably in any weather.Before this development, firearms used flintlock ignition systems which produced flint-on-steel sparks to ignite a pan of priming powder and thereby fire the...

 system had been invented, but practical percussion lock

Caplock mechanism

The caplock mechanism or "percussion" lock was the successor of the flintlock mechanism in firearm technology, and used a percussion cap struck by the hammer to set off the main charge, rather than using a piece of flint to strike a steel frizzen....

 systems did not become available until the 1840s, after Alexander John Forsyth

Alexander John Forsyth

Alexander John Forsyth was a Scottish Presbyterian clergyman who invented the percussion ignition.Gunsmiths like Joseph Manton invented more reliable forms of ignition, like the tube lock in 1814...

's patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

 had expired.

Percussion cap systems relied on small copper caps that were filled with mercury fulminate

Mercury(II) fulminate

Mercury fulminate, or Hg2, is a primary explosive. It is highly sensitive to friction and shock. It is mainly used as a trigger for other explosives in percussion caps and blasting caps...

. 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. 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

Hammer (firearm)

thumb|150px|Hammer with an integral [[firing pin]] on a [[S&W Model 13]] revolver The hammer of a firearm was given its name for both resemblance and functional similarity to the common tool...

 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

Gunpowder

Gunpowder, also known since in the late 19th century as black powder, was the first chemical explosive and the only one known until the mid 1800s. It is a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate - with the sulfur and charcoal acting as fuels, while the saltpeter works as an oxidizer...

 and Minié ball

Minié ball

The Minié ball is a type of muzzle-loading spin-stabilising rifle bullet named after its co-developer, Claude-Étienne Minié, inventor of the Minié rifle...

 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 percussion lock's nipple. This saved the soldier a step during the reloading process, which increased the soldier's overall rate of fire.

The Ordinance Board was initially hesitant about the design, but the secretary of war, future Confederate

Confederate States of America

The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...

 President

President of the Confederate States of America

The President of the Confederate States of America was the Head of State and Head of Government of the Confederate States of America, which was formed from the states which declared their secession from the United States, thus precipitating the American Civil War. The only person to hold the...

 Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Davis

Jefferson Finis Davis , also known as Jeff Davis, was an American statesman and leader of the Confederacy during the American Civil War, serving as President for its entire history. He was born in Kentucky to Samuel and Jane Davis...

, was so enthusiastic about the design that it was installed on the Springfield Model 1855

Springfield Model 1855

The Model 1855 Springfield was a rifled musket used in the mid 19th century. It was produced by the Springfield Armory in Massachusetts.Earlier muskets had mostly been smooth bore flintlocks. In the 1840s, the unreliable flintlocks had been replaced by much more reliable and weather resistant...

 rifle-musket

Rifled musket

The term rifled musket or rifle musket refers to a specific type of weapon made in the mid-19th century. Originally the term referred only to muskets that had been produced as a smoothbore weapon and later had their barrels rifled...

.

Performance in the field

The Maynard tape worked well under controlled conditions, but proved to be unreliable in the field. The mechanism proved to be delicate and fouled easily with mud and debris. The tape had been advertised as waterproof, and ironically, moisture tended to be its worst problem. The paper strips were susceptible to adverse weather and even humidity. For later muskets like the Springfield Model 1861

Springfield Model 1861

The Springfield Model 1861 was a Minié-type rifled musket shoulder arm used by the United States Army and Marine Corps during the American Civil War. Commonly referred to as the "Springfield" , it was the most widely used U.S...

, the Ordnance Department abandoned the Maynard system and went back to the earlier percussion lock.

Variations of the Maynard tape system are still used today in modern toy cap gun

Cap gun

A cap gun is a toy gun that creates a loud sound simulating a gunshot and a puff of smoke when the trigger is pulled. Cap guns were originally made of cast iron, but after World War II were made of zinc alloy, and most newer models are made of plastic....

s.