I was quite fond of the old mansion house.  We had good and friendly neighbors and I cared for then greatly and they for us.

  It was a convenient location as I could be down to the White House in 20 minutes when I was needed there.

Yours sincerely,
Edward Maynard, D.D.S., M.d., M.S.

The process that I follow is to first sketch up a drawing free-hand in order to record my two-dimensional ideas of what I am intending to create.

Once that is done, I will "brain storm" for lack of a more technical way to say what it is that I do, but for all intents and purposes, I visualize to myself how I might improve what I have sketched, which may take a week or two of my time away from my dental practice.  That would be Phase One.

Next, I will go to my drafting table and work with a straight edge, scaled ruler, protractor, compass, dividers,  etc., and convert my sketch into a mechanical drawing made to scale, sometimes 1/2 scale, sometimes 1/4 scale, but also some times full scale, it all depends on what the component might be.

My next procedure is to "carve" a model from a hard wood blank that the man at the lumber yard will cut to the dimensions that I furnish him.  I usually have a good supply of such blanks in my cellar shop, or out in the carriage house by the garden.  If I run low, I'll send my houseman, Eli, down to the saw mill along the Potomac with one of our wagons to bring up what I am needing.

I like the carving process the most. It gives me pleasure and a time for relaxation while a smoke my pipe.

I better get on upstairs now to wash and get ready for my next patient coming for her appointment.  I really could spend my entire afternoon down here in my work shop, but then would not have food to put on the table for my family and staff.

I'll catch up with you later and tell you about the metal work that goes into my firearms experiments.

Thanks for coming by to visit,

Dr.Maynard

Hello Mr. Bly 

It is nice to receive your correspondence and your inquiry.  You are doing wonderful work keeping the actions going after such a long time.  It's funny, not in a humorous way, but your point about using two springs with one retaining screw enters my mind also from time to time, almost as if it unfinished business that needs to be attended to.

As you well know, that lower tang piece does not provide adequate space for the sear spring, plus the main spring.  At the time I was laying that out in my dimensional drawings, I was troubled by the absence of the needed space that was required to accommodate the two screws which were needed and preferred.

I remember that day well.  It was a Wednesday, which was my mid-week break when I worked on my firearms projects and have no office hours, except if am emergency comes calling or I need to go the the White House.

I will admit to being stumped as how to proceed.  If you've ever reached that point you will know exactly how I was feeling.  It's almost as if one is in a corner with not a way out.

Eli, is my trusted houseman and helper and has been here in the District for about 18 years now.  He's from Louisiana and a good and trusted employee who has no vices and he saves his wages so he can buy or start a mechanical smithing business.  

Sorry, I got off the track there.  What I was about to tell you is that Eli could see the worry on my face, so he looked at the action piece that we were working with and suggested that we "stack" the two leaf spring, the sear spring on the bottom and the main spring on top.  He also observed that the problem could be solved in that manner, but he was quick to recognize that retaining the springs in place with just one screw would be a problem for anyone who needed to disassemble the springs for replacement purposes.

Eli went on to tell me he would make up a small "C" clamp of the correct size which would compress the two springs with their retaining holes aligned.

Doctor Maynard was a prolific inventor, predominately in the fields of dentistry and firearms, and others.  The Maynard firearms breech pieces (actions) were marked with the dates of the important patents.  For anyone interested in knowing more about the actual elements and configurations of the early patented devices, I offer the following;

Registered Number                   Issue Date

               8126                           May  27, 1851
             15141                           June 17, 1856
             22565                           Jan   11, 1859
             26364                           Dec  06, 1859

Dr. Maynard was a cadet in the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and he had various high level connections in the Federal government, one of whom was Jefferson Davis, who was the Secretary of War during the administration of Franklin Pierce (1853-1857).  Maynard also was well connected in the firearms industry and particularly with the Mass. Arms Company in Chicoppie Falls which was owned by James T. Ames and Sylvanus Adams.

Maynard had a contract with Mass Arms Company to manufacture his fulminate tape primers and the firearms adaptive systems to utilize the tapes.  In 1853, Maynard sold the patent rights to his tape primers system for use on 100K firearms to the U.S. War Department under the recommendation of Secretary Jefferson Davis.

Dr.Maynard
                        
I will make an addition to the above which will provide details of the specific patents for the conversion of percussion firearms to central fire during the post Civil war period.
.