Here's 2-piper's post:

"G H Farris was born in Willow Vale NY in 1820. By 1850 he had moved to Utica NY where he worked as a gunsmith for riflemaker Morgan James. Over the next few years the firm was variously listed as either James or James & Ferriss. By 1855/56 Ferriss had set up his own shop. He was still listed as from Utica when this patent was issued Oct 10, 1871 #119,834. As originally issued it covered both the bolting system & also a cartridge which contained the cone for a percussion cap. It was thus a sort of hybrid, being a breech loader but firing via cone & cap.
I suspect on this one the patent applies only to the bolting."

From: http://www.doublegunshop.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1689&PHPSESSID=05d496

Kind Regards,

Raimey
rse