IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RIFLING OF GUNS, AND IN APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING THE SAME, PARTS OF WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1875

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Clark at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th
August 1875.
I, GEORGE CLARK, of Number 10, Craven Buildings, Drury Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND RIFLING OF GUNS, AND
IN APPARATUS AND APPLIANCES FOR LOADING AND UNLOADING THE SAME, PARTS OF
WHICH ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO SMALL-ARMS," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates especially to breech-loading ordnance, but parts
thereof are also applicable to small-arms; it comprises,―
Firstly. Improvements in the means of placing and removing the
breech piece and in adapting the same to that purpose.
Secondly. A removable ammunition tube in which the charge or
cartridge is contained and loaded into the gun, and which acts as a gas
check to prevent the escape of gases through the breech. .
Thirdly. In improved means and apparatus for loading the shot or
shell and ammunition into their respective chambers in the gun.
Fourthly. In an improved system of rifling.

page_text: .
Fifthly. In a novel means of expelling the smoke from the breechi end
through the muzzle.
The first part of the Invention consists in raising and lowering the
breech piece without removing it wholly from its slot by means of a
lever hinged to the gun, and to which the said breech piece is suspended
or otherwise attached. According to another arrangement for the purpose
of lifting and lowering the breech piece, an apparatus is employed which
consists of a derrick or crane fixed by preference on the top of the breech
end of the gun itself and extending at one end over the slot in which
the breech piece is placed and worked. The derrick or crane carries a
suitable pulley or pulleys over which a rope or chain from the breech
piece is made to pass, being operated by hand for the lighter kinds of
ordnance, and by a suitable winch, crab, or windlass, fixed by preference
to the gun carriage or platform in the case of heavy ordnance. The
said winch or crab is provided with suitable power gearing and handles
whereby the breech piece may be raised or lowered at will. These
means of raising and lowering the breech piece may be applied to any
form of breech piece which requires to be raised or lowered in a vertical
or oblique direction, and in order to facilitate the application of the
aforesaid means of raising and lowering the breech piece the slot to
receive the said breech piece may be made in a vertical or oblique
direction from the top of the breech, and somewhat wider than the
diameter of the breech bore, and sunk proportionally below such bore,
the lower part of the breech piece being made of corresponding
dimensions, so that it shall adapt itself to the lower half of the said slot.
The said breech piece is in height about equal to its width, being by
preference circular, that is of a disc form, or it may be square headed, or
of other suitable shape. The object of this arrangement is to admit of
the breech piece being lifted out of its position in order to load the gun
without being raised above the top of the breech end of the gun although
of sufficient size to cover and close the breech borc when the discharge.
takes place.
The second part of the Invention consists in the construction and use
of a removable tubular ammunition chamber fitting into the powder
chamber of the gun, and into which removable ammunition chamber
the charge is introduced before being loaded into the gun. The object
of this ammunition chamber is to facilitate the loading of the gun, and
to serve by its peculiar construction as a gas check to prevent the

page_text: 1
escape of the gases at the breech end of the gun. The latter object is
effected by rendering the rear end perfectly gas-tight and the sides
flexible or expansible, so that the force of the explosion of the charge
shall expand the sides of the removable chamber against the sides of
the powder chamber of the gun, and thus render impossible the escape
of gases between the outside of the former and the inside of the latter,
the rear end of the removable chamber bearing during the explosion
against the breech piece of the gun. According to one method of
constructing the said removable ammunition chamber I form the bottom
or base thereof of a disc or discs of metal, of an aggregate thickness.
proportioned to the length of the powder chamber of the gun, say
about of such length. This base fits exactly into the rear end of the
removable chamber, being secured thereto and therein by rivetting or
otherwise in such manner as to render the joint perfectly gas-tight.
The tubular part so attached to the base is composed of one or more
metallic tubes, each tube being slit either from end to end or partially
so in one or more places from the mouth towards the base whereby the
before mentioned flexibility is obtained, and the possibility of the tube.
jamming in the powder chamber by the force of the explosion is
obviated. When employing two or more tubes, fitted one inside the
other, each tube being slit as before described, they are so placed that
the slit or slits of the inner tube or tubes shall be covered by the unslit
portion or portions of the outer tube or tubes. When the removable
chamber is composed of one tube only the slit is provided with a tongue
piece or lap to prevent the escape of gas through such slit. The rear
end of the removable chamber is provided with a countersunk handle
or other means whereby it can be readily withdrawn from the powder
chamber after each discharge. It is also provided with a suitable guide
or guides taking into a corresponding groove or grooves in the breech
bore of the gun, whereby the said removable chamber is guided into
position, so that the priming hole left therein for the ignition of the
cartridge shall be brought to coincide with the vent of the gun when
the said removable chamber is in its place in the powder chamber.
The third part of the Invention consists in means for more readily
loading breech-loading guns when the weight of the shot or shell and
ammunition is considerable. In order to load the shot or shell into the
gun a semicircular tray is employed corresponding in shape and size to.
the lower half of the shot chamber, being of sufficient length to reach

page_text: from the extreme rear end of the breech bore to the rear end of the shot
chamber. The shot is placed in the tray, and the tray with the shot or
shell therein is then propelled through the breech bore until the front
of the tray is brought up to the rear end of the shot chamber in a
position so that the shot or shell is central with the bore thereof; the
shot or shell is then easily driven by the ordinary rammer off the tray
into the shot chamber and the tray is then withdrawn. To ensure
certainty of action the tray is provided with suitable guides taking into
grooves in the breech bore and powder chamber, and when the gun is a
rifled one, and shot or shell are used having rifling thereon corresponding
with that of the gun, the interior of the shot tray is rifled in like
manner, so that the rifling in the tray corresponds to the rifling of the
gun, and the shot or shell is thereby guided correctly into the said.
rifling in the shot chamber, but when the shot or shell are coated
with lead the rifling in the tray is not necessary. The removable
ammunition chamber with its powder charge is loaded into the powder
chamber through the breech bore by means of a rammer in the usual
way.
In order still further to facilitate the loading of heavy ordnance,
an apparatus called a loading table is employed which may be attached
to the carriage or platform of the gun or adapted to traverse on separate
racers behind the same as may be preferred. The loading table is
adapted to receive on its bed the shot tray before mentioned and to
support it at such a height and in such a position as that it shall be con-
centric with the bore of the shot chamber, so that that the said shot tray
with the shot or shell therein may be slidden off the loading table
through the breech bore and into the powder chamber. When the shot
or shell has been charged into the gun, and the shot tray removed as
herein-before described, the said loading table will receive the removable
ammunition tube and support it in such a position as that it shall also
be concentric with the bore of the powder chamber and therefore only
requiring to be rammed into such powder chamber. In connection with
the aforesaid loading table a portable crane is also employed, in some
cases running on rails, and so adapted to the loading table that the shot
and the ammunition may be raised and deposited by such crane in the
shot tray or on the loading table as the case may be.
The fourth part of the Invention relates to an improved system of
spiral rifling, which consists in combining the mode of rifling in which
the ribs are formed in the bore of the gun, and the grooves in the sides

page_text: of the shot or shell or any system of rifling in which shot or shell
coated with soft metal are used with a system of rifling, in which the
said rifling extends over less than one half of the circumference of the
bore in a spiral direction instead of over the entire circumference. The
effect of this arrangement is that the shot meets with less resistance in
the bore of the gun, while the rotary motion is imparted to the shot as
effectually as in the latter plan. And in order to give steadiness and
equilibrium to the shot or shell at the moment of its leaving the muzzle
of the gun the pressure or resistance of the rifling is relieved for a
distance of about one-tenth, more or less, of the length of the bore from
the muzzle end by cutting away or easing the ribs at that'part, or by
widening the grooves of the bore as the case may be.
The fifth part of the Invention relates to means of expelling the
smoke from the bore through the muzzle of the gun after each discharge.
For this purpose compressed air is employed contained in a reservoir
placed in any convenient position to which is fitted a flexible pipe
provided at its outer end with a suitable valve and nozzle. Immediately
the breech piece is removed from the gun the nozzle is applied to the
rear end of the breech, the valve opened, and a strong current of air
passed through the inside of the gun, carrying with it all smoke and gas
through the muzzle, and preventing the escape thereof by way of the
open breech into the gun room or casemate.
The improvements described under the second head as to preventing
the escape of gas by means of split tubes are applicable to cartridge
cases for small-arms, and the improvements described under the fourth
head as to an improved system of rifling are also applicable to the rifling
of small-arms.