IM- PROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS."-A communication from abroad
by Oliver Fisher Winchester, of the City and County of New Haven,
in the State of Connecticut, United States of America.
Sealed the 18th September 1863, and dated the 15th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th May 1863.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to repeating fire-arms which are loaded at the breech
from a inagazine composed of a tube arranged below and parallel with the
barrel, said magazine containing the cartridges arranged end to end one
behind another. The cartridges employed are of the kind known as fixed
ammunition, that is to say, they have metallic shells and carry their own
fulminate priming, and they are carried up from the mouth of the magazine
to a position in rear of the barrel by means of what is termed a carrier
block working vertically within a mortise in the frame of the arm, and are
afterwards pushed into the barrel by means of a sliding breech pin, the said

page_text: carrier block and breech pin being both operated by means of a lever arranged
under the stock.
The first part of the Invention consists in the employment in combination
with such sliding breech pin of a plunger which passes through the said
breech pin and moves with it, but which has a certain amount of longitudinal
motion independent of such pin for the purpose of effecting the explosion of
the fulminate priming by the blow of the hammer upon it. It also consists
in the application of chisel-pointed projections on the head of the plunger
fitted to slots in the breech pin.
The second part of the Invention consists in the combination with the
so applied breech pin and plunger of a rest for the support of the cartridges at
the bottom, and a spring catch for taking hold of them at the top to withdraw
the empty shells from the chamber of the barrel after their discharge.
And the third part of the Invention- consists in so forming the top of the
above-mentioned carrier block that in its rise from the mouth of the magazine
present a new cartridge in rear of the barrel it will strike the last discharged
and withdrawn cartridge shell in such manner as to throw up the front end
of the same, while its rear end is held down by the spring catch to the breech
pin, and so to tip it over in a backward direction and free it from the catch
and throw it out of the-fire-arm.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and 2
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto 3
me, the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such. others as I, the
said William Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use; 3
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,

page_text: the Channel Islands, and Isle ofr.Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN. REPEATING FIRE-ARMS,". a. communication to me from abroad by Olivér
Fisher Winchester, of the City and County of New Haven, in the State of
Connecticut, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I; the said William Clark, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same. was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar month's next and
inimediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:. This Invention relates to repeating fire-arms which are loaded' at the breech
from a magazine composed of a tube arranged below and parallel with the
barrel, said magazine containing the cartridges-arranged end to end one behind
another. The cartridges employed are of the kind known as fixed ammuni-
tion, that is to say, they have metallic shells and carry their own fulminate
priming, and they are carried up from the mouth of the magazine to a position:
in rear of the barrel by means of what is termed a carrier block working.
vertically within a mortise in the frame of the arm, and are afterwards pushed
into the barrel by means of a sliding breech pin, the said "carrier block and
breech pin being both operated by means of a lever arranged under the-
stock.
...
/* *
The first part of the Invention consists in the employment in combination
with such sliding breech' pin of a plunger which passes through the said breech
pin and moves with it, but which has a certain amount of longitudinal motion
independent of such pin for the purpose of effecting the explosion of the
fulminate priming by the blow of the hammer upon it.
The second part of the Invention consists in the combination with. the so
applied breech pin and plunger of a rest for the support of the cartridges at
the bottom, and a spring catch for taking hold of them at the top to withdraw
the empty shells from the chamber of the barrel after their discharge. ·· 2 3
.
And the third part of the Invention consists in so forming the top of the'
above-mentioned carrier. block that in its rise from the mouth of the magazine.
to present a new cartridge in rear of the-barrel it will strike the last discharged'
and withdrawn cartridge-shell in-such-manner as-to-throw up-the-front-end-of-

page_text: the same, while its rear end is held down by the spring catch to the breech
pin, and so to tip it over in a backward direction and free it from the catch
and throw it out of the fire-arm.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying Drawing is a longitudinal vertical section of the
frame and parts of the stock, barrel, and magazine of a fire-arm with these
improvements, and shows all the working parts to which the improvements
relate; Fig. 2 is a top view corresponding with Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a side
longitudinal view of the breech pin and plunger; Fig. 4 is a horizontal longi-
tudinal section of the breech pin and top view of the plunger; Fig. 5 is a
front view of the breech pin and plunger; Fig. 6 is a rear end view of the
carrier block; Fig. 7 is a central longitudinal vertical section of the same;
Fig. 8 is a side view of one of the toggles by which the breech pin is operated;
Fig. 9 is a top view of the same; Fig. 10 is a side view of the lever by which
the carrier block is operated; Fig. 11 is a top view of the same; Fig. 12
exhibits a part of the frame and the trigger guard lever as seen from the
opposite side to Fig. 1. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding
parts in the several Figures.
A is the frame of the arm; B is the barrel; C is the cartridge magazine
arranged below the barrel, and either made in the same piece with or other-
wise securely attached to it, the length of the said magazine being equal, or
nearly so, to the length of the barrel. The cartridges are inserted into the
said magazine, one after another, from the front end with their points in a
forward direction, and a piston D, pressed back by a spiral spring D¹,. is
employed within the magazine in front of the cartridges to push them back, as
required, for loading. Immediately in rear of the barrel there is provided in
the frame A a vertical parallel-sided opening or mortise a, a¹, of oblong
square form, extending right through it, for the reception of the carrier
block E, which is fitted to slide up and down freely thereon. The length
of the said block is equal to the length of the cartridges, and the said
block has formed in it a chamber b, Figs. 6 and 7, large enough for the
reception of the cartridges from the magazine when it is brought down opposite
to an opening f, Fig. 1, which is provided in the portion of the frame below
the barrel for the passage of the cartridge from the magazine into the said
chamber. Above the said chamber there is an opening of the whole length
of the carrier block wide enough to pass over the breech pin F in the descent
of the said block after loading the arm, and the top of the said block on each
side of the said opening e is constructed with its front part raised some dis-
tance above the back part, as shown at c, d, Fig. 7, to enable it to trip up
and throw out the discharged cartridge shells from the fire-arm, as will be

page_text: herein-after described. Below the chamber 6 there is in the back part of the
carrier block a recess e¹, in which plays the lever G, by which the said block is
raised and lowered in loading the arm. The sliding breech pin F is of cylin-
drical form, with a broad butt g at its rear end, by which to connect it to the
two toggles M, N, through which it is operated, and it is cut away on each
side, as shown at h, h, in Figs. 3 and 4, to enable the opening e in the carrier
block to pass it in the descent of the sd block. From the lower part of the
front end of the said pin there projects the rest m for the support of the
cartridges. The, said pin is bored centrally throughout for the passage
through it of the plunger H, which is fitted easily within it. The said breech
pin and plunger are arranged directly in line with the bore of the barrel in
suitable guides in the frame A. The plunger is made with a shoulder i,
Fig. 4, to meet a corresponding shoulder in the bore of the breech pin, the
back parts of the breech pin and of the bore in the plunger being somewhat
larger than the front portion, and the plunger after being inserted into, the
breech pin from the rear end thereof is secured therein by screwing on to its
front end a head j, which is sunk into a counter bore in the front end of the
breech pin; but the said head is arranged to allow a slight amount of lon-
gitudinal movement of the plunger. within and independent of the breech pin,
as indicated by the space between the shoulders i; i, in Figs. 1 and 4, the
object of such movement being to provide for the ignition of the fulminate
priming of the cartridges by the striking of the hammer I upon the rear end
of the plunger. The hammer I operating in the usual manner is arranged
directly behind the plunger. The fulminate is contained in hollow flanges k
formed around the rear ends of the cartridge shells K, and in order to effect
its ignition with certainty two chisel-edged projections n, n, are formed upon
the head of the plunger to strike upon the said flanges at two different points.
These projections project from the head j, both in a forward direction and
laterally, and they are received in slots in the breech pin; when the plunger is
driven forward in the breech pin as far as permitted by the shoulders i, i, the
front face of the plunger is flush with the face of the breech pin, making it
equivalent to a solid pin, and only the projections n, n, protrude through the
face of the pin. In the upper part of the breech pin there is secured by a
transverse pin & the spring catch p, which is employed to draw out the dis-
charged cartridge shells K from the chamber of the barrel preparatory to.
reloading. This catch has its extremity, which projects beyond the front end
of the breech pin, made in the form of a hook, which is sprung over the top
of the flange of the cartridge shells in the act of pushing the cartridges.
forward from the carrier block into the barrel by the forward movement of the

page_text: breech pin. L is a trigger-guard lever working on a. fulcrum pin & in the
bottom part of the frame A, and serving to operate the two togglés M, N,
which produce the operation of the sliding breech pin and the lever G, which
produces the operation of the carrier block. In the upper end of this lever,
which is arranged in the centre of the frame A, there is secured a pin 9, which
projects on both sides of the said pin to enter a groove q' in the back links M
of each of the toggles M, N, which are arranged one on each side of the said
lever; only one of these toggles is shown, but one is the counterpart of the
other. The two back links M work on a stationary pin r secured in the
frame A, and the front links N are connected with a pin s, which is inserted
through the butt g of the breech pin. By pulling down the rear end of
the lever L from the frame A by hand, the pin q is made to move back
along the grooves q¹ in the links M, and so to depress the joint s' of the toggle;
and thereby draw back the breech pin and plunger, as shown in red outline in
Fig. 1, and by bringing back the said lever to its position close under the
frame, the said pin 9 is made to move forward along the said grooves, and
thereby straighten the toggle, and move forward the breech pin and plunger,
as shown in black outline in the same Figure. The lever G, which pro-
duces the operation of the carrier block, is arranged to work upon the
same fulcrum pin as 'the trigger-guard lever L, and to enable its operation to
be produced by the movement of the trigger-guard lever L, it is made with a
shoulder t on its under side to be acted upon by a' shoulder u on the said
lever L, and with a shoulder von its left-hand side to be acted upon by the
front of the upper part of the said lever L, the shoulder t. being acted upon to
produce the upward movement of the said lever G and of the carrier block as
the said lever L'is pulled downward, and the shoulder v being. acted upon to
produce the downward movement of the said lever G as the said lever Lis
returned to the position close under the frame, and sufficient play being
allowed for the said lever L. between the shoulders t and v to allow the
said lever L to produce nearly the entire movement of the breech pin and
plunger before the movement of the said lever G and of. the carrier block
commence. In order to prevent the carrier block from being accidentally
displaced, either when it is in its depressed position opposite to the magazine,
or in its elevated position opposite the barrel, there is applied to the lever Ga
spring P, Fig. 1, which is secured to the inside of the lower part of the frame
A, and this spring is rounded at its extremity to bear upon the top of the said
lever directly over the fulcrum pin l. When the said lever is depressed, as
shown in black outline in Fig. 1, the spring bears on the back of a V-shaped
projection w formed on the said lever, and so tends to keep it depressed, but.

page_text: when the said lever is elevated, as shown in red outline, the said spring bears
on the front of the said projection, and so tends to prevent the descent of the
lever. A similar spring Q, Fig. 12, is applied to act upon the back of an
inclined projection.y on the trigger-guard lever to ensure its being brought up.
close under the frame after loading, and to prevent it from accidentally
dropping therefrom. The springs P and Q yield easily to permit the move-
ments of the two levers when the necessary power to operate them is applied.
to the lever L.
=
Having thus described the construction and arrangement and the separate
operations. of the several parts of the fire-arm, I will, in conclusion, describe
the operations of loading, firing, and re-loading.
The magazine C having been filled with cartridges, the piston D is caused
by its spring D¹ to press the whole series of the cartridges back toward the
carrier block E, and while the trigger-guard lever is close up to the frame, as
shown in Fig. in black outline, and the carrier block is in its depressed
position, the hindmost cartridge, is pushed by the piston into the chamber b.
of the said block. To load, the lever L is first pulled quickly downward to
the position shown in red outline, and by that means the breech pin and,
plunger are first drawn back to make room for the cartridge which is in the
chamber 6 of the carrier block, and the said block then moved up to bring the
cartridge which is in the chamber opposite to and in line with the bore of
the barrel. The lever L is then brought quickly back to the position, shown
in black outline, close under the frame A, and by that means the breech¸pin
and plunger are first moved forward leaving the haminer cocked, and the
breech pin is made to push the cartridge from the chamber 6 into the barrel,
and the carrier block is then drawn down to bring its chamber bopposite the
magazine. The toggles, being now straightened and brought to positions
parallel with. the breech pin, constitute strong braces to hold the breech pin
securely against the cartridge, and resist the backward pressure or force of
the explosion when the cartridge is fired by the driving forward of the plunger
in the breech pin by the blow of the hammer. The catch p, attached to the
breech pin, having passed over the flange k of the cartridge shell as the breech
pin moved forward, has taken a firm hold thereon, by which to withdraw the
said shell from the barrel after its discharge; on the repetition of the first
or downward movement of the lever L, and in the upward movement of the
carrier block which follows the backward movement of the breech pin, the
raised portions e, e, on the sides of the said block strike the cartridge shell
forward of the middle of its length, and thus raise its forward end, while the
rear end is held down by the spring catch, and so trips the shell over back-

page_text: ward, freeing it from the catch and ejecting it from the arm with considerable
force.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First, the combination with the hollow sliding breech pin of the plunger H
working through and with it, and having an additional longitudinal movement
for the purpose of exploding the fulminate, substantially as and for the purpose
herein specified; also the chisel-pointed projections n, n, on the head of the
plunger fitted to slots i in the breech pin, substantially as herein specified.
Secondly, the combination with the hollow sliding breech pin F and the
plunger working through it of a spring catch and rest m, substantially as
and for the purpose herein set forth.
P
Thirdly, in combination with the employment of the spring catch p on the
top of the breech pin, 1 claim the construction of the upper part of the
carrier block E, substantially as shown at c in Fig. 7, whereby it is caused to
strike the discharged cartridge shells, trip them over free from the said spring
catch, and eject them from the fire-arm, substantially as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
JAMES DAISH,
53, Chancery Lane,.
London.
W. CLARK. (L.S.)