IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Wilson, at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 30th July
1864.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to breech-loading fire-arms, in which se.f-
igniting cartridges are used, that is, cartridges which are fired without the use
of the ordinary percussion cap.
My said Invention may however also be applied to breech-loading fire-arms
in which the charge is fired by a percussion cap. I will describe my Inven-
tion in connection with breech-loading fire-arms for firing pin or central fire
cartridges. In the rear end of the barrel I make a vertical slot or opening.
In the said slot I fit a charge chamber, the said charge chamber consisting of
a hollow cylinder or tube open at both ends, the internal diameter of the said
charge chamber being somewhat greater than that of the bore of the barrel.
The said charge chamber is capable of a vertical sliding motion, by which said
motion it may be raised out of and depressed into the slot in the barrel. In
its motion the axis of the said charge chamber is preserved parallel to that of
the barrel. The said charge chamber is raised and lowered by a lever working.
on the fixed part of the barrel, and connected with the charge chamber. In
order to charge the gun, the charge chamber is raised from the slot in the
barrel by means of the lever, the cartridge is then inserted in the said charge
chamber, the said cartridge pushing out the case of the cartridge that has been

page_text: previously discharged, if any such be in the said chamber. The charge
chamber is lowered by the lever until it occupies its lowest position and, its
axis is coincident with that of the barrel. The gun is now ready for discharge,
the firing being effected by the hammer falling upon a pin or striker. The
charge chamber is supported during the firing by the solid rear end of the
barrel. Instead of fitting the hollow charge chamber described in the slot in
the barrel a solid cylinder or block may be employed, the said cylinder or
block being made to rise and fall in the manner described with reference to
the charge chamber, excepting that in case of the solid cylinder or block I
make it leave the slot in the barrel by a descending instead of an ascending
motion. The motion of the solid cylinder or block is effected by a lever. In
a fire-arm of this kind the cartridge is inserted in a charge chamber made in
the barrel itself, the said solid cylinder or block opening or closing the breech
end of the barrel by its descent or ascent. In using this fire-arm it is charged
by moving the lever so as to depress the solid cylinder or block, and thereby
open the breech end of the barrel. The cartridge is introduced into the
charge chamber in the barrel, and the cylinder or block raised by the lever
and fixed in the slot. The gun is now ready to be fired. The cylinder or
block is supported during discharge by the solid end of the barrel at the rear
of the slot. The cartridge case of the discharged cartridge can be drawn from
the barrel by a sliding hook or otherwise.