OMG I BREECH LOADING ADMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Penrhyn Aston, of Cross Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Gun Barrel Maker, for the Invention of "Im-
OMG I BREECH LOADING ADMS"
Sealed the 29th February 1856, and dated the 6th September 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th September 1855.
I, CHRISTOPHER PENRHYN ASTON, of Cross Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Barrel Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ARMS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in welding, brazing, or otherwise fitting on to the
barrel, and at or near the brcech end thereof, a bolt or solid piece, which,
passing through the bed on which the barrel is swivelled or raised, and being
there locked, takes off the shock consequent upon the discharge.
My Invention also consists in adapting to the extreme breech end of the
barrel a conical plug, which is held upon a rod or lever centered upon a pin
in the back end of the bolt, herein-before mentioned as fixed to the barrel.
Upon the barrel being returned to its bed after re-loading, the cone becomes
thrust into the end of the barrel, and tends to prevent the escape of any gases
generated on the discharge. When loading, the rod or lever to which the
cone is attached is drawn back by the finger and thumb, when the charge
may be inserted into the barrel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 6th March 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
PENRHYN ASTON, of Cross Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Barrel
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, Her special licence that I, the said Chris-
topher Penrhyn Aston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, 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, exercise, and-vend, within the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland, the. Channel Islands; and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ARMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument 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 months next and immediately after the date of the said 'Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in welding, brazing, or otherwise fitting or forming
on to the barrel, and at or near the breech end thereof, a bolt or solid. piece,
which, passing through the bed on which the barrel is swivelled or raised and
being there locked, takes off the shock consequent upon the discharge."
My Invention also consists in adapting to the extreme breech end of the
barrel a conical plug, which is held upon a rod or lever centred upon a pin
in the back end of the bolt, herein-before mentioned as being fixed to the
barrel. Upon the barrel being returned to its bed after reloading, the

page_text: plug becomes thrust into the end of the barrel, and tends to prevent the
escape of any gases generated on the discharge. When loading, the rod
or lever to which the plug is attached is drawn back by the finger and
thumb, and the charge may be inserted into the barrel.
Figure 1 represents a side elevation, and Figure 2 another elevation,
partly in section, of a fire-arm to which my Invention is applied. In-
Figure 2 the barrel is placed in the position it occupies when it is about
to be charged; Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal' section of the breech end
of the barrel only; Figure 4 is a plan of the upper side of the stock shewing
the bed in which the breech end of the barrel lies; and Figure 5 is a plan
of the under side of the-stock, shewing the locking lever. A is the stock;
B, the barrel; C is the bolt or solid piece, which is welded, brazed, or other-
wise fitted or formed on to the barrel B, and which passes through the bed D.
At the end of this bed D the barrel B. is swivelled on the bolt E, about
which it turns. F is the locking lever, which is shaped at the extremity f
so as to take into a notch c, formed in the bolt C, and thus lock the bolt
and therefore the barrel firmly down in the bed D; G is a centre about
which the locking lever F turns; H is the plug or valve, which is carried by
a rod or lever I, centred upon a pin i, at the back end of the bolt C. The
plug or valve H is shewn open in Figure 2, and closed in Figure 3. It is
there shewn conical or tapering on its exterior, so as to fit well into the seat
formed to receive it in the end of the breech, and it is concave on its face, in
order that the temporary expansion which will occur in it when the discharge
takes place may have the effect of preventing the escape of the gases then
generated; but I do not confine myself to this precise form of plug. When
reloading after a discharge, the lever F is drawn back from the position shewn
in Figure 1 into that shewn in Figure 5, the barrel B is turned about the
bolt E into the position shewn in Figure 2 (and in dotted lines in Figure 1),
the rod or lever I, carrying the valve or plug H, is drawn back by the finger
and thumb, or falls by itself, the charge is inserted in the breech, the breech
is dropped down into the bed D, whereby the valve or plug H is thrust into
the breech, and the lever F is returned to its first position. In order to
render this description of my Invention, and of the manner of performing the
same, clear, I have not mentioned those parts of the fire-arm shewn in the
Drawings hereunto annexed, which are not affected by my Invention.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, fitting to or forming on the barrel of a fire-arm, and at or near the
breech end thereof, a bolt or solid piece, which passes through the whole

page_text: thickness of the bed, and is locked under it by a locking lever, as herein-before
described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Second, fitting to the extreme breech end of the barrel of a fire-arm a plug
or valve, working in the manner herein-before described.
And, third, the combination in one fire-arm of the bolt and valve or plug,
herein-before described, and represented in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of March, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-six.