IMPROVEMENTS IN MITRAILLEUSES OR MULTIPLE GUNS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Smith, of the Firm of Robertson,
Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London,
Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MITRAILLEUSES
OR MULTIPLE GUNS."-A communication from abroad by Lewis Wells
Broadwell, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria.
Sealed the 18th July 1871, and dated the 31st January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James Smith
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st January 1871.
I, THOMAS JAMES SMITH, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and
Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MITRAILLEUSES OR MULTIPLE GUNS," to be as follows:

page_text: Secondly, to the arrangement and the method of actuating the loading
and discharging mechanism and the barrels in order to ensure the
perfect action of the same.
I arrange a series of barrels within a frame in such a manner that
they can rotate intermittently, that is to say, the barrels remain still
while the discharge is taking place and move only after each discharge,
the filling, the firing, and the case extracting operations being performed
automatically by the mechanism within the breech as well as the
rotation of the barrels. The frame (preferably of skeleton form) supports
a central rod or spindle on which the barrels are mounted by means of
discs or circular plates. The rear end of the frame carries a block or
breech piece with an inclined face against which the bases of the cart-
ridges rub to be pushed into the barrels as they are supplied to them.
Near to the block is a transverse shaft actuated by a crank handle or
otherwise, the shaft has a worm composed of two half threads, portions
of which are ring shaped to produce a stoppage of the barrels during
firing. The spiral portions move pins on a driving wheel fixed on the
rear of the spindle to rotate the barrels. The shaft also carries a
ratchet or paul wheel to actuate the striker, or a pallet in connection
with it, a spring being employed to keep them in contact. There is a
pin on a disc or crank arm secured to the shaft which imparts an inter-
mittent motion to a cartridge case extractor provided with a claw or
extractor points, so that the empty cases can be withdrawn from the
barrels after the explosion. The throw or travel of the extractor is
such that should a miss-fire occur the faulty cartridge is withdrawn.
The breech block is solid and fixed to the frame and is flat at the
portion where the firing takes place, and therefore receives the back
force of the explosion. The cartridges can be supplied to the barrels
in any convenient manner, and be pushed home or nearly so by a plunger
or other apparatus working in a groove.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas James Smith in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 31st July 1871.

page_text: of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Thomas James Smith, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas James Smith, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas James Smith, 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 MITRAILLEUSES OR MULTIPLE GUNS," (communicated to me from abroad
by Lewis Wells Broadwell, of Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas James Smith,
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 Thomas James Smith, 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 :-
These improvements relate,-
Firstly, to the construction of mitrailleuses or multiple guns, whereby
they are rendered of greater general efficiency than usual.
Secondly, to the arrangement and method of actuating the loading
and discharging mechanism and the barrels in order to ensure the perfect
action of the same.
A series of barrels are arranged within a frame in such a manner that
they can rotate intermittently, that is to say, the barrels remain still
while the discharge is taking place and move only after each discharge,

page_text: the filling, the firing, and the case extracting operations being performed
automatically by the mechanism within the breech as well as the rotation
of the barrels. The frame (preferably of skeleton form) supports a
central rod or spindle on which the barrels are mounted by means of
discs or circular plates. The rear end of the frame carries a block or
breech piece with an inclined face against which the bases of the
cartridges rub to be pushed into the barrels as they are supplied to them.
Near to the block is a transverse shaft actuated by a crank handle or
otherwise, the shaft has a worm composed of two half threads, portions
of which are ring shaped to produce a stoppage of the barrels during
firing, the spiral portions move pins on a driving wheel fixed on the
rear of the spindle to rotate the barrels. The shaft also carries a ratchet
or paul wheel to actuate the striker or a pallet in connection with it, a
spring being employed to keep them in contact and to give the required
blow. There is a pin on a disc or crank arm secured to the shaft which
imparts an intermittent motion to a cartridge case extractor provided
with a claw or extractor points so that the empty case can be withdrawn
from each barrel after the explosion. The throw or travel of the ex-
tractor is such that should a miss-fire occur the faulty cartridge is with-
drawn. The breech block is solid and fixed to the frame, and is flat at
the portion where the firing takes place, which flat portion receives the
back force of the explosion. The cartridges can be supplied to the
barrels in any convenient manner and be pushed home or nearly so by a
plunger or other apparatus working in a groove.
The Invention will be clearly understood by reference to the accom-
panying Drawings and to the following detailed description of the
same.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a mitrailleuse or multiple
gun with the improvements herein-before referred to and with the parts
in the position they occupy when the striker has been acting upon the
cap at the base of a cartridge, and Figure 2 is a plan view of the exterior
of the gun. Figure 3 is a transverse section through A, B, and Figure 4
a view of the front end.
a, a, is a skeleton frame for supporting the longitudinal shaft 6 which
is fixed in the centres of two discs c, c, the discs having the barrels e, e,
arranged in a circle at equidistance apart so as to bring the bores opposite
the loading aperture and the discharging pin or striker in regular order.
The extremities of the shaft 6 are supported by the frame a like an axle,

page_text: and it is therefore free to turn as desired. The inner end of the shaft
passes through a fixed breech block fand has an additional journal d
on which is fixed a disc g, from the face of which a series of pins or
studs h, h, project, the number of pins corresponding with the number of
barrels employed. These pins are in succession acted upon by a trans-
verse screw shaft i, the threads of the screw being formed alternately
with a flat portion for the purpose of allowing the barrels to remain at
rest while the firing is taking place and a fresh cartridge is being entered
into an empty barrel from the cartridge supply chamber, and then to
move round a distance to bring the next two barrels into position, one to
be discharged and the other to be loaded as just explained. The front
face of the fixed breech block f has a circular inclined channel or groove j
in a portion of it, and has the other portion flat, the inclined portion
being for the cartridges as they enter the barrels in succession to bear
against and be forced into the barrels gradually until the inner edges of
the rims press against the rear ends of the barrels to close the breech in
a gas-tight manner, the flat portion being so arranged that the pressure
is the greatest when the firing is taking place. The flat portion has a hole
in it for the striker k to work in and it protrudes therefrom when it has
been struck by the pallet / under the pressure or force of the spring m,
that is, when the pallet is suddenly released from the ratchet tooth or
wiper n which is brought round to a certain position for the purpose by
the transverse screw shaft o on which it is mounted when the same is
turned by the crank handle p. The empty cartridge cases or shells are
withdrawn from the rear of the barrels by a claw q which takes against
the inner face of the exposed part of the cartridge rim, the rear of the
barrels e being cut away at a portion of the circumference for the purpose
of allowing the claw to work properly. The claw q is formed on the end
of a stem which is free to slide to and fro under the action of a crank
pins working in a slot cut in a strap t to which the stem r is welded or
otherwise secured, as shown in Figures 1 and 5, the crank pin & being
connected with the transverse shaft or spindle o for giving it and the
claw a proper movement by which the cases are extracted. The frame a
of the gun is formed with a plate u with a hole in its centre so that the
plate can be slipped on to the pivot of a stand, a carriage, or other
support on which the gun has to be mounted, and the plate being of
circular form enables the gun to be directed to the right or to the left as
occasion may require it, this being accomplished by a swivel threaded

page_text: rod passing through the lump v at the rear of the frame, the turning of
the screw in one direction or the other enables the muzzles to be directed
as before explained. The gun can also be depressed and elevated by the
usual screw arrangements at the rear, and the sighting can be taken
from the knife edge of the fixed foresight w and the bottom of the notch
of the adjustable back sight x.
In loading the barrels the cartridges are supplied through a tube y,
either by hand or by mechanism, a push forward motion of them taking
place intermittently so that they can be singly forced a certain distance
into the barrels as they come round opposite the aperture of the tube,
and when the barrels are standing still through the pins / working in a
plain or unthreaded portion of the shaft i, it is at this instant of time
that the discharge of one barrel and the extraction of an empty case from
another barrel takes place; the barrels then move round a distance
corresponding with the distance the barrels are apart and the base of the
last cartridge inserted rubs against the face of the inclined channel of
the fixed breech block fand becomes pushed home as it approaches the
firing hammer or striker k.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood
that no restriction is placed upon me by the above description to the
exact mode of carrying the Invention into effect, as by certain modifi-
cations the same results can be obtained and even a rearrangement of
the parts can be made for effecting the simultaneous loading, firing,
and extracting of the cartridges with the rotation of the barrels, I
claim,-
First. The general construction and arrangement of mitrailleuses or
multiple guns in which the operations of loading, firing, and the extrac-
tion of the cartridges are accomplished by mechanism substantially as
described and shown.
· Secondly. I claim an inclined face of a fixed breech block for pushing
the cartridges home into the barrels as described and shown.
Thirdly. I claim the employment of a fixed breech block and the
rotating barrels when constructed and arranged in the manner described

page_text: Fourthly. The apparatus for giving an intermittent motion to the
barrels in combination with the mechanism for effecting the necessary
operations as herein-before described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Smith, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
T. J. SMITH. (L.S.)