IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL ARMS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Enos James, trading as Enos James and Company, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL ARMS."
Sealed the 13th April 1880, and dated the 23rd October 1879.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Enos James at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd October 1879..
ENOS JAMES, trading as Enos James and Company, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL
ARMS."
My Invention has reference to such breech loading small arms as have internal
or concealed hammers, and consists of the improvements herein after described for
cocking the said hammers, and also in safety mechanism for preventing the
accidental discharge of the gun.
I effect the raising of the hammers and the cocking of the gun by a lever situated
at the side of the gun or on the tang of the break off. In effecting the cocking of
the gun by a lever at the side of the gun I make a cylindrical cross hole in the
lower part of the body of the gun and near the back of the break off. In this cross
hole an axis works. The lever by which the gun is cocked passes through an
opening on the underside of the body, and is fixed upon a square part of the axis
described. The upper short arm of this lever engages with the bolt by which the
barrels are locked down. By depressing the long external arm of this lever the
bolt is drawn back and the barrels unlocked. The return motion of the lever and
snapping action of the bolt are produced by a spring. The hammers are mounted
on cylindrical portions of the said axis near its ends and turn freely thereon. Each
of the said hammers has a shoulder on its bush or that part through which the
axis passes. The extreme end of the axis is square, and on the said square part a
collar is fitted. This collar has a shoulder, which when the gun has been discharged
and the parts are in their normal position bears against and underneath the collar on
the bush of the hammer. When the lever is depressed and motion given to its axis
the collar on its end is moved through the same angle as the lever, and the shoulder

page_text: on the said collar acting on the shoulder on the bush of the hammer pushes back
the hammer to the position of full cock, in which position it is retained by the
ordinary sear and bent.
When the lever rises the collar on its end returns to its normal position, leaving
the hammer in its cocked position.
The external lever, although entering the body of the gun at the middle of the
underside of the body, is cranked, so as to bring the thumb plate by which it is
depressed to the side of the gun.
When I employ a lever on the tang of the break off to cock the gun, an arm on
the middle of the axis on which the hammers turn is prolonged upwards at the
back of the break off. The arm on the tang is jointed to an axis passing through
the break off on one side, and on the inner end of this axis is an inner arm, the end
of which engages behind the upper end of the arm on the axis of the hammers.
By turning aside the arm on the tang of the break off the arm on the axis of the
hammers is pressed back, and the cocking of the hammers is effected by the action
of the shoulders on the axis and on the bushes of the hammers. The arm on the
break off is cranked, so that its thumb plate may be over the middle of the tang
when the arm is in its normal position.
My improvements in safety mechanism consist of a small bolt sliding in an
oblique slot in the lock plate. The bush of the hammer has a notch or recess in it,
which when the hammer is cocked is opposite the end of the said bolt. By
pressing the said bolt towards the axis of the hammers it is made to enter the said
notch, and thereby fix the hammer and prevent the discharge of the gun. Before
the gun can be discharged the said bolt has to be withdrawn from the notch in the
bush of the hammer. The motion of the said bolt is effected by pressing upon the
thumb plate of the bolt.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Enos Jaines in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th April
1880.
ENOS JAMES, trading as Enos James and Company, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL
ARMS."
My Invention has reference to such breech loading small arms as have internal
or concealed hammers, and consists of the improvements, herein after described,
for cocking the said hammers, and also in safety mechanism for preventing the
accidental discharge of the gun.
I effect the raising of the hammers and the cocking of the gun by a lever situated
at the side of the gun or on the tang of the break off. In effecting the cocking of
the gun by a lever at the side of the gun I make a cylindrical cross hole in the
lower part of the body of the gun and near the back of the break off. In this
cross hole an axis works. The lever by which the gun is cocked is fixed upon a
square part of the axis described. The upper short arm of this lever engages with
the bolt by which the barrels are locked down. By depressing the long external
arm of this lever the bolt is drawn back and the barrels unlocked. The return
motion of the lever and snapping action of the bolt are produced by a spring. The
hammers are mounted on cylindrical portions of the said axis near its ends, and turn
freely thereon. Each of the said hammers has a shoulder on its bush or that part
through which the axis passes. The extreme end of the axis is square, and on the
said square part a collar is fitted. This collar has a shoulder, which when the gun
has been discharged and the parts are in their normal position bears against and
underneath the shoulder on the bush of the hammer. When the lever is depressed
and motion given to its axis, the collar on its end is moved through the same angle
as the lever, and the shoulder on the said collar acting on the shoulder on the bush
of the hammer pushes back the hammer to the position of full cock, in which
position it is retained by the ordinary sear and bent. When the lever rises the
collar on its end returns to its normal position, leaving the hammer in its cocked
position.
When I employ a lever on the tang of the break off to cock the gun, an arm on
the middle of the axis on which the hammers turn is prolonged upwards at the
back of the break off. The arm on the tang is jointed to an axis passing through
the break off on one side, and on the inner end of this axis is an inner arm, the
end of which engages with the upper end of the arm on the axis of the hammers.
By turning aside the arm on the tang of the break off the arm on the axis of the
hammers is pressed back, and the cocking of the hammers is effected by the action
of the shoulders on the axis and on the bushes of the hammers. The arm on the
break off is cranked so that its thumb plate may be over the middle of the tang
when the arin is in its normal position.
My improvements in safety mechanism consist of a small bolt sliding in an
oblique slot in the lock plate. The bush of the hammer has a notch or recess in it
which, when the hammer is cocked, is opposite the end of the said bolt. By
pressing the said bolt towards the axis of the hammers it is made to enter the said
notch, and thereby fix the hammer and prevent the discharge of the gun.
Before the gun can be discharged the said bolt has to be withdrawn from the
notch in the bush of the hammer. The motion of the said bolt is effected by
pressing upon the thumb plate of the bolt.

page_text: I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the
manner in which my Invention may be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation (with one of the lock plates removed), and
Figure 2 partly in side elevation and partly in vertical longitudinal section the
breech end of a drop down gun containing my improvements; Figure 3 is a plan of
the body of the gun; Figure 4 is an external elevation, and Figure 5 an inside
elevation of one of the lock plates and parts of the mechanism of the gun, and
Figure 6 is an edge view of the same; Figure 7 represents the cross axis carrying
the side band lever, and hammers, and other parts of the gun; Figure 8 represents
the collar fixed on one end of the cross axis; Figure 9 represents one of the
hammers detached; and Figure 10 represents an edge view of a portion of the
side lever.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of
the Drawings.
'
a are the barrels, and b the break off of the gun; c is the body, and d is the
cross axis passing through and working in the said body c near the back of the
break off; e is the side lever fitted on one end of the cross axis d. By means of
the said side lever e the cocking of the gun and the withdrawing of the locking
bolt for unfastening the barrels are effected, a short arm h on the middle of the
said axis d taking into an opening in the back end of the locking bolt f, as seen in
Figure 2. A spring g bearing against a shoulder on the arm h gives the snapping
action to the bolt f, and the return motion to the axis d and parts connected to it.
The extreme ends of the axis d are square. On one of the square ends of the said
axis the collar or boss i of the hand lever e is fitted; and on the other square end
of the axis a collar or boss k (shown separately in Figure 8) is fitted as seen in the
plan Figure 7. The collar or boss i of the band lever e is furnished with a shoulder
22, and the collar or boss k has a similar shoulder at k² upon it. The said shoulders
i², k², are made by cutting away a little more than half of the inner. face of each
collar or boss. 1, 1, are the internal hammers of the gun, the main springs of which
are by preference arranged in the sides of the body of the gun as represented. The
said internal hammers turn freely on cylindrical portions of the cross axis d. Each
hammer is furnished with a bush m which works upon the axis d, and each bush
m is furnished with a shoulder m². When the gun has been discharged, the shoulder
m² on the bush of the right hand hammer bears against the shoulder k² on the
collar k; and similarly the shoulder m² on the bush of the left hand hammer l
bears against the shoulder on the collar or boss i of the hand lever e, as illus-
trated in Figure 7, so that when the said hand lever is depressed, and a partial
rotation given to the cross axis d, the operation of the two shoulders i², k³, of the
collars i, k, on the shoulders m², m², of the bushes of the hammers 1, 1, pushes back
the said hammers to the position of full cock, in which position they are retained
by the sears n, n, in the usual way. By the depressing of the hand lever e the
partial rotation of the axis d causes the arm h on the said axis to withdraw the
locking bolt f simultaneously with the cocking of the hammers in the manner
described. On loosing the hand lever e, the said hand lever e, the axis d, the
cocking collars i, i, k, k³, the arm h, and bolt f are returned to their normal
positions by the action of the spring g, leaving the hammers 1, 1, in their cocked
position ready for the discharge of the gun. The said hammers are liberated by
trigger mechanism of the ordinary kind, and I have therefore not shown the said
mechanism in the Drawing.
For the purpose of preventing the accidental discharge of the gun I apply to
each of the lock plates of the gun a small bolt p working in an oblique slot in the
said plate, as seen in Figures 4 and 6, a thumb plate på being situated on the
outside of the lock plate. The bottom of the bolt p is furnished with a tooth p³,
and the bush of the hammer has a notch or recess 12 made in it. When the
hammer has been cocked the notch is brought opposite the tooth p³ of the
safety bolt, and by pressing the said bolt by its thumb plate p² towards the axis of

page_text: the hammer, the said tooth enters the notch 13, as illustrated in Figure 4, and
thereby fixes the hammer, and prevents the accidental discharge of the gun. The
notch in the bush of the hammer is best seen in Figures 1 and 9. Before the
gun can be discharged the bolt p must be pressed upwards, so as to withdraw its
tooth p³ from the notch in the bush of the hammer.
Or the accidental discharge of the gun may be prevented by a safety bolt acting
on the long arm n² of the sear n, as illustrated in Figures 3 and 5.
In the said Figures 3 and 5, q, q, are the bolts or slides on the lock plates,
and q³, q, are teeth on the ends of the bolts and projecting on the inner sides of
the lock plates. By moving each bolt or slide q towards the muzzle end of the
gun its tooth q is made to project over the sear arm p³, and prevent the rising of
the sear for the discharge of the gun. In Figure 3 one of the safety bolts or
slides q is represented in its withdrawn position and the sear free to rise for per-
mitting of the discharge of the gun, while the other safety bolt or slide is
represented in its position of safety and the sear prevented from rising. In
Figure 5 the safety bolt or slide q, q³, is represented withdrawn from over the
sear arm n². Instead of the side lever e the axis d may be worked by a lever on
the underside of the gun.
Figure 11 represents in side elevation a portion of the breech end of a drop down
gun in which the cocking of the internal hammers is effected by a hand lever on
the tang of the break off. Figures 12 and 13 represent plans of the body of the
gun; Figure 12 showing the hand lever in its normal position, and Figure 13 the
said hand lever turned aside for cocking the gun; Figure 14 represents the hand
lever separately, and Figure 15 represents separately the vertical arm or lever
which transmits the motion of the hand lever to the cross or cocking axis of the
gun; d is the cross axis, the square ends of which are fitted with collars containing
cocking shoulders of the kind represented in Figure 8. On the said cross axis da
vertical arm or lever r is fixed, the head of the said lever having a hole or recess 2°³
in it for receiving the reduced end of the inner cranked horizontal arm s² of the
hand levers on the tang of the break off. The shape of the hand lever 8, 8²,
is best
seen in the separate view Figure 14, and the manner in which its inner short
arm & engages with the head of the vertical arm r on the cross axis d is best seen
in Figures 12 and 13. The arm or lever passes through and works the under-
locking bolt f.
r"
When the hand lever 8 is turned aside, as illustrated in Figure 13, the vertical
arm or lever is moved in the direction of the butt end of the gun, and the cross
axis d on which its lower end is fixed is moved through such an angle that its
cocking shoulders act upon the cocking shoulders on the bushes of the hammers,
and cock the said hammers in the manner herein before described with respect to
the gun having a side hand lever. By the back motion of the lever r the locking
bolt is withdrawn, and the barrels unfastened.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as my
Invention of improvements in breech loading small arms of the kind called drop
down guns,
First. The construction and combination of the parts herein before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings for cocking the internal hammers of
the said drop down guns, that is to say, fixing on the square ends of the cross axis
passing through the body of the gun short collars, the inner faces of the said
collars being provided with shoulders, and constructing the bushes of the internal
hammers turning freely on the said cross axis with similar shoulders, so that when
the said cross axis is turned through a small angle by means of a hand lever on
the side or underside of the gun, or on the tang of the break off, the said shoulders
on the collars act upon the shoulders of the hammer bushes and cock the said
hammers, substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: Secondly. The combination with drop down guns having cocking mechanism of
the kind described and illustrated of safety bolts or slides, constructed and working
as herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Enos James, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty.