IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND BAYONETS FOR. THE SAME
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Andrew Wyley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th October
1866.
I, ANDREW WYLEY, of Barker Street, Aston Manor, in the County of
Warwick, Géological Surveyor, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND BAYONETS FOR.
THE SAME," to be as follows:-
In my improved fire-arm I use a block piece which is made to enter a
chamber in the rear of the barrel open at the top, as in the Snider. .gun, but.
this block piece instead of swivelling on a hinge at one-side of the chamber.
is attached to and travels with a flat bar carrying on its fore. end a short
plunger head, which is interposed between the recoil block and.the cartridge.
This plunger bar is so guided as to be able to move straight back from the..
barrel travelling in an upright groove cut in the abutment at the rear. of the
chamber far enough to draw the cartridge, which is of the usual kind with
metallic flanged base, its entire length. The extractor is of the common
form, but-is-fitted to the lower-side-of-the-plunger, upon which it has-a-sliding,
motion of half an inch or so before it begins to draw the cartridge. The
cartridge is pushed in by the plunger, and then the block piece, which is
made with a deep groove so as to ride over the plunger bar, is dropped or

page_text: forced.in and takes the recoil, one end bearing against the plunger and the
other against the abutment in the rear of the chamber. The block piece
may be hinged to the plunger bar preferably at the rear end and close by an
angular motion; or it may rise and fall vertically just high enough to allow
it to slide back in a gap cut for it in the abutment, which gap is filled by an
enlargement on the plunger bar when the last is pushed up to .the barrel.
Between this projection and the plunger head the block piece rises and falls,
being steadied by two pins screwed into the bar, which act also as stops to
prevent its rising too high. The block piece is raised by two projecting ears
and then serves as a handle to work the plunger bar. I prefer to ignite the
cartridge.by the agency of a long pin or striker carried by the plunger bar
in the line of the axis of the barrel or inclined downwards, according as the
cartridge is central-fire or flange-fire. This pin has a slight forward motion
when struck by a hammer or combined hammer and tumbler working in a
central slot in the stock and pivoted in a stud below the chamber abutment.
It is actuated by a mainspring and detained and released by a trigger sear.
When the plunger bar is drawn back it brings the hammer to full-cock and
rides over its face, the wood of the stock being cut away, and this so far as to
allow the thumb to press on the hammer head when in the cocked state. To
avoid cutting away so much of the stock I prefer continuing the plunger bar
behind into a tail piece which fills up the groove necessarily left to allow the
plunger bar to slide back. In this case as the hammer is not accessible for
half-cocking a safety stop is used. The tail piece may be so far enlarged 'as
to contain a spiral spring for actuating a bolt carrying the needle or striker,
which is bent or cocked by the forward motion of the plunger bar and detained.
and released by a sear and trigger. The bolt may be extended rearwards:
into a thumb-piece for cocking and half-cocking. The ordinary side lock may
be used, the hammer striking an inclined pin, as in the "Snider" and other
guns. This pin is made in two parts, the longer working in one side of the:
block piece, the shorter in the plunger, the bar of which is cut. away somewhat
more than in the former case. The block piece is hinged to the bar at its
rear end.
As a back sight for a rifle constructed as above I prefer that described in
the Specification of a Patent granted to Andrew Wyley and John Grainger,
dated the 1st July 1864, No. 1645, and shewn in Figures 21 and 22 of the
Drawings annexed to the said Specification, but modified as follows:-The
stud of the sight frame is slit nearly to the bottom to give elasticity to the
ring, and the slit is sometimes enlarged so as to pass over the sling loop on
the barrel when such is used, or to admit a cleaning rod. To prevent the

page_text: sight drawing clear away from the frame a pin is screwed into one leg, the
point of which travels in a groove in the frame and stock. The legs of the
sight may be made round, and work in holes instead of grooves. I construct
the working head with a semicircular groove which may be extended into an
annular shade to the thin notched "leaf," which extends transversely across
the groove, and is either fixed or has a slight adjustment motion by means of
two screws. If the leaf is fixed the head may be divided into two parts, the
upper part adjustable on the lower. If bands are used to fasten the barrel to
the stock I construct them similar to the frame of the back sight, but without
the projections at the sides. I use for military rifles a shaded foresight having
for a bead a small round-headed pin dropped into a hole in the block of the
foresight and fixed by a screw at one side and interchangeable in case of loss
with a piece cut from one of the smaller brass pins in common use. With
such a foresight the common bayonet cannot be well used; I therefore employ
a stronger and simpler form of bayonet, which is fastened to the barrel by
means of an external screw on the latter taking into an internal screw on the
bayonet tube or shank. Parts of both are cut away so that the threads pass
before interlocking. A sliding stop is used to keep them in the locked position.
The fore part of the bayonet is a simple continuation of the shank, but scarfed
or cut away obliquely to a broad point with sharpened edges somewhat after
the manner of a barrel steel pen. The bayonet while retaining this general
form may be made to lock against the ordinary sight block in the usual way.
The trigger plate and guard I use are of the form known as "Purdey's,"
but the curved hand part forms part of the trigger plate instead of the guard,
and into its lower end a button is screwed or fixed for the attachment of the
sling. The scroll proper may be in a separate piece. This trigger plate,
the back sight, the bands, and shaded foresight in connection with a
bayonet-using arm and the straight tubular bayonet are applicable to other
breech-loaders.
The above fire-arm- may be modified in several ways. Thus it may be made
to use a metallic or partially metallic unflanged central-fire cartridge by
dispensing with the usual extractor and hollowing out the plunger so that it
will firmly grip the cartridge end when the latter is forced into it by the
explosion. A pin may be placed behind this cavity, which will push out the
cartridge base when the plunger bar is drawn fully back. If it is desired to
use & cartridge which is for the most part consumed or blown away the
plunger is hollowed-out-into an expanding thimble.
Repeating fire-arms may be constructed by placing a tube below the barrel
to contain the cartridges, by preference unflanged metallic central-fire cartridges,

page_text: which may be brought up by a spiral spring. The spring may be compressed
by means of the cleaning rod, and held back by a detent while the cartridges
are being put in through a hole in the side of the tube, afterwards closed by a
slide. The chamber behind the barrel is open at the bottom; and the opening
is continued downwards in the framing or stock. A carrier placed in this
opening, and in a line with the tube, receives therefrom a cartridge and brings
it up to the level of the bore when the plunger is drawn fully back, at the
same time ejecting the spent cartridge. The forward motion of the plunger
pushes the fresh cartridge into the barrel, and by the pressing in of the block
piece the carrier is brought down to receive another cartridge. The lock is
modified so as not to interfere with the above movements.
The improvements above described, omitting those specially restricted to
military and other rifles, are applicable also to smooth-bore sporting breech-
loaders. For pistols similar breech-loading arrangements may be employed.