IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING, SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Middleditch Scott, of the Firm of W. and
C. Scott and Son, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING,
SMALL-ARMS."
Scaled the 25th June 1875, and dated the 18th January 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Middleditch
Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with liis
Petition, on the 18th January 1875.
I, WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT, of the Firm of W. and C. Scott and
Son, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms of the kind
commonly called drop-down guns, and consists of the arrangements or
combinations of parts herein-after described for securely fixing down the
barrels and holding them tightly against the break-off during discharge.

page_text: I dispense with the projection on the end of the rib between the
barrels, and in place thereof I form a projection on the upper side of
each of the barrels, the said projections being situated by preference not
immediately over the axes of the barrels respectively, but at a greater
distance apart; that is, nearer the outer sides of the barrels.
In the break-off recesses are made of a size and form proper to receive
the said projections on the barrels. In the said projections are cross
holes, and at the back of the break-off are similar holes, the axes of
which coincide with the axes of the said holes in the projections when
the latter are shut down.
In the holes in the back of the break-off are sliding bolts geared to an
arm or lever working on the tang of the break-off. When the said lever
is in its normal position the said bolts are in their shot position and pass
through the holes in the projections on the barrels and lock, or fasten
the said barrels to the body and hold them tightly against the face of
the break-off. When the said arm or lever is turned aside the said bolts
are withdrawn from the holes in the projections on the barrels, and the
breech ends of the barrels can be raised for charging. -
The gearing by which the arm or lever on the tang of the break-off is
connected to the sliding bolts may consist of levers arranged to give
motion in the required directions to the bolts. Or the bolts may be
connected to the arm or lever by a disc on the axis of the lever on the
tang provided with excentric slots in which pins on the ends of the bolts
engage.
The arrangements described are used in conjunction with a sliding
bolt taking into the steel lump on the under side of the barrels for
locking down the said barrels.
Although I prefer to actuate the mechanism. described by a lever on
the tang of the break-off, yet the said mechanism may be actuated by a
lever on the side or under side of the gun.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Middleditch Scott in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 10th July 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT, of the Firm of W. and C. Scott and Son, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturers, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William. Middleditch Scott, Her special
license that I, the said William Middleditch Scott, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Middleditch Scott, 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 SMALL-ARMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that. I, the said William Middleditch Scott, 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 William Middleditch Scott; do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms of the kind
commonly called drop-down guns, and consists of the arrangements or
combinations of parts herein-after described for securely fixing down the
barrels and holding them tightly against the break-off during discharge.

page_text: According to my Invention I form a projection on the upper side of
each of the barrels, the said projections being situated, by preference,
not immediately over the axes of the barrels respectively, but at a greater
distance apart nearer the outer sides of the barrels..
In the break-off recesses are made of a size and form proper to receive
the said projections on the barrels. In the said projections are cross
holes, and at the back of the break-off are similar holes, the axes of
which coincide with the axes of the said holes in the projections when
the latter are shut down.
"
In the holes in the back of the break-off are sliding bolts geared to an
arm or lever working on the tang of the break-off. When the said lever
is in its normal position the said bolts are in their shot position and pass
through the holes in the projections on the barrels and lock or fasten
the said barrels to the body and hold them tightly against the face of
the break-off. When the said arm or lever is turned aside the said bolts.
áre withdrawn. from the holes in the projections on the barrels, and the
breech ends of the barrels can be raised for charging.
The gearing by which the arm or lever on the tang of the break-off is.
connected to the sliding bolts may consist of levers arranged to give
motions in tlic required directions to the bolts. Or the bolts may be.
connected to the arm or lever by a disc on the axis of the lever on the.
tang provided with excentric slots in which pins on the ends of the bolts
engage.
The arrangements described are used in conjunction with a sliding
bolt taking into the steel lump on the under side of the barrels for
locking down the said barrels.
Although I prefer to actuate the mechanism described by a lever on
the tang of the break-off, yet the said mechanism may be actuated by a
lever on the side or under side of the gun.
"
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan; Figure 2 in side elevation; and Figure 3
in cross section through the break-off the breech ends of a drop-down
gun containing locking and holding mechanism constructed according
to my Invention, the sliding cross bolts being represented in their shot

page_text: position, and the barrels locked for firing. Figure 4 represents the said
gun partly in plan and partly in horizontal section, the sliding cross
bolts being represented in their withdrawn position, and the barrels
released for loading; Figure 5 represents a plan of upper side and side
elevation, and Figure 6 a plan of under side of the hand lever on the
tang, by which in conjunction with the lever represented in Figure 7
the sliding cross bolts are worked. Figure 8 represents in side clovation
and Figure 9 in plan a portion of the barrels separately. In Figures 1,
2, 3, and 4, the stock, locks, and other parts of the gun are omitted.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in Figures 1 to 8.
On the upper and near the outer side of each of the barrels a, a, of
the gun
is a projection b, having a hole c in its middle. The shape of
these projections is best seen in Figures 8 and 9. In the break-off d are
recesses at e, c, of a size and form proper to receive the projections b, b;
on the barrels (see Figure 4). Parallel with the face of the break-off d
holes ff, are made, in which holes the cross sliding bolts g, h, work.
The holes ff, in the break off and those in the projections b, b, coincide
when the barrels are shut down. The cross sliding bolts g, h, are geared
to the hand lever i on the tang of the break-off: The said hand lever i
turns on the long spindle or axis & passing through the break-off to near
the bottom thereof, a cam or arm on the lower end of the said axis
or spindle actuating the ordinary sliding bolt which takes into the
lump m on the under side of the barrels.
The cross bolts g, h, are worked by the hand lever i in the following
manner: The short arm of the lever i takes into a recess in the bolt /,
while an independent small lever n, shown separately in Figure 7, works
the other bolt g, one arm of the said lever n taking into a recess in the
bolt, and the other arm being engaged in a recess in the under side of
The result of this
the boss part of the hand lever i (see Figure 6).
arrangement of levers is that when the hand lever i is moved in one or
other direction the two bolts g, h, are simultaneously moved in opposite
directions, the two bolts retiring from one another to fasten the barrels,
and approaching one another to unfasten the barrels. When the hand
lever i is moved to its normal position, as represented in Figures 1 and 2,
by the action of the spring p upon the axis or spindle k the two cross
bolts g, h, are moved in opposite directions by the operation of the arm i²
and small lever. n, and the said bolts snap into the holes c, c, in the pro-

page_text: jections b, b, as seen in Figure 3, and lock or fasten the barrels to the
body and hold the faces of the breech ends tightly against the face of
the break-off d. The same motion of the hand lever i which causes the
cross bolts to be moved in opposite directions and take their shot
position also causes the ordinary sliding bolt / to engage with the lump m
on the under side of the barrels. The barrels are thereby simultaneously
fastened down both at their upper and under sides. The bolts g, h, are
pushed back on the shutting down of the barrels for effecting the
snapping action of the said bolts by the lower rounded and bevilled ends
of the projections b, b, bearing against the ends of the bolts (scc
Figure 3).
In order to withdraw the two bolts g, h, and also the ordinary under
bolt 1, the hand lever i is moved in the direction of the arrow, Figure 1,
into the position represented in Figure 4. In taking this position the
short arm of the said lever withdraws the bolt in one direction from
out the projection b, and the recess in the boss of the hand lever i
acting on one end of the small lever n causes its opposite end to with-
draw the bolt g in the opposite direction from out the other projection b
on the barrels, as illustrated in Figure 4. The under bolt m is also
withdrawn. The barrels are thereby unfastened and may be raised from a
the break-off for loading.
The respective positions of the hand lever i, 3, and the small lever n,
when the cross bolts g, h, are in their shot and withdrawn positions, will
be readily understood by an examination of Figures 1 and 4.
In place of the lever mechanism described for simultaneously moving 2
the bolts g, h, in opposite directions, pins on the said bolts may engage
in excentric slots in a disc carried by the axis or spindle k of the hand
lever i, but I prefer to use the combination of parts described and
represented.
Instead of making the projections b, b, on the barrels take into 3
recesses in the break-off, the said projections may be made on the sides
of the barrels and fit into cut-away parts at the ends or outside of the
break-off. This modification is represented in plan in Figure 10, where
the side projections are marked 62. The cross bolts and the mechanism
for working them are the same as before described.
Figure 11 represents a modification of my Invention, in which the.
3

page_text: projections near the sides or at the sides of the barrels are dispensed with,
and the cross bolts g, h, made to take into a prolongation of the rib
between the barrels. In the said Figure 11 the two bolts are
marked g, h, and the prolonged rib into which the ends of the bolts take
is marked q. In this arrangement the two bolts approach one another
to fasten the barrels and retire from one another to unfasten the
barrels.
For the purpose of reversing the direction of the motion of the bolts,
the position of the lever mechanism by which the said bolts are worked
is reversed, the small lever n being placed on the right-hand side of the
hand lever and the short arm of the hand lever on the left-hand side
of the said hand lever, as represented in the Drawing. The result of
thus reversing the acting parts 2 and is that when the hand lever i is
turned aside to unfasten the barrels the two bolts g, h, retire from one
another and withdraw their ends from the rib q, and when the hand
lever takes its normal position the two bolts g, h, approach one another
and engage with the rib q and fasten down the barrels. .
Although I have represented the cross bolts g, h, and the mechanism
connected therewith in conjunction with the ordinary under bolt, yet I
wish it to be understood that the said cross bolts may be used without.
the ordinary under bolt, but I prefer to combine them in the manner
represented in the Drawing. And although I prefer to work the said
cross bolts from a lever on the tang of the break-off, yet they may be
worked by a lever on the side or under side of the gun.
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 do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature
of my Invention, but I claim as my Invention of improvements in
breech-loading small-arms, the construction and combinations or arrange-
ments of parts herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings for securely fixing down the barrels of the said guns
and holding them tightly against the break-off during discharge, that is
to say, by means of two cross sliding bolts working in the break-off and
taking into holes in projections situated at or near the outer sides of the
barrels or into a prolongation of the rib between the barrels, the said
cross bolts moving in opposite directions to fasten and unfasten the

page_text: barrels, and being worked, applied, and acting substantially as described
and illustrated.
In witness whereof I, the said William Middleditch Scott, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 5
five.
Witness,
WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT. (L.S.)
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.