IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING PISTOLS AND OTHER SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1874

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Otto Altendorf at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st October
1874. A communication from abroad by Messieurs A. Fagnus and
Company, of Liège, in the Kingdom of Belgium.
I, OTTO ALTENDORF, of the Firm of Altendorf and Wright, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturers and Merchants,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REVOLVING PISTOLS AND OTHER SMALL-ARMS," to be as follows:-
The said Invention consists of the construction and combination or
arrangement herein-after described of the parts of the locks of revolving
pistols and other small-arms, the object of the said Invention being to
lift the hammers of the said pistols and arms to a position of safety after
the pistol or arm has been discharged and the pressure of the finger
removed from the trigger.
These improvements are specially applicable to revolving pistols, and I
will describe them as applied to a revolving pistol. At the back of the
heel of the hammer and partly passing along one side of the said hammer,
is a small lever, the said lever being jointed to the metal stock or frame

page_text: of the pistol at a considerable distance behind the hammer. At about
the middle of the lever is a shoulder which bears against a projection on
the heel of the hammer and lifts the said hammer to a position of safety,
as herein-after described. The upper limb or arm of the mainspring of
the lock is swivelled to the hammer in the usual way, and the lower limb
or arm of the said mainspring bears against the said small lever and
tends to press it downwards. The unjointed end of the lever which
passes along the side of the hammer, projects beyond the front of the
said hammer and bears upon a pin or stud on the trigger. When the
hammer is at full-cock and the trigger is pulled, the hammer is released
and descends upon and ignites the cartridge, the hammer remaining in
its discharged or lowest position so long as the finger remains on the
trigger. The hammer as it descends is entirely free of the safety or
half-cocking mechanism. When the pressure is removed from the
trigger, the said trigger is returned to its normal position and the
hammer at the same time lifted to a position of safety, and maintained in
that position in the following manner:-As the hammer is raised to
full-cock prior to discharge, the small lever herein-before described of
the lock is lifted by the stud on the trigger, and the lower limb or arm
of the mainspring which bears on the said lever is compressed. When
the trigger is pulled and the hammer falls, the lever and compressed
lower limb of the mainspring are unaffected by the falling of the
hammer, but on removing the pressure from the trigger the compressed
lower limb of the mainspring depresses the lever and its shoulder bearing
against the projection described on the heel of the hammer, lifts the said
hammer from the cartridge, and firmly holds the said hammer in a
position of safety. The hammer is thus lifted to a position of safety by
the back or retiring movement of the trigger after the pistol has been
discharged. By constructing the self-acting safety mechanism of the
lock in this way, the hammer is lifted with great steadiness, the lifting
of the hammer to its safety or half-cock position being controlled by the
trigger and at the pleasure of the person using the pistol.
The hammer is maintained in its position of safety or half-cock with
great firmness by the side of the trigger bearing against the body of the
pistol, and further by the said hammer being supported by the trigger by
means of a moveable or spring arm at the front of the hammer, against
which an arm of the trigger bears. The said moveable or spring arm is
used in place of the ordinary tumbler and bent.

page_text: The essence of this Invention consists in lifting the hammer to a
position of safety by means of the back or return movement of the
trigger, after the pistol or arm has been discharged, the mechanism
being brought into a position to effect the said lifting of the hammer
by the forward movement of the trigger on cocking the hammer to
full-cock.