IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS."-A communication
from abroad by La Societe Industrielle Suisse, an Incorporated
Company, of Newheusen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
Sealed the 14th November 1871, and dated the 6th September 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th September 1871.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by La Societe Industrielle Suisse, an
Incorporated Company, of Newheusen, near Schaffhausen, Switzerland,
to be as follows :—
This Invention has for its object the simplification of breech-loading
small-arms having moveable breech pieces, and is more particularly

page_text: applicable to the Martini type. Within the well-known Martini breech
piece is situate the striker, provided at its rear end with a knob or handle
for cocking the arm when desired by the direct pull of the striker. This
lever, which forms the trigger guard, carries the main spring which
actuates the striker; it works through a slot in a plate fixed in the under
side of the stock, the said plate being secured to the main plate or breech,
which receives the barrel by a slot and pin at its front end, and by a
screw passing through the stock at its rear end. On each side of the
slot in the under plate, and in each of the two upright sides of the
upper plate, so as to correspond in position, there is formed a semi-
circular notch, which notches when combined together serve as bearings
to receive two trunnions formed on each side of, and in one piece with,
the guard lever, thus dispensing with a loose fulcrum pin for the said
lever to work upon. The upper or inner end of the guard lever is forked,
and carries a pin passing transversely across it. This forked end of the :
lever serves to raise and lower the breech piece by acting on suitable
projections thereon. Passing up within the forked end of the guard
lever is one end of a curved blade spring, rounded at its extremity, and
firmly secured to the said guard lever by screws or otherwise, the object
of such spring being to force forward the striker, for which purpose its
rounded free end engages in a slot in the striker. When the moveable
breech piece is lowered and the breech opened, the transverse pin in the
forked end of the lever will press against the spring and prevent it from
acting. The striker is provided with full and half-cock dents, into which
the upper end of a short link or rod engages, such rod being hinged at 5
its lower end to the trigger, and maintained in position by working in a
semicircular vertical groove or channel in a portion of the fixed breech
plate.
The bell crank lever of the cartridge extractor is for the convenience
of taking to pieces mounted on a rounded projection formed on the
inner surface of the plate herein-before referred to, attached to the under
side of the stock, the mode of fixing such plate, which has already been

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in
the thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson,
Her special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 FIRE-ARMS,'
a communication to me from abroad by La Societe Industrielle Suisso,
an Incorporated Company, of Newheusen, near Schaffhausen, Switzer-
land, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:
The said Invention has for its obiect a system of breech-loading fire-

page_text: peculiar feature of which is that it admits of dispensing with the tumbler
or lock hitherto employed in arrangements of this description, such as
those of Peabody, Martini, Verder, and others. This result is obtained
by fixing the mainspring on the lever formed by the moveable trigger
guard, so that the act of opening this lever brings back the striking pin,
and at the same time lowers the plug and opens the breech for the intro-
duction of the charge; the trigger rod then arrests the striker, and the
gun is in such a condition that it is simply necessary to restore the
trigger guard to its original position in order to close the breech ready
for the discharge. The new fire-arm thus constructed is very simple,
whilst at the same time it possesses great strength.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
'shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the
same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a plan of a portion of a breech-loading
fire-arm constructed on this system, Figure 2 is a side elevation, Figures
3 and 4 are longitudinal vertical sections, and Figures 5 and 6 are
transverse vertical sections of the same, taken respectively along the
lines C, D, and A, B, (Figure 2).
Figure 7 is a side elevation, and Figure 8 an under plan of the striker.
Figure 9 is a side elevation, and Figure 10 an under plan of the breech
plug.
Figure 11 is a front view, and Figure 12 a side view of the cartridge
extractor.
Figure 13 is a plan of a lower picce E, and Figure 14 is a vertical
section of the upper extremity of the moveable trigger guard.
A is the breech piece; B, the barrel; C, the breech plug containing the
striker D; E is is the lower picco which serves as a support for the moveable
trigger guard F, which guard is hinged at m; G is the mainspring, which
is secured to the outside of the trigger guard F; H is a screw which is
screwed into the breech piece, and around which the plug C turns; J is
a semi-cylindrical recess or cavity reserved in the breech piece A for the
reception of the trigger rod N; K is the cartridge extractor; L, are lugs
formed on the piece E, and on which the cartridge extractor K. of the
actuating lever F rests; M is a spring hook which is hinged to the

page_text: extremity of the actuating lever F; N is the trigger rod which is actuated
by the trigger 0; P is a spring which is attached to the plate E, and is
intended to bring back the trigger O constantly into its place; a is a
slot formed at the extremity of the piece E, and 6 is a cylindrical cross
piece around which the extremity a fits; c is an extension of the breech
piece A, through which passes the screw f for securing the piece E to
the breech piece A; d is a recess or cavity formed in the plug C, and
e is a projection with which the plug is provided at its lower part; g are
branches which constitute the short arm of the actuating lever or move-
able trigger guard F; à are notches formed on the striker D for the
cocking of the gun; i is a recess formed in the interior of the striker D
for the reception of the end of the mainspring G; j is a point in which the
striker D terminates; & is a flattened portion formed on the under side of
the striker; Z is a screw which is provided for the purpose of retaining
the striker D in the plug O; m is the hinge joint of the lever F; n is the
extremity of the mainspring which enters the aperture i formed in the
striker; o is a small spring intended to bring the spring hook M. back
constantly into its place; p is a projecting knob on the end of the striker
D; q is a notch formed in the piece E for the reception of the hook of
the spring M; r is a pin which is fixed between the branches 9 of the
actuating lever F, and against which the mainspring G is brought to
bear; & is a screw which serves to secure the mainspring which actuates
the striker to the moveable trigger guard.
k
The brecch piece A which receives the barrel B of the firc-arm and
serves as a support for the plug O, which contains the striker D, is, as
will be seen on reference to the Drawing, so arranged as to offer great
strength and firmness; it receives at its lower part a piece E, which
serves as a support for the moveable trigger guard, mainspring detent
apparatus, and cartridge extractor.
One essential feature of this Invention consists in the form of the
piece E, the front end of which terminates in a species of slot a forming
a hook, which is capable of engaging with a cylindrical cross piece b
attached to the lower part of the breech picce A, to which breech piece
the piece E is also secured by the screw f, which passes through its
extended portion c. By this arrangement the gun may be taken to
pieces with the greatest facility, which is further increased by the piece
E having formed on it at about its centre a projection provided with a
semicircular notch, which with a similar notch formed opposite to it in

page_text: the breech piece A constitutes the socket in which the journals m forged
on the trigger guard F move, so that the trigger guard becomes detached
of itself as soon as the piece E is removed.
The block or plug C is perforated throughout its length with a circular
hole for the reception of the striker D, and has formed on its upper
side
a large recess or cavity which facilitates the introduction of the cartridge
and the extraction of the empty case.
On its under side it is provided
with a projection e, which limits its oscillation by coming against the
lower surface of the breech piece, and on which the short arm g of the
actuating lever which the moveable trigger guard forms is caused to
press; it is also recessed in order to admit of the free play of the pro-
jections and of the passage of the mainspring which actuates the
striker. It is also provided at its front end, which closes the cartridge
chamber of the fire-arm, with two side notches in which the hooked
branches of the cartridge extractor are lodged.
The striker D which is formed of a cylindrical rod reduced in diameter
at its end j, terminates at its back end in a projecting knob p, which
admits of the gun being cocked by hand. It has formed on its under
side the full-cock and half-cock notches h, h, and is recessed at i for the
reception of the rounded extremity of the mainspring G; it is also
provided with a flattened portion k, against which bears a screw 7, which
keeps the striker in its place whilst admitting of its required free play.
The combined parts thus formed by the block C and striker D oscillate
on the breech piece A around the centre which the screw H forms; its
rocking motion is produced by the depression of the double trigger guard
F, which is hinged at m and carries the curved mainspring G, the
rounded extremity of which acts in the interior of the recess i formed
in the striker.
In order to lock the trigger guard in its closed position it is simply
necessary to press the trigger guard F with the hand against the butt a
end of the gun; under this action the hook M which is actuated by the
spring o enters the notch q formed in the piece E, and ensures the locking
of the guard.
The spring G is maintained in the direction in which it is to act as a
lever by a pin » riveted between the branches g, which constitute the
short arm of the actuating lever, and which combine to effect the
depression of the block, when towards the end of the stroke of the lever

page_text: their extremity bears against the projection e on the plug; at this
moment the front part of the block C meets on descending the horizontal
branch of the cartridge extractor K, on which it has to exert more or
less force in order to effect the withdrawal of the empty case.
5 The cartridge extractor, which is exceedingly simple in form, is kept
in its place by two lugs L formed on the piece E, and which admits of
its removal as soon as the latter is taken off for the purpose of cleaning
the gun.
The branches g of the actuating lever F have also the effect when the
0 breech is closed of wedging up the block C in order to prevent its being
depressed under the action of the pressure exerted by the explosion of
the charge. The branches g are also provided on their exterior surface
with pins m, which serve as journals for the trigger guard F by being
inserted in the two semicircular notches disposed for their reception,
5 one in the piece E, and the other in the piece A.
This arrangement, which is exceedingly simple, besides offering
peculiar facilities for taking the gun to pieces, has also this advantage,
that it obviates the necessity for a transverse pin to form the joint of the
moveable trigger guard, which would interfere with the play of the
o mainspring G which has to effect the cocking of the gun at the same
time that it actuates the striker.
The rounded extremity n of the mainspring G acting in the interior of
the recess i in the striker produces, as has been herein-before stated, the
cocking of the latter, and this is the most important point of this
5 Invention; the bevelled extremity of the trigger piece N entering the
notches on the striker, and arresting it in this position, such trigger
piece being maintained by the semi-cylindrical recess J formed for its
reception at the back part of the breech piece A.
The breech being now closed it is simply necessary to press the trigger
) O in order to discharge the gun, a detent spring P fixed to the piece E
is provided in order to bring the trigger back constantly into its place at
the same time that it admits of the vertical jointed piece N yielding
slightly when the striker recedes and forces it to enter the notches h.
Should it be considered desirable to bring the cartridge extractor back
5 to its original position as soon as the case of the spent cartridge has been
withdrawn, and to prevent a fresh cartridge when introduced escaping