CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Farmer Brand, of South Ter-
race, Willow Walk, Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey,
Gunmaker, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Far-
mer Brand at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 11th August 1853.
Spec
I, RICHARD FARMER BRAND, do hereby declare the nature of Pro
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND
ORDNANCE" to be as follows:-
As regards that part of this Invention which has reference to
fire-arms and ordnance, it consists in certain new mechanical
arrangements and combinations of parts for effecting the loading
of fire-arms and ordnance in a more simple and efficient manner
than that hitherto practised.
The inventor is aware that the loading of fire-arms at the
breech instead of the muzzle or mouth of the piece is not in itself

page_text: new, but the arrangements employed for accomplishing this has
been expensive and complicated, and the object and intention
of this Invention is to obviate these objections in the following
manner and by the following means, reference being had to
the illustrative Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the numeral
figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively, as
follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Fig. 1, exhibits a side view of a gun barrel constructed
according to this Invention. Fig. 2, is a partial section thereof,
taken in the direction of its length, shewing the parts in a position
for discharging the contents of the piece. Fig. 3, exhibits the
piece as it would appear when receiving the charge. At each of
these Figures similar letters of reference are employed to denote
corresponding parts. A, A, mark a portion of the barrel of a
musket or rifle, at the butt end whereof a slot or opening is
formed, into which a piece of metal B, is fitted and slides, said
piece being formed with a hinged piece at b, which is connected
by a pin at c. Fig. 2, exhibits the position of the pieces B, b,
when the piece is loaded and ready to be discharged; and Fig. 3,
shews the position of the pieces B, b, for receiving the charge a.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Richard Farmer Brand in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
I, RICHARD FARMER BRAND, of South Terrace, Willow Walk,
Bermondsey, in the County of Surrey, Gunmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three, in the seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard

page_text: Farmer Brand, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Farmer
Brand, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Farmer Brand, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Farmer Brand,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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 Richard Farmer Brand,
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 thereof (that is
to say):
This Invention relates to an arrangement of mechanism for
loading fire-arms and ordnance at the breech in a more simple
and efficient manner than that hitherto practised...
The nature of my Invention, and the manner of carrying the
same into practical effect, will be better explained and more readily
understood upon referring to the illustrative Drawing hereto
annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively, as follows:
Figure 1, in the annexed Drawing represents a side elevation
of a musket constructed according to my Invention; Figures
2, 3, and 4, exhibit longitudinal sections of the barrel of the
same; and Figures 5, and 6, transverse sections of the same.
A, A, represents the stock of the musket; B, B, the barrel; and
C, C, an ordinary percussion lock; D, D, is the breech.

page_text: It will be seen upon referring to the Drawing, particularly the
transverse sections, Figures 5, and 6, that the breech D, D, is
bored rather larger than the barrel, and is formed with a slot or
opening G, G, at the side, and is fitted with a conical sliding piece
or plug H, for closing the opening of the breech. To this plug H,
a piece of metal I, I, is hinged, to the extreme end of which a
ring K, is attached. The cylindrical openings or holes in the said
piece I, are merely for lightening the same. The method of load-
ing a musket of the above construction is as follows:-The picce
of metal I, being drawn outwards by means of the ring K, and the
conical plug H, being thereby drawn back to its full extent (sec
Figure 2), a ball cartridge F, unopened is introduced through the
opening G, into the breech D, D, in front of the conical plug H,
which is then immediately pressed or forced forward by hand into
the position shewn in Figure 3. It will be seen by referring to
Figure 6, that the interior of the breech is furnished with a small
point or cutter a, projecting internally immediately behind the
touch hole, which, as the cartridge is pressed forward, cuts open
that side of the cartridge, thus forming a communication from the
touch hole to the powder in the cartridge; the hinged piece I, is
then closed (see Figure 4), and thus forms a solid abutment, pre-
venting the displacement of the plug H, by the force of the
explosion. In order still further to secure the piece I, and plug
H, the ring K, is passed over the butt end of the breech, as shewn
in Figure 1, and the piece is then ready to be discharged. I
would here observe, that these three operations of opening the
breech, introducing the cartridge, and closing and securing the
breech can be effected with a facility and dispatch hitherto
perfectly unattainable, and thus a very great advantage is secured.
The barrel immediately behind the point of ignition should be
strengthened by an enlargement, as shewn at E, in the Figures,
which will have the effect of preventing the expansion of the
breech, which might otherwise be caused by the rapid and fre-
quent discharging of the piece.
Having thus described the nature and object of my said improve-

page_text: ments, together with the manner of carrying the same into practical
effect, I would remark, in conclusion, that I am aware of various
arrangements of mechanism having been applied for loading fire-
arms and ordnance at or near the breech instead of at the muzzle.
And what I claim as the Invention intended to be secured by the
said Letters Patent is, the construction of mechanism arranged
and combined as above described and represented for the loading
of fire-arms and ordnance at the breech and behind the point of
ignition.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Farmer Brand, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of
February, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-four.
5 Witness,
ALEX PRINCE,
RICHARD FARMER BRAND. (L.S.)
Patent Agent,
4, Trafalgar Square,
Charing Cross.