AN IM- PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Francis Baggett, and John Sanger
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the
31st January 1862.
We, FRANCIS BAGGETT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Maker, and JOHN SANGER, of Aston, near Birmingham, aforesaid, Gun
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IM-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the improvement or improvements herein-after
explained. In constructing the breech ends of breech-loading small-arms
and parts connected therewith, for opening and securely closing the said
breech ends. We will explain our Invention with reference to a rifle.
The end of the barrel is prolonged about two inches beyond the nipple,
and the said prolonged end is closed by a solid breech piece. The upper
or top side of the said prolonged end is cut away, thereby forming an
opening through which the cartridge or charge is introduced into the
barrel; the plug or closer by which the open end of the barrel is closed
also passing through the said opening, as herein-after explained. On the
side of the barrel opposite to that at which the nipple is situated a lever
is jointed, the said lever moving in a vertical plane. To this lever the
plug or closer is connected, by which the barrel is closed. The said lever
also carries a plate, which when the rifle is ready for discharge, accurately
closes the opening in the prolonged end of the barrel. The plug or closer of

page_text: the breech-closing mechanism is not rigidly connected to the before-mentioned
lever, but is capable of turning on a pin or bolt on the free end of the said
lever, a spring between the said plug or closer and covering plate tending to
raise the said plug when it is at liberty to move. The said spring is connected
to the under side of the covering plate by a screw. The free end of the plug
or closer is made spherical, and abuts against a spherical shoulder made at the
open end of the barrel. After a cartridge or charge has been introduced into
the barrel through the opening in the top of the prolonged end, the lever is
depressed, and the plug or closer made to enter the prolonged end, and to close
the breech end of the barrel, the covering plate carried by the said lever also
closing the opening in the prolonged end of the barrel. The plug or closer is
securely locked or held in its place by the pin or bolt, upon which the said
plug or closer turns, one part of the circumference of the said pin or bolt being
flat and the other parts cylindrical. When the lever has been shut down
and the plug or closer thereby put in its place in the prolonged end, the said
"locking pin or bolt is turned by a small lever or arm on its end, so as to bring
the cylindrical portion of its circumference outwards, and make it engage with
a depression in the solid breech piece closing the prolonged end of the barrel.
The said plug or closer, and parts connected therewith, are thereby securely
locked or held in their respective places, and the rifle is ready for discharge.
After the discharge of the rifle, and in order to reload it, the locking pin or bolt
is turned, so as to bring the flat part of the said pin or bolt against the solid
breech piece, when the lever, covering plate, and plug or closer can be raised,
and the breech end made clear for the introduction of another cartridge or
charge. The first raising of the principal lever, carrying the covering plate and
plug or closer, is facilitated by the spring between the plug or closer, and
covering plate before described.