Improvements in Machine Guns.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machine Guns.
A communication from FRANK MILTON GARLAND, of New Haven, New Haven
County, Connecticut, United States of America.
I, ALFRED JULIUS DOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E., do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
The invention relates to the class of positive feeding magazine guns having
stationary barrels, and the object is to construct a gun of this class in which the
operations of loading and firing are performed with great rapidity without danger of
clogging the mechanism with a cartridge or disabling the gun by the sticking of a
shell in the breech; and to arrange the mechanism so as to prevent its becoming foul
from firing, and so that the balls will have as great velocity and penetration whether
the cartridges are exploded rapidly or slowly also to provide mechanism which can
be operated so that cartridges may be fed into both or either of the barrels.
The invention consists in a gun provided with mechanisms arranged to feed into
the barrels and explode cartridges the shells of which are not extracted through the
breech, but are blown by the explosion of a supplemental charge of powder through
the barrels so that the breech block is not removed at once from behind the
barrels.
Referring to the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 is a side view of the gun.
Fig. 2 is a side elevation, scale enlarged, of the breech, the frame and casing being
cut away.
Fig. 3 is a transverse section of the breech or plane denoted by line x-x of
Fig. 5.
Fig. 4 is a similar section on line y-y of Fig. 5.
Fig. 5 is a top view of the breech."
Fig. is an elevation, part in section, of the breech block and spindle which bears
the loading and firing bolt and trigger.
Fig. 7 is a face view of the cartridge lifting forceps.
Fig. 8 is a face view of the breech block.
Fig. 9 is a face view of the feed cam and ratchet.
Fig. 10 is an enlarged section of the breech block on line - of Fig. 8.
Fig. 11 is a side elevation of the trigger.
Fig. 12 is a front elevation of the trigger.
Fig. 13 is a sectional view of the cartridge lifting forceps.
Fig. 14 is a side view of the rotary cartridge belt cutter.
In the views the letter A indicates the frame projecting laterally from the front of
which are the trunnions A' that are held in bearings in the walls of the mount B.
The broadened base of the mount rests and rotates upon the plate C which is secured
any suitable carriage balls being placed between the base of the mount and the
plate C to reduce the friction between the parts and facilitate the oscillation of
the gun.
to
Two barrels D are secured to the front plate A2 of the frame A and near the rear
of the frame and supported by its walls is a transverse shaft E which bears two
similar cam-wheels e el into the cam-grooves in which project rollers that are attached
to the lower ends of levers ff which oscillate upon a shaft F supported by a
standard A3 that rises from the bottom near the centre of the frame. The upper ends
of these levers are segmental and have gear teeth which mesh with racks on the
bottom of the spindles G G' that reciprocate in ways formed between plates a a¹ the

page_text: lower set a being supported by the frame and the standard A³ while the upper set a
are removably held down by screws a² which pass through the cover A' that is hinged
to the top of the frame.
The cams which oscillate the levers ff are so timed with relation to each other
that when one spindle G is at the forward limit of its play the other G¹ is at its
backward limit.
Passing longitudinally through each spindle is a loading and firing bolt g which is
thrust forward by a spiral spring gl. Cocking levers H are pivoted between down-
ward and rearward projections on the end of the spindles in such position that when
the spindles are thrown backward the lower end of these levers strike an adjustable
stop attached to the frame which causes the forked upper end of the lever to pull
back the bolt a compressing the spring g'. When the bolt has been pulled back
sufficiently a sear i connected to the trigger drops in front of a shoulder formed on
the bolt and holds it with the spring g' tense.
The triggers are pivoted between lugs on top of the spindles, one part of the
trigger projecting rearwards and engaging the sear which moves freely up and
down between the lugs, while to the upper part is pivoted the pull which is
adapted to bow backward when moving forward past the trip a³ but is rigid with the
trigger when coming in contact with the trip upon its backward movement so as to
pull the trigger and lift the scar from the shoulder on the bolt and allow the spring to
thrust the bolt forward, and by means of the firing pin explode the cartridge. The
lower end of the pivoted pull is shaped to prevent it from bowing forward while the
spring holds the pull on the other side with a yielding pressure allowing it to bow
backward. A spring attached to the spindle and resting against the trigger keeps
the scar down and a spring holds the cocking lever H forward to allow a free
movement of the bolt when the trigger is pulled. The trip a³ is preferably movably
attached to the top of the frame for purposes of adjustment.
A longitudinal shaft K supported near its rear end by the standard A3 and at the
opposite end by the front plate of the frame, bears a bevel gear that meshes with
and is driven by a bevel gear e² upon the shaft E. Inside of the frame this shaft K
bears a cam wheel . The lower end of the rod M which is free to reciprocate
vertically between the guides 3 secured to the front plate of the frame bears a roller
that projects into the cam-groove in the wheel while the upper end of the rod is
connected to the breech block M that is also free to reciprocate vertically between the
guides m attached to the front plate of the frame behind the barrels so that the
rotation of the can reciprocates the breech block.
The breech block preferably has two loading holes m¹ of a size to allow the passage
of a cartridge into the barrels. It is also provided with two other perforations
in which are loosely held the firing pins m². These openings are so located in
the block that when a loading opening is opposite one barrel a firing pin will
be opposite the other and when the block is reciprocated to its other position a
loading opening is brought opposite the barrel where previously there was a firing pin
and a firing pin brought behind the barrel where a loading opening was; that is
when one barrel is ready for loading the other is ready to be fired.
If it is desired the breech block may be pivoted to the front plate and oscillated by
the cam to bring first a loading opening then a firing pin in line with a barrel.
The back of the breech block around the firing pin is provided with a convexed
chamber m³ into which the rim of the cartridge is blown by an after explosion so as to
permit the passage of the shell through the barrel after the ball has been fired, one
method of carrying this into practice being described in Specification No. 9382 filed
of even date herewith.
A cam is attached to the front end of the shaft K and upon its periphery bears a
roll that is attached to the end of the bent lever L which is pivoted to the front of the
frame the upper end of this lever being connected to the lower end of a leaf that is
journalled upon a shaft N. The upper end of the leaf is provided with a pawl which
is held by a spring in contact with the ratchet n fast to the shaft N which is supported
on one side of the frame by the front plate A and partition A'. A feed wheel o

page_text: provided with sprocket teeth is borne on this shaft N and parallel with the shaft N
and supported in a similar manner on the opposite side of the frame is a shaft N¹
which bears a wheel o¹.
A sprocket chain p passes around the wheels o o' so that
motion imparted by the cam lever I and ratchet n to the shaft N causes the chain
to feed around the wheels.
The cartridges used in this gun are joined in a continuous band by a flexible belt
and packed in suitable cases Q adapted to be attached to the gun adjacent to the feed
chain and to start feeding the first cartridge of the band is laid between the arms pl
that project from the links of the chain and the cartridges are drawn by the chain into
the breech behind the barrels. The cam is so cut that at each revolution it feeds
the ratchet two notches; this feeds the chain bearing the cartridges two spaces so that
every other cartridge passes the right barrel in order that it may be fired in
the left.
A levere is pivoted to the front of the frame with one end projecting into the
plane of oscillation of the lever 1 and when the lever is so moved that its end projects
into the path of the motion of the lever Land prevents it from dropping the full distance
when the cam recedes the ratchet will be fed but one notch instead of two then all
the cartridges will be fed into and fired from a single barrel.
The forceps R which grasp and lift the cartridges consist of two pairs of spring
arms, having curved grasping jaws attached at their upper end to a plate which
of the bars s by a screws the upper end
so that by turning the handle the relative
positions of the head s' and plate l may be changed.
is secured to the forward projecting head
of which is provided with a handle
The bars s to which the forceps are connected are held in sliding contact with the
partition A at their upper end by a plate which is screwed to the frame and at their
lower end by the cam-wheel that is fast to the shaft K.
q
A roll projects from one of the bars & into the cam-groove in this wheel above the
shaft and a roll on the end of a lever so that is connected by a link to the other bar
projects into the same cam-groove below the shaft so that the bars are alternately
reciprocated.
The shaft T that is supported by the frame above the shaft N¹ bears in the plane of
the chain pa block that is provided with a number of radial cutting blades t'.
Rotation is imparted to this shaft and cutter from the movement of the chain p
by means of pins p² that project from the links of the chain into the path of a sprocket
wheel that is borne by the shaft T. The movement of the cutter is so timed with
relation to the movement of the feed chain that as the cartridges are fed into the
breech the blades of the cutter pass each side of a cartridge and sever it from the belt,
so it may be picked up by the forceps and brought into line with the barrels.
A crank E is secured to one end of the shaft E outside of the casing to drive the
mechanism.
The barrels D are enclosed by a casing d which forms a chamber into which water
is poured to lower the temperature of the barrels and the breech is protected by.
casing which has a cover that may be easily opened to reach the mechanism.
An elevating screw is attached at one end by a ball and socket joint to a pro-
jection on the rear of the casing and passes through a swivelled nut in the tail
piece b. This nut consists of a frame trunnioned in the end of the tail piece the frame
bearing two worm gear wheels the shaft of one gear being provided with a crank ² so
that the gear may be rotated while the end of the pivot of the other is threaded and
provided with a clamp nut.
To quickly change the elevation of the gun the crank is rotated which causes the
gear and screw to act as a rack and pinion but when a nice adjustment is desired the
Screw is rotated by the wheel the gears forming a nut.
A handle extends across the back of the gun whereby it may be oscillated
horizontally.
When the gun is mounted properly sighted and a case of cartridges attached the
irst cartridge is laid on the feed chain and the gunner revolves the crank and rotates
he shaft E.

page_text: The rotation of this shaft starts the feed mechanism which brings the belted
cartridges up under the separator knives which separate or cut off a cartridge which is
fed along until beneath the right hand barrel when the right hand forceps descend,
grasp the cartridge and raise it to the level of the barrel, then the right hand spindle G
comes forward and the loading rod pushes the cartridge from the forceps through the
loading opening in the breech block into the barrel. This spindle then withdraws a
a short distance and the breech block is reciprocated to bring a firing pin back to the
cartridge and a loading opening opposite the left hand barrel. The spindle continues
to withdraw the trigger is pulled by the trip and the bolt re-cocked by the cocking
lever. When the spindle G is receding the spindle G¹ approaches and forces a
cartridge that has been picked up by the left hand forceps into the left hand barrel.
When this barrel has been loaded and is being fired another cartridge is being loaded
into the right hand barrel; that is when one barrel is being loaded the other is being
fired.
The cam which reciprocrates the breech block is so timed that the breech of tho
barrel which has been fired is fully covered until it is necessary to again load that
barrel the block does not have to move away immediately to extract the shell, which
operation has to be done so quickly in prior machine guns that much gas and soot
escapes from the breech reducing the velocity and accuracy of the ball and fouling the
mechanism.
If it is desired to operate but one barrel the lever is pushed forward so that ratchet
will feed but one space and the forceps which lift the cartridges to the silent barrel
screwed up so they will not grasp a cartridge when they descend then all of the
cartridges will be fed into the other barrel.
To quickly disable the gun the covers of the casing and frame are thrown open the
removable plates a' which hold the spindles in place lifted out and the spindles
removed.
The gun will load and fire as long as ammunition is supplied and the gunner drives
the crank. Shells cannot clog the mechanism as they do not return through the
breech after being exploded.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
mo by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. In a machine gun in combination the barrels, a frame with which the barrels are
connected, feeding mechanism, loading mechanism and firing mechanism by which the
cartridges are fed, loaded and fired said mechanism being mounted on the frame, a
vibrating breech block provided with a loading opening and with a firing pin mechanism
for vibrating the breech block to bring the loading opening and firing pin into or out
of line with the barrels alternately substantially as described.
2. In a machine gun and in combination, the barrels and the reciprocating feeding
and loading mechanism carried upon the frame in line with the barrels mechanism
arranged to move a chain of cartridges in rear of the barrels and in a lower plane
vertically reciprocating bars carrying forceps in line with the cartridges and arranged
to grasp a cartridge from the feed chain and to raise it into line with a barrel and
mechanism for alternately reciprocating said bars substantially as described.
3. In a machine gun and in combination the barrels and the reciprocating feeding
and loading mechanism carried upon the frame in line with the barrels mechanism
arranged to move a chain of cartridges in rear of the barrels and in a lower plane
vertically reciprocating bars carrying spring arm friction forceps in line with the
cartridges and arranged to grasp a cartridge from the feed chain and to raise it into
line with a barrel and mechanisin for alternately reciprocating said bars substantially
as described.
4. In a machine gun and in combination the barrels and reciprocating feeding and
loading mechanism arranged in line with the barrels mechanism arranged to move a
chain of cartridges in rear of the barrels and in a lower plane, vertically reciprocating
bars bearing grasping forceps which are made independently adjustable whereby either

page_text: may be rendered inoperative said forceps being also arranged to grasp and raise a
cartridge into line with the barrel and mechanism for alternately reciprocating the bars
substantially as described.
5. In a machine gun and in combination with a pair of vertically reciprocating bars
bearing forceps and mechanism for feeding a chain of cartridges into line with the said
forceps mechanism for reciprocating said bars alternately and a cartridge chain
separator supported above and in line with the said chain substantially as described
whereby the chain is severed by the movement of the separator.
6. In a machine gun and in combination the barrels the feeding and loading
mechanism reciprocating in line with the barrels mechanism for feeding a cartridge
chain in rear of the barrels and below the plane thereof reciprocating forceps arranged
to grasp and raise a cartridge alternately and first to one barrel and then to another
and a rotary cartridge separator consisting of radial cutiers arranged to rotate on a
shaft by the movement of the feed chain and separate the cartridges from the band
substantially as described.
7. In a machine gun in combination with the barrels and the loading firing
mechanism feed mechanism consisting of a cam a lever oscillated by the cam a ratchet
driven by the lever a shaft rotated by the ratchet bearing a sprocket wheel a parallel
shaft bearing a wheel and a feed chain encircling the said wheels substantially as
described.
8. In a machine gun in combination with the barrels and the loading and firing
mechanisin feed mechanism consisting of a cam a lever oscillated by the cain a rod
adapted to limit the oscillation of the lever a ratchet driven by the lever a shaft
bearing a sprocket wheel rotated by the ratchet a feed wheel on a shaft parallel
with the shaft connected with the ratchet and a feed chain encircling the wheels
substantially as described.
9. In a machine gun in combination with the barrels and the loading and firing
mechanism feed mechanism consisting of a cam a lever oscillated by the cam a
ratchet driven by the lever on a shaft bearing a feed wheel and a retard ratchet on
one side of the gun a wheel on the opposite side and a chain with outwardly pro-
jecting arms encircling both of the said wheels the upper surface of said chain being
below the level of the barrels substantially as specified.
10. In a machine gun and in combination a barrel and mechanism to feed the
cartridges into line with said barrels alternately a reciprocating spindle having a bolt
in line with the barrel and arranged to thrust a cartridge into the barrel in its
forward movement the firing pin, mechanism operated by the backward movement of
the plunger to retract the firing pin means for forcing forward the firing pin, and
trigger mechanism operated by the movement of the plunger all substantially as
described.
11. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels a feeding mechanism
therefor whereby the cartridges are brought into line with the barrels a pair of spindles
arranged to reciprocate alternately independently movable bolts in said spindles a
spring adapted to thrust the bolts forward mechanism for drawing back the bolts and
compressing the spring near the limit of the backward movement of the spindles and
a trigger arranged to release the bolt at the beginning of the backward movement of
the spindle substantially as described.
12. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels a feeding mechanism
therefor whereby the cartridges are brought into line with the barrels a pair of spindles
arranged to reciprocate alternately independently movable bolts in said spindles a
spring adapted to thrust the bolts forward mechanism for drawing back the bolts and
compressing the spring near the limit of the backward movement of the spindles and
a trigger arranged to release the bolt at the beginning of the backward movement
of the spindle and to pass its trip when the spindle moves forward substantially as
described.
13. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels and the feeding mechanism
therefor a loading and firing mechanism consisting of a pair of spindles loading and
firing bolts in said spindles operated in one direction by a spring mechanism for

page_text: retracting the bolis at the backward movement of the spindles trigger mechanism
operated by the movement of the spindles a pair of oscillating levers having segmental
heads in gear with the spindles and mechanism for oscillating the levers substantially
as described.
14. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels and feeding mechanism
for the cartridges alternately reciprocating spindles each bearing a loading and firing
bolt and a trigger pivoted between the lugs on the spindle one end of the trigger
being in contact with a sliding pin adapted to engage a shoulder on the bolt and the
other end having a pivoted pull held rigidly upright on one side and on the other side
by a spring substantially as specified.
16. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels and mechanism to feed
the cartridges spindles arranged to reciprocate alternately in line with the barrels
loading and firing bolts in said spindles a trigger and cocking lever pivoted to pro-
jections on the spindles a sear to lock the firing bolts and a stop on the frame in line
with the trigger said bolt being operated by the cocking lever and said cocking lever
having an upper forked end arranged to come in contact with the stop on the frame
substantially as described.
16. In a machine gun and in combination with the barrels and feeding mechanism
for the cartridges alternately reciprocating spindles bearing loading and firing bolts
mechanism operating said spindles and bolt a lower and a removable upper plate said
spindles being held in ways between said plates the upper plate being removable when
the cover of the frame is opened whereby the spindles may be readily lifted out and
removed substantially as described.
17. In a machine gun and in combination, two barrels united to a frame which
carries feeding, loading and firing mechanism, a vibrating breech block having two
loading openings and firing pins, said block being arranged to vibrate to bring
alternately a loading opening and a firing pin opposite the breech of the barrel and
mechanism for vibrating the breech block substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
18. In a machine gun and in combination a pair of barrels fixed to the frame a pair
of loading and firing bolts arranged to reciprocate one in line with each barrel a shaft
and connections between said shaft and the said bolts arranged to operate forward
and backward alternately feeding mechanism having a pair of forceps arranged to
operate alternately to bring the cartridges into line with the barrel and connections
between said feeding mechanism and the shaft all substantially as described.
Dated this 17th day of June 1890.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.