IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS WITH CENTRAL PERCUSSION
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hippolyte Rochatte, of Boulevard de Stras-
bourg, No. 23, Paris, Gunsmith, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS WITH CENTRAL PERCUSSION."
Scaled the 6th May 1870, and dated the 11th November 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hippolyte Rochatte
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th November 1869.
I, HIPPOLYTE ROCHATTE, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23, Paris,
Gunsmith, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS WITH CENTRAL PERCUSSION," to
be as follows:
This Invention consists in constructing breech-loading fire-arms with
central percussionings with hammers having piercing points or strikers
fitted to them to strike obliquely upon the centre of the cartridge base,
and also relates to fences (coquilles) which are formed on the breech
block or percussioning. In this system the manner in which each

page_text: hammer strikes the fulminate renders it impossible that the explosion of
the cartridges should cause the hammers to rise; the action of the gases
has on the contrary the effect of rendering the seat of the hammer
more secure, while the fences serve as a protection to the eyes of the
sportsman should any escape of the gases through the breech take place.
The bammers in the place of double-barreled guns are pivotted in the
ordinary manner, and each of them is provided with a point or pro-
jection which is inclined downwards, and which is intended to pierce the
*centre of the cartridge by passing through a bell-mouthed or inclined
opening in each of the breech faces. The fences are formed of a
trumpet or funnel shapo, and project upwards at their rear portions
and form a surface or protection against the gases which may by any
chance escape through the breech, and cause them to spread outwards so
that the eyes of the person firing are completely sheltered from their
injurious action. From this combination of hammers provided with
oblique points with my improved fences there arises the following
advantages-Firstly, that in consequence of the oblique position of
the hammer at the moment of the discharge the extremity of its point
strikes the centre of the cartridge without tearing the latter, and if by
accident the compression of the gases tends to act against the hammer
it will have the effect rather of rendering the scat of the latter more
secure than of raising it. Secondly, in case of escape past the hammer
it will be rendered harmless by the fences serving as protections for
the eyes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hippolyte Rochatte in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th May 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HIPPOLYTE
ROCHATTE, of Boulevard de Strasbourg, No. 23, Paris, Gunsmith, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of. November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the

page_text: thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,.
give and grant unto me, the said Hippolyte Rochatte, Her special
licence that I, the said Hippolyte Rochatte, my. executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Hippolyte Rochatte,
my executors, administrators,, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS WITH CENTRAL PERCUSSION," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Hippolyte Rochatte, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in wliat 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, tho said Hippolyto Rochatte, do hereby.
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say)
:-
This Invention relates to breech-loading fire-arms with central per-
cussion, and comprises two improvements, 1st, a particular arrangement
of hammers with a piercing point or striker which strikes obliquely upon
the centre, of the cartridge; and 2ndly, in the adaptation of fences or
chceks (coquilles) to the breech block, to be either fitted to the latter
or formed in one piece with it.. The object of these fences is to serve
as a protection against the escape of gases through the breech of the
barrel, and to thus guard the eyes of the firer from their dangerous
action.
The improvements will be readily understood in reference to the
annexed Drawings, of which Figure 1 shows a side elevation, and
Figure 2 a plan of a gun fitted with my improvements.
The hammers a, a, are pivotted in the ordinary manner, and are both
provided with a point or projection 6, b; cach of these points pierces

page_text: the centre of the cartridges by passing through the openings c, c¹, in
the fences. The fences d, d, are of a trumpet or funnel shape, and
project upwards at their rear portions so as to constitute a shield or
protection, against which the gases endeavoring to escape from the
breach will strike. It follows from the form and arrangement of these
fences or guards, which are like excresences upon the breech block to
which they are fitted or with which they are formed in one piece, that
the eyes of the firer are completely sheltered from the injurious action of
the gases which may escape from the breech.
Figure 3 shows in section a portion of a gun in order to render it easy
to understand that when the hammer is lowered at the explosion its
beaked shaped piercer does not strike the centre of the cartridge by its
point but by its extreme curve. Figure 4 is a view of the front
portion of the hammer. This mode of percussion is very important,
because the position of the curve of the piercer in relation to the
cartridge prevents the hammer from rising and allowing the cases to
escape at the moment of the explosion. The piercer 6 is terminated by
an oblique or inclined surface i slightly rounded, and it is this obliqued
surface which, as shewn in Figure 3, when the hammer falls comes into
contact with the cartridge m and produces the percussion. This oblique
position of the hammer and peculiar shape of the piercer inclined
towards its point prevent all accidental lifting of the hammer and oppose
any escape of gas, and together with the fences for the protection of the
eyes of the firer render my improved arm entirely free from any risk of
injury from the sudden escape of the gases.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
employment of fences or guards fitted to or formed solid with the breech
block of fire-arms for the purpose of protecting the eyes of the firer
from the injurious action of the gases which escape from the breech
after a discharge, substantially as herein-before described and shown in
the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The construction and employment of oblique piercers or
strikers upon the hammers of breech-loading fire-arms with an inclined
surface towards their ends in order to strike the centre of the cartridge
not by the point but by the lateral curve of the piercer so as to prevent
the accidental lifting of the hammer and the escape of gases,

page_text: substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accom-
panying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hippolyte Rochatte, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April One
thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD,
Civil Engineer,
HIPPOLYTE ROCHATTE. (L.S.)
Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23,
à Paris.