Im- PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by François Jules Manceaux at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th December 1866.
I, FRANÇOIS JULES MANCEAUX, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Gun
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME," to.
be as follows:-
My Invention in fire-arms mainly consists in an arrangement for producing
the percussion in the interior of the barrel of the arm. This arrangement is
composed of a cock, a conical rod with a head of a particular shape, a screw
pivot, and a lump or enlargement on the barrel, all constructed and acting
as hereafter described. The hammer or cock is like an ordinary cock, but its
head or acting portion instead of being formed with a concave recess or
countersink which embraces the cap, is terminated with a square-shaped
cavity, the parallel sides of which are both pierced with a cylindrical hole, the
hole on the right-hand side being screw-threaded; these two holes receive the
one the threaded neck and the other the plain extremity of a screw pivot
passed through the sides of the cavity and through the head of the rod here-
after described. The bottom or inner end of the cavity is a plain surface
intended to strike tangentially upon the head of the said rod.
The conical rod with a head of a particular shape is constructed as follows:-
The top of the head is convex, its sides are flat and rounded at their edges
so as to form a thickness of only, say, about th of an inch (4 millimetres),
and to leave from each side of this head to the side of the cavity a play of

page_text: about gth of an inch (2 millimetres.) The top of the head of the rod and
its edges are rounded in all directions; this head is pierced with a diagonal
oval hole in the sense of its breadth of about 3rd of an inch (8 millimetres)
larger diameter. The liberty given to the rod in the cavity and by the oval
hole round the pivot which connects it to the cock is arranged to allow the
rod when pushed by the curved descent of the cock to follow freely the double
diagonal and oblique inclination of the hole, hereafter referred to, which serves
as its conductor to direct it to the point of percussion at the centre of the
chamber of the barrel. The neck of the rod is cylindrical for a length of
about, say, an inch (11 millimetres); its diameter at the neck is about, say,
of an inch (six millimetres). Beyond the neck the rod is prolonged conically
for about 1 inches (30 millimetres), terminating in a diameter of, say, th
of an inch (2 millimetres). The extremity of the rod is rounded concen-
trically; the rod should be of cast steel tempered and annealed. The screw
pivot is before explained. The lump or enlargement on the barrel is at the
hinder part towards the right-hand side extending about 24 inches (7 centi-
metres), and about 3 inches (9 centimetres) in front of the back face of the
barrel. The back of the lump is raised about of an inch (2 centimetres)
above the outer diameter of the barrel, in order to sink by an inclined plane
of about 1 inches (4 centimetres) in length to the body of the barrel. At
about ths of an inch (1 centimetre) in front of its top edge the lump for
about. of an inch (2 centimetres) in width is slotted for a depth of about
of an inch (15 millimetres), and a length of ths of an inch (1 centi-
metre); this opening is countersunk so as to form a sort of shell with
parabolic ares for the purpose hereafter mentioned. Beyond the slot the
upper edge of the lump does not project more than about an inch (12
millimetres) above the top of the barrel, and is very much rounded. The
back of the lump is pierced in its thickness between its hind face and the face
of the shell with a round hole of of an inch (6 millimetres) diameter identical
with that of the neck of the rod above described; this hole takes its centre
on the centre of the head of the cock, the distance of which from the axis of
the barrel is about 4th of an inch (8 millimetres), and is inclined diagonally
towards this axis, so as to preserve this distance at the point of intersection
of the lump and of the top of the barrel; this round hole pierced in the back
of the lump for the passage of the conical striking rod is towards its rear face
bored conically for a height of about th of an inch (2 millimetres) in such
manner as to leave round the neck of this rod a slight annular space (rths
of a millimetre). This space is formed in order that the gases condensed
round the rod may not cause it to resist the impulse given to it by the descent

page_text: of the cock, and may not produce friction to paralyse this action and prevent
the explosion. Beyond the shell this hole is continued conically in the same
direction to the chamber of the barrel, where it terminates at a diameter of
about th of an inch (2 millimetres).
My improvements in cartridges adapted for the breech-loading arms before
described relate chiefly to the cartridges patented by myself and Eugene
Napoleon Vieillard on the 18th January 1859, No. 114. In these cartridges
the pasteboard wad which separates the charge from the base of the projectile
is provided at its centre with a twisted brass wire introduced into the conical
paper tube of the cartridge to be in immediate contact by its upper face with
the base of the projectile.
My present improvements consist in adapting this cartridge to enable it to
be exploded in the interior of the barrel by the system of percussion before
described. I introduce upon the twisted wire, just referred to, a copper tube
having two diameters about one-half of its length, viz., that nearest the lock
being narrower than the remainder, so that at the point where the diameter
changes a shoulder is formed all round. Upon the smaller diameter and
against the shoulder I fit a wad of pasteboard or other suitable material of
smaller diameter than the cartridge; this wad bas an aperture slightly conical
to fit over the tube; on the back face of this wad and round its aperture is an
annular recess, in which a thin copper washer is fitted and made to adhere by
pressure or otherwise, and this copper is covered with fulminating material;
the washer therefore forms the priming of the cartridge, the resistance to the
percussion being obtained by the shoulder of the tube. The rear end of the
brass wire is bent into a ring over the end of the tube, and the paper of
the cartridge is twisted over the end of the wire so as to close in the charge.
The improvements in fire-arms before described are particularly intended
for the arms patented by myself and Eugene Napoleon Vieillard on the 10th
Nov. 1856, No. 2642, and on the 13th January 1859, No. 114, but are also
applicable to other breech-loading arms. The dimensions herein-before given
may be varied as desired.