IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ARMS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christopher Penrhyn Aston, of Cross Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING ARMS."
Sealed the 11th January 1859, and dated the 15th July 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christopher Penrhyn
Aston at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 15th July 1858.
I, CHRISTOPHER PENRHYN ASTON, of Cross Street, in the County of Mid-*
dlesex, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in forming a cup or cup-like seat in the breech, to
receive the rear end of the barrel or barrels. I form the rear of the barrel
conical for a short distance, in order that it may fit into a corresponding cup
in the breech. The effect of this arrangement will be to prevent the end of
the barrel from expanding beyond the limit allowed by the cup upon the
discharge of the gun. I cause the barrel to slide to and fro in a direct line
with the breech, and prefer to form the "percussioning" in the breech; the
percussioning may, however, be applied to the barrel.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 15th January 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHRISTOPHER
PENRHYN ASTON, of Cross Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, Her special licence that I, the
said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, 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 ARMS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Christopher Penrhyn Aston, 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 hercunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in forming a cup or cup-like seat in the breech, to
receive the rear end of the barrel or barrels. I form the rear of the barrel
conical for a short distance, in order that it may fit into a corresponding cup
in the breech. The effect of this arrangement will be to prevent the end of
the barrel from expanding beyond the limit allowed by the cup upon the
discharge of the gun. I cause the barrel to slide to and fro in a direct line
with the breech, and prefer to form the "percussioning" in the breech; the
"percussioning" may, however, be applied to the barrel.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings shews in side elevation one of my
improved breech-loading arms, and Figure 2 is a similar view, shewing the
barrel, moved forward to afford space for the insertion of a cartridge. The
the same letters indicate like parts in all the Figures.
A is the abutment or breech piece, in which a cup-like seat a is formed, as
seen in the view, Figure 3, which is a cross section through the line b, c, of
Figure 2; B is the barrel, the rear end d of which is made conical, as seen in
Figures 2 and 4, the latter view being a longitudinal section through a part
of the barrel and breech piece. When the barrel is closed (as will be pre-
sently described,) the conical part d enters the cup-like seat a; D is a lever
handle, screwed or otherwise connected to the barrel B, at the fore part of
the percussioning, for the purpose of moving the barrel forward and back:
into its seat. If necessary, for the convenience of shouldering the arm, this
lever may be made with a joint, so as to fold along the stock. When the
breech is closed, as in Figure 1, the lever D and block D', which is carried-
out laterally from and forms part of the percussioning, enters a notch E, made
in a plate fixed in the side of a metal bed hereafter named, and at the side.
of the stock F is a metal bed formed for the barrel B to rest and slide in,
which is cast, forged, or wrought with the breech, and extends to the end of
the stock. In this bed F, I make a bayonet slot G, as shewn in the plan,
Figure 5, in which the feather e, dovetailed to the barrel B, slides, and when
turned to lock in the slot the two form a bayonet joint. H is a ring sur-
rounding the barrel and stock, and I is the percussioning which is formed
on the barrel.
To open the breech for inserting a cartridge, pull outwards the handle D
from the notch E; this motion partially turns the barrel in its bed F, and
turns the feather free in the slot G; then push the lever forward, and the
breech is open. To close the breech, pull back the handle, give it a partial
turn, and engage the handle in the notch in the side plate. The expansion
of the conical ring, in which the rear of the barrel terminates in the ring in
the abutment piece, renders the joint gas-tight.
At Figure 6 I shew in side elevation a double-barrelled gun, with my
improvements applied thereto. The lever is connected to a lump formed on
or connected to the lower part of the barrels. This lump is free to move to
and fro in a straight slot made for the purpose in the fore part of the stock,
as shown at Figure 7, which is a plan of part of the stock and barrels
turned upside down. In order to lock the rear of the barrels in the abutment.
or breech, the lever is turned up and made to fill the space through which the
lump has passed on its being pushed back in the slot. Instead of the lever

page_text: being fixed to a central lump, one or two leyers may be fixed to the outside
of one or both barrels, as, in the single-barrelled gun first described, and the
locking effected by a spring bolt.
The breech is shewn closed; the dotted lines indicate the position the lever
assumes when the breech is open. The barrels are moved to and fro in a
direct line, and are not partially turned as in the single-barrelled gun first
described.
I have not thought it necessary to shew my Invention applied to ordnance,
but it will be found equally applicable to large as well as small arms, whether
cannons, carbines, pistols, or other fire-arms.
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,―
First, forming a cup or cup-like seat in the breech or abutment piece in
guns, carbines, cannons, and other fire-arms, to receive a correspondingly
formed conical ring, in which the rear of the barrel is made to terminate.
And, second, the moving of the barrels of breech-loading guns, constructed
in the manner before described, to and fro, in order to open and close the
breech by a lever working as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christopher Penrhyn Aston, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
C. PENRHYN ASTON: (L.S.)