IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Patrick Dagnall at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th January
1867.
I, PATRICK DAGNALL, of Aldershot, in the County of Hants, Corporal in
the Royal Engineers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates chiefly to central-fire breech-loading fire-arms. It
consists, first, in an improved arrangement for securing the barrel or barrels
in place after the insertion of a charge in fire-arms in which the breech and
butt are moved to one side to open and close the rear end of the barrel or
barrels; secondly, in an improved lock; and, thirdly, in an improved arrange-
ment of extractor, all as hereafter described. The breech is connected to the
barrel by means of a strong bolt passed through the lower part of the breech
into a lump or shoe on the under side of the barrel. The portion of the bolt
which enters the lump is threaded, while the remainder is plain, and the head
of the bolt lodges in the breech in front of the sear. When the barrel is in
place it is held at the upper part by the point of a spring pin in the upper
part of the breech entering an aperture in the rear face of the barrel, and a
dovetail clip on the fore part of the top of the breech takes into an under-
cut on the upper side of the barrel. The spring pin before mentioned is

page_text: bevilled or chamfered on one side, so that it is pushed back by the rear face
of the barrel until the pin reaches its aperture when the parts are being returned
into position.
My lock is arranged as follows:-The striking pin is carried on the end of
a bar formed on the under side near its front end with rack teeth, into which
a pinion gears; this pinion is mounted on a pin which extends through the
side of the lock, where it is fitted with a thumb-piece or handle. Behind the
rack teeth the bar is formed on its under side with a notch, and again behind
the notch with a hook. The trigger plate takes into a slot in a vertical sear
which has fitted beneath it a spring tending to press it upwards. The upper
end of the sear is formed to take into the notch in the bar as well as into
the hook. When it takes into the hook the lock is at half-cock and the
trigger produces no effect upon the sear, but when it takes into the notch the
lock is at full-cock and the trigger when acted upon draws down the sear and
releases the bar, so that the bar with the striking pin is driven forward by a
spring at the back. The half and full cock are produced by turning
the thumb-piece before mentioned so as to cause the pinion to move the
rack.
My improved arrangement of extractor consists of a pin fitted in the side
of the stock and formed with a curved plate at its rear which constitutes a
portion of the rear face of the barrel. The pin carries near its front end a
screw or projection, which passes through a longitudinal slot in the stock. A
spring keeps the extractor pressed forward. When it is required to extract a
cartridge case the extractor is forced back by hand by means of the screw or
projection so as to push out the case, and the spring then returns the extractor
to its normal position.