IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Adolph Meyer and Moritz Meyer, of Liverpool, in
the County of Lancaster, for the Invention of an "IMPROVEMENT IN
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."-A communication from abroad by Wilhelm
Gerhardt, residing at Schnackenburg, in the Kingdom of Hanover.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Adolph Meyer and
Moritz Meyer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 10th January 1865.
We, ADOLPH MEYER and MORITZ MEYER, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in breech-loading fire-arms.
In constructing breech-loading fire-arms according to this Invention the barrel
is connected to the stock by a pin or hinge at a short distance in front of the
breech end of the barrel, as has in some cases heretofore been done, so that
when the fore end of the barrel is turned downwards the breech end of the
barrel is raised, and its open end exposed to receive a cartridge, and when the

page_text: breech end of the barrel is again turned down the piece is ready for firing.
The cartridge employed is one carrying within it a portion of a fulminating
compound, which when the cartridge is pierced by a needle at its rear end
explodes and ignites the charge of powder in the cartridge.
In order to turn the barrel in the manner above described to receive a
cartridge, a lever is, according to this Invention, placed at one side of the
fire-arm, the axis of the lever being below the barrel, and near its breech end.
On the axis of this lever is a pinion which gears with a rack capable of sliding
in a direction parallel with the axis of the barrel. When the lever is turned
on its axis so as to open the piece to receive a cartridge, the pinion first moves
the rack in a direction from the muzzle to the breech of the gun; a pro-
jection from the rack then acts on the slide that carries the needle, and with-
draws the needle from the barrel until the slide is retained by a catch; the
needle is then in a position ready for being again projected forward to explode
a fresh cartridge. On the further movement of the lever a projection on the
pinion comes against the under side of a lump projecting from the under side
of the barrel near its rear end. This causes the barrel to turn on its hinge,
and so expose its open breech end to receive a fresh cartridge. When the
cartridge has been inserted, the lever is turned in the opposite direction, so
moving back the sliding rack. An incline on this rack then acts on an incline
on the end of the lump on the under side of the barrel in such manner as to
draw down the barrels into their former position. As the sliding rack con-
tinues to move forward, it enters a slot in the projection, and so firmly locks
the barrel in position. The piece is then ready for firing.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Adolph Meyer and
Moritz Meyer in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th July 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ADOLPH
MEYER and MORITZ MEYER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-seventh year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the sail Adolph Meyer and Moritz Meyer, Her special licence that
we, the said Adolph Meyer and Moritz Meyer, our executors, adminis-

page_text: trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Adolph Meyer and
Moritz Meyer, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there--
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," a communication to them from Wilhelm
Gerhardt, a person residing at Schnackenburg, in the Kingdom of Hanover,
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Adolph Meyer and
Moritz Meyer, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under. or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain 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 we, the said Adolph Meyer and Moritz Meyer,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
The improvements which constitute this Invention have for their object the
formation of breech-loading fire-arms, which with the same mechanism the
breech of the gun can be raised for loading, and at the same time the needlo
be fixed in position for firing, and by a retrograde movement of the same
mechanism the breech, when loaded, be returned to its proper position. In
carrying out these objects we connect the breech of the barrel to the stock of
the gun by a pin or hinge on which it is tilted when required to be charged;
but with this difference from the ordinary modes that instead of depressing
the barrel, as is usually done, the breech is raised, so that the open end instead
of pointing at the loader is towards the muzzle of the gun, so that the wood-
work can extend the whole distance along the barrel, as in the case of any
ordinary piece. On the barrel end of the tilting breech a screw collar is
placed, turned by a thumb lever, and bevelled inwards to correspond with
bevels on the end of the barrel, so that when the gun is ready for firing by
simply turning the thumb lever from left to right the whole is made perfectly
air-tight and secure, and by turning the thumb screw in the opposite direc-
tion, pamely from right to left, the breech is released and ready to be raised
for loading. For raising the breech, and at the same time setting the needle,
we place at one side of the firearm a handle or lever, its axis being below
the barrel, on which axis a piuion is fixed with a slot in its bush to fit over a

page_text: tongue on its shaft or axis so as to prevent its turning.. This pinion gears
with a rack which slides from right to left and from left to right as the pinion
is turned by the hand lever. When it is required to open the gun to receive
a cartridge & set the needle, the pinion or gearing wheel is turned by the
hand lever at the side of the gun so as to force the rack in a backward direc-
tion; this rack carries a lever or head, which head comes in contact with
the slide carrying the needle (acted upon from behind by a spring), and forces
it back untill it is caught and retained by a catch pressing upon it by a spring
from underneath, and which, as the slide is pushed back, forces the catch into
a notch or cut in the same, and thus holds the needle perfectly secure and
ready for firing till released by the trigger lever which raises the catch. By
the same motion of the rack and pinion an arm or shoulder fitted to the said
pinion comes in contact with a projection on the breech, and forces it up on
its hinge till the end is raised sufficiently for the cartridge to be inserted.
The rack and pinion motion is then reversed by turning the side lever or
handle in the opposite direction, and an incline on the rack comes in contact
with and presses against an incline on the projection of the breech chamber,
along which it runs and forces the barrel into its proper position for being.
fired, where it is fixed by the screw collar before described. The trigger is
then drawn, its lever releases the catch, and the needle is forced into the
brecch through a hole therein, and explodes the the cartridge..
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWINGS.
In the accompanying Drawings, where similar reference letters are repeated
in both Figures they apply to the same parts of the weapon.
Fig. 1 shews one of my improved fire-arms as it appears after having
been fired, and before being charged again. Fig. 2 shews the same with
the needle drawn back and ready for firing, but the breech raised for loading.
The dotted lines thereon shew the breech as lowered by the retrograde
inotion.
a is the breech chamber which turns upon the pin or pivot b; c is the
screw collar, which is turned by the thumb lever c', and which moves back-
wards and forwards and screws on and off the barrel d. This collar is bevelled,
as shewn at e, e, so as to fit close upon corresponding bevels on the barrel d;
e shews the side lever or handle for turning the pinion f on its shaft g; his
the rack actuated by the pinion g, and which moves the slide i, carrying the
needle backwards and forwards. As this slide moves backwards & forwards
the needle is inserted and withdrawn from the barrel; k is a catch acted upon
by a spring from below, and which presses upon the slide i, which being

page_text: spring
pushed back by the rack h is caught by the catch k, and held secure till
released by the trigger levers and finger pull t (see Fig. 2); n is
acting upon the double crank n³, which presses upon the bolt i to give it a
forward motion when released from the catch k; o is a shoulder or arm
attached to the pinion f, and revolving therewith at the same time that the
slide h forces the needle slide back in position. This shoulder moves forward
until it comes in contact with the projection p on the breech chamber, and
forces it upwards on the hinge 6 till the open barrel is raised sufficiently.to
insert the cartridge, when by a retrograde motion (the slide i being held back
by the catch k) the rack h is forced back, and an incline q thereon comes in
contact with the incliner on the breech-chamber projection, and the rack
motion being continued forces the breech chamber down to its proper
position.
Having thus described and illustrated our said Invention, we hereby further
declare that what wo more particularly claim, but without restricting ourselves
to the exact details specified is, the mechanism by which the breech is tilted
for loading, and the needle & trigger set or cocked for firing simultaneously.
In witness whereof, we, the said Adolph Meyer and Moritz Meyer, have
hereunto set our hands & seals, this Tenth day of July, A.D. 1865.
ADOLPH MEYER. (L.B.)
MORITZ MEYER.
(L.B.)