IMPROVEMENTS IN REPEATING OR REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to Charles Reeves, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REPEATING OR REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 13th-April 1858, and dated the 22nd October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Reeves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd
October 1857.
I, CHARLES REEVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN REPEATING OR REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of a new or improved construction of the
locks of repeating or revolving fire-arms, whereby the hammer or cock can be
brought into the positions called half-cock and full-cock by the action of the
thumb upon the comb of the cock, or the said positions of half-cock and full-
cock, and the subsequent liberation of the cock for the discharge of the fire-arm
be effected by the pressure of the finger on the trigger. I carry this part of
my Invention into effect in the following manner:-The lower or short end of
the cock situated in the interior of the lock has a curvature nearly concentric
with the axis on which the cock turns; on the said curve are two depressions
or indentations or bents, in which the toothed end of a sere in the under side

page_text: of the lock engages. The engagement of the sere with one or other of these
indentations holds the cock at half or. full cock. An arm or lever on the
upper end of the trigger engages with the front of the cock, and by pressing
.the trigger the said arm or lever may be made to raise the cock either to half
or full cock. By further pressure of the trigger a knuckle or projection on
the upper side of that part of the trigger on which the finger presses disen-
gages the sere from the cock, which falls by the action of a spring and
discharges the fire-arm. Instead of a knuckle on the trigger a projection
may be made on the end of the sere against which the trigger presses and
disengages the sere from the cock. Or the trigger may be made to press
against a pin or stud placed under the sere, and thereby disengage the sere
from the cock. The return motion of the trigger is effected by a spring.
My Invention consists, secondly, in connecting the loading piece or ramrod
of repeating fire-arms with the said fire-arms, by means of a dovetail slide
whereby the motion and action of the said loading piece are more accurate
than in repeating fire-arms of the ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Reeves in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
REEVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Charles Reeves, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Reeves,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles
Reeves, 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 REPEATING
OR REVOLVING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Reeves, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my or their or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: describe and ascertain 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 Charles Reeves, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
My. Invention consists of the improvements, herein-after particularly
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, of constructing the
locks of repeating or revolving fire-arms, whereby the hammer or cock of the
said fire-arms can be brought into the positions called "half-cock" and "full-
cock" respectively, by the action of the thumb upon the comb of the cock, or
the position of half-cock, and the subsequent liberation of the hammer for the
discharge of the fire-arm. be effected by the pressure of the finger on the
trigger.
Figure 1 of the accompaning Drawing represents in side elevation (partly in
section) a repeating or revolving pistol constructed according to my Invention,
and Figure 2 represents a portion of the same in vertical section; the other
Figures represent detached portions of the same, as herein-after explained.
a is the cock, the lower or short end 6 of which has a curvature nearly
concentric with the centre or axis c on which it turns. On the part 6 of the
cock are two depressions, indentations, or bents, marked respectively d and e,
in which said bents the toothed end of the sear fengages. The said sear
f turns upon the centre g, and is made to bear against 6 by the spring h.
When the cock a is raised from the position in which it is represented in
Figure 1, the sear f engages first with the bent d, and afterwards if the cock
be pulled sufficiently far back with the bent e in the former position, the
hammer is at half-cock, and in the latter position at full-cock. The position
of the hammer represented in Figure 2 is that of full-cock. An arm or lever.
i jointed to the upper end of the trigger k engages wtih the bent on the front
of the hammer or cock, and by pressing the said trigger the said arm or lever
i may be made to raise the cock a either to half-cock or to discharge the
pistol. When the trigger k has been so far pressed as to be brought into the
position in which it is represented in Figure 2, it comes in contact with the
lower end of the sear f, and pressure on the said lower end f' of the sear f
liberates the said sear f from the bent e of the cock, when the said cock falls
by the pressure of the mainspring m and discharges the fire-arm.
The arm or lever i is disengaged from the bent / before the trigger k is brought

page_text: into the position in which it is represented in Figure. 2, as will be. understood
by an examination and comparison of the relative. positions of the parts in
Figures 1 and 2. Instead of making the part f project from the interior of
the lock, I sometimes make a hole in the guard at the part marked o, in which
hole a pin or stud is placed, the said pin or stud being held loosely in. its
position by a spring. In this case I make the arm f¹ so short that it always
remains within the lock. When the trigger. is brought. into the position
represented in Figure 2, the part n of the said trigger presses against the said
pin or stud, and the said pin or stud against the part of the sear f... I prefer
however, to carry my Invention into effect by the method herein first described
and represented in the Drawing. The return motion of the trigger k is
effected by the spring p. The motion of the revolving chamber q is effected by
the driver. r jointed to the trigger k, and represented partly in dotted lines in
Figure 1. Figure 3 represents in front and side elevations the driver r.
Figure 4 represents. in front and side elevations the arm or lever i, by which
the cock is raised by means of the trigger, and Figure 5 represents in front
and side elevations the trigger k..
My Invention consists further in connecting the loading piece or ramrod of
repeating or revolving fire-arms with the said fire-arms by means of a dovetail
slide of the form represented in transverse section at s in Figure 6 of the
Drawing, that is to say, of the form somewhat resembling in transverse section
the letter T. By this method of connecting the loading piece or ramrod with
the fire-arm, the motion and action of the said loading piece or ramrod are
more accurate than in ramrods of repeating or revolving fire-arms of the
ordinary construction.
Invention, and the manner of
understood that I do not limit
Having now described the nature of my
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention, but I claim
as my Invention.
Firstly, the methods herein-before described and illustrated in the accom
panying Drawing, of holding the cocks or hammers of repeating or revolving
fire-arms, in the positions of half-cock and full-cock respectively, and of
liberating the said cocks or hammers, and discharging the fire-arms; that is
to say, by means of a sear engaging with bents on the lower part of the cock
upon the lower end of which said. sear the trigger acts, and disengages the
said sear from the cock, when the said trigger is pressed and moved by the
finger to its full extent.
Secondly, connecting the loading piece or ramrod of repeating or revolving

page_text: fire-arms by means of a dovetail slide of the form described and represented in
Figure 6 of the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Reeves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw.
CHARLES REEVES. (L.S.)