IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hill, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Gun Maker, for the Invention of “ IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS.”
Sealed the 12th September 1873, and dated the 30th April 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hill at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th April 1873.
I, RICHARD HILL, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-Loading Small-ARMS," to be as follows :—
My Invention relates to breech-loading small arms of the kind called
drop-down guns, and consists of the construction and arrangement of
parts herein-after described for fixing down the breech ends of the
barrels for discharge, and for liberating the said barrels for charging.
I make in the break-off an oblique slot or opening, passing through the
break-off from front to back, the upper end of the said oblique opening
terminating at the back of the break-off at a short distance below the

page_text: under side of the tang of the break-off. The lower end of the said
oblique slot or opening terminates near the lower edge of the face of the
break-off. I incline the said slot or opening by preference at an angle
of about 90 degrees to the face of the break-off. In the said oblique slot
or opening a sliding bolt works, the lower front end of the bolt having
an inclined face, and the upper rear end of the bolt being expanded into
a flat head or termination, in which is made an oblique slot. On the
tang of the break-off is an arm or lever capable of working in a plane
parallel with the tang of the break-off. On the under side of the lever
is a pin, which passes through an opening in the break-off, and engages
in the oblique slot in the head of the sliding bolt. On the under side of
the barrels is a lump, which on the shutting down of the barrels enters a
recess in the body of the gun. In the front face or edge of the lump an
oblique recess is made, into which when the barrels are shut down after
having been charged the lower or front end of the oblique sliding bolt
described snaps and fixes down the barrels.
The snapping action described is produced by a double or other spring
acting on the lever.
When after discharge it is wished to liberato the open breech ends of
the barrels from the face of the break-off, for the purpose of re-charging,
it is only necessary to turn aside the lever on the break-off, when the
oblique sliding bolt is withdrawn from the recess in the lump, and the
breech ends of the barrels rise by the weight of the muzzle ends. After
the barrels have been charged it is only necessary to depress the open
-breech ends of the barrels against the face of the break-off, when the
oblique sliding bolt is first pressed back by the lump, and afterwards
snaps into the recess in the lump, and the gun is ready for discharge.
f
Instead of making the lower front end of the oblique sliding bolt
engage with a recess in the lump it may engage in a recess formed at a
higher point between the barrels. And instead of actuating the oblique
sliding bolt by a lever on the tang of the break-off it may be actuated
by a lever on the side of the gun, or by a lever on the under side of the
gun. In these cases the lever turns on an axis at the back of the break-
off, a short arm on which engages in the oblique slot at the top or rear
end of the oblique sliding bolt.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Hill in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HILL, of Aston, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Maker, send greeting.
八
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Hill, Her special
license that I, the said Richard Hill, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Hill, 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 SMALL-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Richard Hill, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 Richard Hill, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
:-
My Invention relates to breech-loading small-arms of the kind called
drop-down guns, and consists of the construction and arrangement of
parts herein-after described for fixing down the breech ends of the
barrels for discharge, and for liberating the said barrels for charging.
I make in the break-off an oblique slot or opening passing through
the break-off from front to back, the upper end of the said oblique
opening terminating at the back of the break-off, at a short distance

page_text: below the under side of the tang of the break-off. The lower end
of the said oblique slot or opening terminates near the lower edge
of the face of the break-off. I incline the said slot or opening by
preference at an angle of about 90 degrees to the face of the break-off.
In the said oblique slot or opening a sliding bolt works, the lower 5
front end of the bolt having an inclined face, and the upper rear end
of the bolt being expanded into a flat head or termination in which
is made an oblique slot. On the tang of the break-off is an arm or
lever capable of working in a plane parallel with the tang of the
break-off. On the under side of the lever is a pin which passes 1
through an opening in the break-off, and engages in the oblique slot
in the head of the sliding bolt. On the under side of the barrels
is a lump which on the shutting down of the barrels enters a recess
in the body of the gun. In the front face or edge of the lump an
oblique recess is made into which, when the barrels are shut down 1
after having been charged, the lower or front end of the oblique sliding
bolt described snaps and fixes down the barrels.
The snapping action described is produced by a double or other spring
acting on the lever.
When after discharge it is wished to liberate the open breech ends 2
of the barrels from the face of the break-off for the purpose of re-
charging, it is only necessary to turn aside the lever on the break-off
when the oblique sliding bolt is withdrawn from the recess in the
lump, and the breech ends of the barrels rise by the weight of the
muzzle ends. After the barrels have been charged it is only necessary 2
to depress the open breech ends of the barrels against the face of the
break-off when the oblique sliding bolt is first pressed back by the
lump, and afterwards snaps into the recess in the lump and the gun
is ready for discharge.
Instead of making the lower front end of the oblique sliding bolt
engage with a recess in the lump, it may engage in a recess formed
at a higher point between the barrels. And instead of actuating the
oblique sliding bolt by a lever on the tang of the break-off, it may be
actuated by a lever on the side of the gun, or by a lever on the under
side of the gun. In these cases the lever turns on an axis at the back a
of the break-off, a short arm on which engages in the oblique slot at
the top or rear end of the oblique sliding bolt.

page_text: Having explained the nature of my Invention, i will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner
in which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents, partly in longitudinal section and partly in
elevation, the breech end of a drop-down gun (without the stock and
locks), the fastening and unfastening mechanism of which is con-
structed according to my Invention; Figure 2 is a plan of the same,
the hand lever being removed.
Figure 3 is a plan of the body of the gun and the hand lever, and
Figure 4 is an elevation of the back of the break-off.
Figures 5, 6, and 7 are detached parts of the gun, as herein-after
described.
The same letters indicate the same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
and 7.
a are the barrels of the gun turning in a vertical plane on the
joint b, as usual; c is the break-off; d is the lump on the under side
of the barrels, with which lump the bottom of the oblique sliding bolt e
engages. This bolt is represented detached in Figure 5. The said
oblique bolte works in an oblique slot or opening f in the break-off c,
the said slot or opening having the inclination and position in the
break-off, best seen in Figure 1. The lower front end of the oblique
sliding bolte has an inclined face e² which takes into the oblique
notch or recess d² in front of the lump d on the under side of the
barrels, the side parts or cheeks e³ of the said bolt e taking into recesses
at g, g, in the body h of the gun (see Figure 3).
The said oblique sliding bolt e is worked and its snapping action
produced in the following manner:-On the tang of the break-off c
is a hand lever i working in a plane parallel to the face of the said
tang. On the under side of the boss or hollow axis of the hand
lever i is a pin which passes through an opening in the break-off c,
and takes into an oblique slot e* in the head of the sliding bolt e.
The hand lever i is shown detached in side elevation and plan of
under side in Figure 6. By turning aside the hand lever i, as re-
presented in Figure 3, the pin / working in the oblique slot e*
withdraws or lifts the sliding bolt e from the lump d. At the back
of the break-off c is a double spring / (shown separately in Figure 7),
the long limb of which passes through a side opening c³ in the bolt e,

page_text: and its upper end takes into a recess m³ (see Figure 6) in the side of
the hollow axis or boss 2 of the hand lever i. The position of this spring
is best seen in Figures 1 and 4.
When the gun has been discharged the parts of the bolting or fastening
mechanism occupy the respective positions represented in Figure 1. To 1
liberate the barrels for charging the hand lever i is turned aside, as
illustrated in Figure 3, when the action of the pin k of the said lever on
the oblique or cross slot et in the oblique bolt e lifts the said bolt in the
break-off and withdraws its inclined bottom end from the oblique
recess d in the lump d and the barrels are liberated, and their open
breech ends rise from the face of the break-off. After the barrels have
been charged their open breech ends are depressed against the face of
the break-off c. As the breech ends descend the nose part d³ of the
lump & strikes against the bevelled end e² of the bolt e and presses back
the said bolt; and when the barrels have been completely shut down the
said bolt e snaps by the action of the spring into the recess d² in the
lump d and fastens down the barrels; the gun is then ready for discharge,
as illustrated in Figure 1.
Figures 8 and 9 represent partly in longitudinal vertical section and
partly in elevation a drop-down gun, in which the hand lever on the tang
for actuating the fastening bolt works in a vertical plane instead of in a
horizontal plane as in the arrangement already described. In Figure 8
the barrels are represented fastened, and in Figure 9 unfastened.
Figure 10 represents a plan of the body of the gun; Figure 11, the hand
lever detached; and Figure 12, the bolt detached. In this arrangement
the hand lever m turns in a vertical plane on the centre or axis m
passed across the break-off, and the stud or short arm m³ on the under
side of the said hand lever m has the form represented, and takes into a
straight slot n in the oblique bolt e. The said hand lever m is pressed
on to the tang of the break-off, and the snapping action of the oblique
bolt e produced by the rod p in the break-off pressed upwards by a coiled
spring, the head of the said rod p bearing against the tail or short arm
of the hand lever m, as will be understood by an examination of Figures
8 and 9. Instead of the spring rod p a double or other spring may be
employed to press upwards the short arm or tail of the hand lever m.
The action of this arrangement of my Invention is the same as that first
described, and corresponding parts are marked with the same letters of
reference. When the oblique sliding bolt e is made to engage with a

page_text: recess formed between the barrels instead of below them the said oblique
bolt is less inclined than that represented in the Drawings.
Although I have represented the best methods with which I am
acquainted of working the oblique sliding bolt, yet other methods of
working the said bolt may be adopted, with the same or nearly the same
effect. For example, a vertical axis may be situated at the back of the
break-off c and a short arm on the said axis be made to engage with the
oblique slot e* (Figure 5) in the bolt c. This axis may either be actuated
by a lever on the side of the gun or on the under side of the gun. In
the former case the short arm on the axis engages in an oblique slot at
the top of the bolt e; and in the latter case in an oblique slot at the
lower part of the said bolt. As these modifications of my Invention will
I believe be understood by the description herein given, reference being
had to the accompanying Drawings, I do not think it necessary to give
Drawings of the said modifications.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Inven-
tion; but I claim as my Invention, the improvements in the fastening
mechanism of breech-loading small-arms, of the kind called drop-down
guns, herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, fixing down the breech ends of the barrels of
the said drop-down guns for discharge, and liberating the said barrels for
charging by means of a bolt working obliquely in the break-off, as described
and represented, the lower end of the said oblique bolt taking into an
oblique recess between or on the under side of the barrels, the said oblique
bolt being worked and acting substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hill, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
RICHARD HILL. (L.S.)
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.