IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Middleditch Scott, of the Firm of
W. and C. Scott and Son, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS.'
"
Sealed the 16th October 1874, and dated the 12th June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Middleditch
Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 12th June 1874.
I, WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT, of the Firm of W. and C. Scott
and Son, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manu-
facturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms of the kind
called drop-down guns, and has for its object to bolt down the barrels
of the said guns more securely for discharge than is effected by the
mechanism at present in use.

page_text: In addition to the ordinary sliding bolt, which takes into the lump on
the under side of the barrels, I employ two outer bolts symmetrically
arranged on either side the middle or ordinary bolt. The said outer
bolts are not quite parallel, their rear ends being somewhat nearer to
cach other than their acting ends, which engage with the barrels. The
said outer bolts work in suitably formed holes or recesses in the break
off, and are actuated by a cross bar carried by a vertical part of the
central bolt. The ends of this cross bar engage respectively in slots in
the rear ends of the outer bolts, and the advancing and retiring of the
central or ordinary bolt effect the advancing and retiring of the said
outer bolts. The slots in the outer bolts perform a slight sliding motion
on the ends of the cross bar during their motion, owing to their want of
parallelism. The ends of the said outer bolts engage in recesses at the
outer sides of the breech ends of the barrels, the said recesses being
formed in enlargements made at the breech ends of the barrels. The 1
outer bolts may be made parallel with the same effect.
•
The rear ends of the outer bolts may be made to strike on the retiring
motion of the said bolts against the breasts of the hammers, and raise
the said hammers to half-cock.
My improvements may be worked as herein-before described by the 2
ordinary or central bolt, the said central bolt being actuated by a lover,
either on the tang of the break off or by a lever situated at the side or
under side of the gun; or the said outer bolts may be worked
independently of the central bolt, and may be used in conjunction
with the Lefaucheux action, as well as with an ordinary central bolt 2
action.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Middleditch Scott in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 9th December 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM 30
MIDDLEDITCHI SCOTT, of the Firm of W. and C. Scott and Son, of
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturers, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Middleditch Scott, Her special
license that I, the said William Middleditch Scott, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Middleditch
Scott, 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 "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Middleditch Scott, my executors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and scals, 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 William Middleditch Scott, 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 has reference to breech-loading small-armıs of the kind
called drop-down guns, and has for its object to bolt down the barrels
of the said guns more securely for discharge than is effected by the
mechanism at present in use.
In addition to the ordinary sliding bolt, which takes into the lump on
the under side of the barrels, I employ two outer bolts symmetrically
arranged on either side the middle or ordinary bolt. The said outer
bolts are not quite parallel, their rear ends being somewhat nearer to
each other than their acting ends, which engage with the barrels. The
said outer bolts work in suitably formed holes or recesses in the break
off, and are actuated by a cross bar carried by a vertical part of the
central bolt. The ends of this cross bar engage respectively in slots in
the rear ends of the outer bolts, and the advancing and retiring of the

page_text: 1
break off, against which the face of the breech ends of the barrels a, a,
shut for discharge, a prolonged part'd of the rib between the barrels
taking into a corresponding shaped recess in the break off. e is the
central bolt taking into the lumpf on the under side of the barrels.
The said bolt is worked by the cam 92 on the lower end of the long
axis h, passing through the break, off, the said cam taking into the
recess e in the said bolt e.
is the spring acting, on the axis h for
giving the snapping action to the bolts; g is the hand lever on the tang
of the break off, by means of which the axis h is partly rotated for.
withdrawing the bolts; i, i, are the side or outer bolts arranged on either,
side the middle bolt e. The said outer bolts i, i, are parallel or nearly
parallel, and their rear ends work in holes or recesses made in pro-
jections on the break off a² (see the plan, Figure 1). The front or
acting ends of the outer bolts i, i, engage with the barrels a, a, by
taking into holes or recesses made in the pockets or enlargements 1, 1,
on the sides of the said barrels. The two outer. bolts are connected to
the central bolt e by the cross bar m, m, the shape of which is best seen
in the end elevation, Figure 4. The upper end of each of the inclined
arms of the cross bar m, m, is reduced in size, and the said reduced end
takes into a slot or recess in the lump on the under side of the rear
end of the bolt i (see Figures 6 and 7).
+
By means of the cross or connecting bar m, m, on the central bolt e
the advancing and retiring motions of the said bolt e effect the advancing
and retiring of the outer bolts i, i. By turning aside the hand lever g
the three bolts e, i, i, are simultaneously withdrawn, the central bolt
being removed from the lumpf on the under side of the barrels a, a,
and the outer bolts i, i, being withdrawn from the enlargements on..the
sides of the said barrels. The barrels a, a, are thereby unfastened; and
may be turned on their joint c, and lifted from the break off for charging,
as represented in Figure 5. As the outer bolts i, i, are withdrawn their
rear ends may be made to strike against the breasts of the hammers of
the gun and raise the said hammers to half-cock. On shutting down
the barrels after .charging the lumpf presses back the central bolt e,
and through the said bolt e the bolts i, i, are made to retire into the
projections on the break off. On the complete shutting down. of the
barrels the three bolts e, i, i, simultaneously snap by the action of the
spring into their respective recesses, and the said barrels are very
securely fastened in their places.
.
3

page_text: Instead of employing a long axis passing through the break off for
working the compound bolt as already described a short axis may be
employed, as represented in end elevation (partly in section) in Figure 10.
Figure 11 represents in end elevation, and Figure 12 in plan the central
bolt e and outer bolts i, i, of the arrangement, Figure 10, detached from
the gun. Figure 13 represents the hand lever detached, and Figure 14
represents the arm, which is fixed on the axis h of the hand lever for
working the central bolt e and outer bolts i, i. In this arrangement the
cross bar m on the central bolt e is provided with a tooth or arm m²,
against which a short arm ³ on the axis h of the hand lever g bears to
withdraw the bolts e, i, i. The cross or connecting bar m which
connects the outer bolts i, i, with the central bolt e is straight, instead
of having inclined arms as in the arrangement first described, and the
* projections k, k, on the break off, and the corresponding enlargements.
on the barrels for the outer bolts i, i, to work in and engage with are
situated below the centres of the barrels instead of above them, but the
action of the bolting mechanism of the gun is precisely the same as that
first described.
I
Figures 15 and 16 represent arrangements for working the outer
bolts i, i, independently of the central bolt.e.
In the arrangement, Figure 15, the axis p of the hand lever g, which
works the central bolt, has on one side of it an arm q², the free end of
which arm takes into one of the outer bolts i, i; and on the opposite
side of the said axis p is a cam or projection 2, which acts against the
arm of a short lever s, the opposite arm of the said levers engaging
with the other of the said bolts i, i, as represented. When the hand
lever q is turned to the right, as indicated by the arrow, the two
bolts i, i, are made to move in the same direction, so as to withdraw
them from the barrels simultaneously, or nearly so, with the withdrawal
of the central bolt from the barrels.
In the arrangement, Figure 16, the arm t on the axis p working the
central bolt has a pin or stud u on its end, which works in the eurved
or oblique slot in the cross bar w, which connects the two bolts i, i,
together. When the hand lever q is turned to the right, as indicated
by the arrow, the action of the pin u on the oblique slot v of the bar w
causes the two bolts i, i, to be withdrawn, the advance or snapping
.

page_text: action of the said bolts being effected by a spring operating against the
axis p or cross bar w.
Figure 17 represents in plan an arrangement for working the outer
bolts by means of the Lefaucheux action. x is the head of the grip or
bolting lever of the said Lefaucheux action, to which head is jointed a
rod or arm y, and the latter is jointed to the part y² of the cross or
connecting bar of the outer bolts. As the grip or bolting lever x is
partly rotated to fasten down the barrels the outer bolts are at the same
time advanced by the rod or arm y acting upon the cross or connecting
bar, and made to shoot into their projections on the sides of the barrels ;
and on the reverse motion of the grip lever x to unfasten the barrels the
said outer bolts are withdrawn.
•
Although I have represented the outer bolts i, i, in conjunction with
a central sliding bolt, or with the Lefaucheux action, yet I wish it to
be understood that the said outer bolts may be used alone for fastening
down the barrels.
When the said outer bolts are used without the central bolt they may
be worked from the tang of the break off by the arrangements of parts.
herein-before described and illustrated in Figures 15 and 16; and
although I prefer to work the combined central bolt and outer bolts,
or outer bolts alone, from the tang of the break off yet the said bolts
may be worked from the side or under side of the gun with the same
effect.
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
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in mechanism
for bolting down the barrels 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, bolting down the barrels of
the said guns by means of two outer bolts taking into enlargements in
the sides of the barrels, substantially as described and illustrated.
Also the combination with the ordinary central sliding bolt of the said
outer bolts, the said outer bolts being cither connected to and worked by
the said central bolt or worked independently of the said central bolt,
substantially as described and illustrated.

page_text: Also the combination of the said outer bolts with the ordinary
Lefaucheux or grip action, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Middleditch Scott, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT. (L.S.)