An Improvement in Magazine Rifles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Oct., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 13th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Magazine Rifles.
I, GEORGE THOMAS THORNHILL, of St. Kilda's Parsonage, Lochbuie, Isle of
Mull, Scotland, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
My invention relates to a safety appliance for magazine rifles of the kind in
which a number of cartridges are accommodated in a tube extending parallel to
the barrel and are pressed backwards by a spring, so that, by the action of certain
feeding mechanism at the breech, one cartridge after another is brought up from
the magazine and inserted in the barrel. The object of my invention is to provide
for safety and to give facility for working the rifle with separate cartridges inserted
by hand even when the magazine is charged with cartridges.
For this purpose, I arrange on the side plate of the lock, adjacent to the base of
the hindermost cartridge in the magazine, a small sliding or turning bolt or screw
which can be moved to a position in which it obstructs the last cartridge, preventing
it from moving backwards. When the bolt is in this position, the hand feeding and
the firing and extracting mechanism can be used without any cartridge being fed
from the magazine, but, on withdrawing the bolt so as to leave the last cartridge
free, the feeding from the magazine goes on as usual.
Dated this 16th day of October 1893.
ABEL & IMRAI,
Agents for the Applicant.
An Improvement in Magazin
I, GEORGE THOMAS THORNHILL of St. Kilda's Parsonage, Lochbuie, Isle of
Mull, Scotland, Clerk in Holy Orders, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My invention relates to a safety appliance for magazine rifles of the kind in
which a number of cartridges are accommodated in a tube extending parallel to
the barrel and are pressed backwards by a spring, so that, by the action of certain
feeding mechanism at the breech, one cartridge after another is brought up from
the magazine and inserted in the barrel. The object of my invention is to provide
for safety and to give facility for working the rifle with separate cartridges inserted
by hand even when the magazine is charged with cartridges.
For this purpose, I apply to the rifle a safety bolt arranged and operating as I
shall describe referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side view of the lock portion of a magazine rifle of the kind above
referred to.
away and
Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections shewing the safety bolt in its two positions.
Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the bolt and of the slot in which it is fitted.
Fig. 2 is a view of the opposite side with part of the side plate broken
parts within shewn in section.
A is the magazine situated under the barrel B of the rifle. Through the left
hand side plate C of the lock 1 cut an inclined slot in which I fit the safety bolt

page_text: according to my invention. It has externally a roughened head D to which the
thumb can be applied to push the bolt inwards and upwards, or to draw it
downwards. From the head a stem E of rectangular section extends through the
slot, it has at its one edge a stud e and on its end it has a projecting stud F of
rounded outline. A blade spring G fixed to the inside of the plate C has its end
inserted in a slot of the stem E. When the bolt is in the position shewn in Fig. 3
its stud F does not project in the path of a cartridge issuing from the magazine A,
but, when the bolt is pushed inwards in opposition to the spring G and slid upwards
to the position shewn in Figs. 1, 2 and 4, the stud F overlaps the end of the
magazine A and so prevents any cartridge from issuing from it. The stud e and a
similar stud on the other side of E which pass through notches e¹ e³ of the slot in C,
in the act of pushing in the bolt, are by sliding up the bolt, moved past the
notches ee and act as stops preventing the bolt from being pushed out by the
spring G. But when the bolt is drawn down into the dotted position shewn in
Fig. 1, so as to bring the studs e into coincidence with the notches e¹ e², the
spring G then forces the bolt out to the position shewn in Fig. 3 leaving the
magazine free. By pushing the bolt inwards and upwards as above described, so
as to obstruct the mouth of the magazine A, the rifle may be used with cartridges
fed by hand, the firing and extracting mechanism operating in the usual way, while
no cartridge can issue from the magazine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
In combination with a magazine rifle, a spring bolt arranged to be slid into such
a position that a stud of its stem projects over and obstructs the mouth of the
magazine, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 13th day of July 1894.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.