AN IMPROVED REVOLVING. PISTOL WHICH MAY BE DISMOUNTED WITHOUT TOOLS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles François Galand, of Rue d'Hauteville,
No.:13, à Paris, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles François
Galand at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 2nd August 1872.
I, CHARLES FRANÇOIS GALAND, of Rue d'Hauteville, No. 13, à Paris,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED REVOLVING. PISTOL WHICH MAY BE DISMOUNTED WITHOUT TOOLS,"
to be as follows :-
:-
This Invention consists in improved arrangements and contrivances
for disconnecting and connecting the several parts on the body or frame
of the piece with the thumb and finger without tools or instruments of
any kind.
In the case of the pistol the wood of the stock is of a single piece
protected or not by iron plates or braces, and at the front end of the

page_text: stock there is a hook. When there is a brace and cap the hook is fixed
to the brace, and the cap fixed to the body or frame carrying the
mechanism by a screw, a spring holder, a. Key, or by any other means.
In the case of fastening by a screw I form it with a large milled head
for enabling it to be tightened and loosened by the fingers, and the
screw is maintained in its place by a spring catch which enters a space
formed in the screw.
screw,
.
The main spring is connected with the body of the picce by a thumb-
and. its buttress or support is a recess in the head of another
screw which can be worked by the thumb and finger, and this latter
screw holds to the body a strong spring for giving pressure to a lever in
contact with a guide on the trigger, or the main lever may be branched
to dispense with this second lever, and it is only the two thumbscrews
which are required to be detached for enabling all the mechanism to be
disconnected and connected, and they can be worked by the thumb and
finger without pincers, hooks, spring lifter, or screwdriver.
The cock or hammer carries two pivots, one serving as an axis for the
backward and forward movement of a recovery plate carrying four
tenons fitted into four mortices in the body, and the plate is retained in
position when the stock is adjusted by the pressure which it exerts on a
projection on the stock, and thus it is held in position without any
screw. This arrangement can be modified by substituting for the
mortices and tenons swallow-tailed recesses in the body of the piece for
receiving pegs or projections of a similar shape, and the several arrange-
ments and contrivances can be applied to carbines, muskets, and small
arms of all descriptions..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles François Galand in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Charles 3
FRANÇOIS GALAND, of Rue d'Hauteville, No. 13, à Paris, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of August, in the year of our

page_text: zord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-sixth
year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Charles François Galand, Her special licence,
that I, the said. Charles François Galand, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles' François Galand, 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 "AN. IMPROVED
REVOLVING PISTOL WHICH MAY BE DISMOUNTED WITHOUT TOOLS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles François Galand, my
executors or administrators, 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 he filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent:
1
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles François Galand, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement and accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that
is to say):
The original and particular character of my Invention consists in the
possibility of disconnecting and connecting all mechanism on the frame
or body of the piece without the help of tools or instruments of any
kind.
The manner in which these conditions in my system are obtained will.
be clearly understood by the following: particular description, reference.
being had to the figures and letters on the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section representing the
entire mechanism on the body or frame of a revolver; and Figs. 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are detached views of the several parts of the
mechanism.
3.
In this pistol the wood of the stock is of a single piece, protected.or
not by iron plates or braces. A hook A, Fig. 2, enters in an opening
formed in a piece B, Fig. 1, fixed to the frame at the front of the stock,
which frame is afterwards held firmly to the stock at C by a screw, a

page_text: spring holder, a key, or by any other means, such as a hinge. In the
case of fastening by a screw I adopt the plan shown in Fig. 3, in which
there is a screw D¹, provided with a large milled head for enabling it to
be tightened or loosened by the fingers, for the purpose of connecting
and disconnecting the head of the stock or handle with the frame
carrying the mechanism. This screw is maintained in its place when
screwed up by a lever or pedal catch P, acted upon by a spring, the
catch entering a space formed in the screw, thereby preventing the screw
from being unscrewed as long as the catch is not disengaged by pressure
on the head of the lever or pedal.
.
The main spring R, Figs. 1 and 4, is connected with the frame by a
thumbscrew E, and its buttress or support is formed in specially formed
head F, Figs. 1, 5, 5ª, and 5%, of another screw which holds the spring f
employed for giving impulsion to the lever G, Figs. 1, 6, and 6º, which
weighs on the guidon or propeller H, Figs. 1, 7, and 7ª, and consequently
the
on the trigger I, Figs. 1 and 8, which carries it. The spring of
guidon and that of the trigger are therefore suppressed and replaced by
the single strong spring f, Figs. 1, 5, 5, and 5%, or a single spring having
two branches may be used to replace the two springs R and f and the
two screws E and F, which are the only ones to be detached for discon-
necting the mechanism, can be turned by the fingers without pincers,
a hook, spring lifter, or screwdriver.
The cock or hammer J, Figs. 1, 9, and 9%, has two pivots K, one
serving for the movement of the cock or hammer, and the other as a
centre of a backward taking-off movement and a forward putting-on
movement of a covering plate L, Fig. 10, carrying four tenons /, which
can enter four mortices M, Fig. 1, in the frame or body of the piece, and
give the plate great stability. The plate is stopped when the tenons aré
at the bottoms of the mortices, and it is maintained in position so that it
cannot return when the stock is connected to the frame in consequence
of the pressure which the stock exerts on the part N, Figs. 1 and 10,
and thus the plate is maintained in position without any screw.
In
connection with the cover which covers and uncovers the opening for
the charge I use the arrangement shown in Figs. 11 and 11ª, in which
the improvement consists in fixing a very strong spring S in the interior
of the frame, where it can be held more firmly than at the exterior
without presenting any uneveness and acting equally efficaciously on the
cover V.

page_text: Fig. 12 represents the pistol constructed with the following modi-
fication:-The covering plate L remains connected to the frame during
the disconnection and connection of some of the parts, and for this
purpose, instead of the tenon of the back, it is formed with a hinge or
socket, as at V 1, Figs. 13 and 14, there being a hole m fitting a pivot
or gudgeon fixed to the frame; and, for the inspection or action on the
parts of the piece, it is only necessary to turn back the plate L on the
pivot, and it will be seen that in Fig. 12 the ring T, instead of being
fixed to the wood of the stock as in some cases, is fixed directly to the
iron case V, somewhat differently to that shown in Fig. 1.
In Figs. 15 and 16 the rod for discharging the used cartridge has a
milled head D for enabling it to be turned by hand a fraction of a turn
in order to release the notch E² from the hook at the end of the piece Fe,
and thereby leave the rod free to be pushed into the chamber in the
ordinary manner.
After the foregoing description in connection with the several Figs.
it will be easily explained how the disconnection of the mechanism from
the frame or body is effected without employment of any tool. The
stock is separated at its part C, whether by unloosening the key D,
Fig. 1, or by unscrewing the screw D', Fig. 3, after having disengaged
it from the catch by acting on the lever or pedal P. The stock is now
removed at the part A, and then the covering plate L being free can be
taken off its pivot K after the tenons are disengaged from the mortises.
This being done, the screw E is unscrewed by the fingers to allow the
mainspring R to be taken off, and after the screw F, which maintains
the spring f, is unscrewed also by the fingers, the spring and all the
other pieces become detached from their fittings.
In the modified arrangement shown in Figs. 12, 13, and 14, the stock
is separated from the frame in the same manner, but instead of com-
pletely removing the covering plate L, as in the first case, it is only
necessary to turn it back on its hinge or pivot and thus allow it to be
disengaged from the interior parts, which are disconnected without tools
as before explained.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,

page_text: I desire it to be understood that I claim as the peculiar character of
my improvements,---
First. The stock formed of a single piece of wood held by the hook A
to the frame or body of the piece, and maintaining the covering piece
by its shoulder or projection M, which enters a corresponding recess..
!
Secondly. The mode of attaching the stock to the frame at the part C,
whether by the key D or by a screw D', and à lever catch P. or by a
hinge.
Thirdly. The covering plate L, which is adjusted to the frame or body
whether by tenons fitting mortices or by a hinge or socket on a pivot or
gudgeon, and the cover V, as before described and shewn in Figs. 11 and
11".
:
· And fourthly. The general arrangement and combination of the
several -
1-parts of the pistol as before described, with pins or studs for
enabling the mechanism to be disconnected and connected without tools.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles François Galand, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
January, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
Witness,
ALBERT CAHEN,
Civil Engineer,
32, Boulevard Magenta,
at Paris.
C. F. GALAND. (L.S:)