IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Philo Remington, Samuel Remington, and
· Eliphalet Remington, of Ilion, in the State of New York, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd December 1863.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to that class of fire-arms in which the barrel or
cylinder is bored" through and through," and is charged at the breech.
I am aware that a hammer has been made to resist the recoil of a 'very
small cartridge, but owing to the manner of -hanging-the-hammer-it-could-
not be used for arms of such size as are necessary for war or field purposes
without using a spring so rigid as to make the cocking of the arm exceedingly
difficult.
The present Invention is divided into two parts, and consists, first, in the

page_text: combination of a pivoted breech plate with an under-hung hammer, so that
the breech plate and hammer will lock with each other, and are therefore
obliged to act in combination. The barrel, as well as the lock and handle
plates, may be made in one piece, which will render the arm more firm, and
will also serve as a guide for placing and hanging the other pieces of the arm
to the frame, stock, or handle.
The second part of the Invention consists in so combining an under-hung
hammer with a barrel or cylinder bored "through and through," and that is
loaded at the breech, that the hammer alone shall resist the recoil of the
discharge, and thus dispense with a breech plate.
The peculiar features of novelty in this Invention are, first, the combination
with a barrel or cylinder bored "through and through," so as to be charged
at the breech of an under-hung hammer for taking the recoil of the discharge.
Second, the combination with an under-hung hammer and a barrel or
cylinder that is loaded at the breech, of a breech plate acting with the under-
hung hammer.
Third, hanging the hammer of a breech-loading fire-arm (when said
hammer is to serve as a breech plate to resist the recoil) forward of the rear
of and close underneath the barrel or cylinder, so as to enclose between a
horizontal line drawn through its centre of motion and a line drawn from its
centre of motion to the centre of the rear of the cartridge chamber, an angle
somewhere between 15° and 27°, varying with the size of the arm and cartridge,
so that the recoil produced by the explosion of the charge will not be able to
force back the hammer. By hanging the hammer in this manner a main-
spring of medium strength will answer the purpose of keeping the hammer
in its place, and therefore the arm may be cocked with the same facility as
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 23rd June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me, the

page_text: said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William
Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "In--
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward.
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should parti-
cularly 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 Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
This Invention relates to that class of fire-arms in which the barrel or
cylinder is bored "through and through," and is charged at the breech.
I am aware that a hammer has been made to resist the recoil of a very
small cartridge, but owing to the manner of hanging the hammer it could not
be used for arms of such size as are necessary for war or field purposes
without using a spring of so rigid a nature as to make the cocking of the arm
exceedingly difficult.
The present Invention is divided into two parts, and consists, first, in the
combination of a pivoted breech plate with an under-hung hammer, so that
the breech plate and hammer will lock with each other.
The second part of the Invention consists in combining an under-hanging
hammer in a peculiar manner with a barrel or cylinder (bored "through and
through," and that is loaded at the breech) so that the hammer alone shall
resist the recoil of the discharge, and thus dispense with a breech plate.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 represents a longitudinal section
taken through a pistol constructed according to the improved plan, shewing-
the breech plate and hammer in position against the end of the bore of the
barrel; Fig. 2 represents a similar section, showing the breech plate and
hammer as drawn back, the hammer being shewn as at "the cock"; Fig. 8
represents a similar section, shewing the breech plate as up against the end of

page_text: the barrel, and the hammer as "at the cock;" Fig. 4 represents a perspective
view of the barrel and the lock and handle plate, as made in one piece;
Fig. 5 represents in section a modification of the fire-arm in which the breech
plate is dispensed with, and the hammer itself is made to resist the recoil of
the discharge,
The barrel A is bored "through and through," so that the arm may be
loaded at the breech with a cartridge having a metallic or other case. The
barrel A, as well as the lock and handle plate or plates may be formed in one
piece, which not only facilitates the putting together of the fire-arm, but
makes these parts more firm, whilst they serve as a guide for placing and
hanging the other pieces of the arm to the frame stock or handle. The
handle and lock frame C may, however, be united to the plate B by means of
a pin a, and in this event check pieces or side pieces may then form the
handle, and cover the spring and other parts of the arm. The hammer D
may be of either of the forms shewn in the Drawings, and is under hung,
being pivotted to the plate B at the point 6, which point is forward of the
rear end of the barrel A, and the point or tail c of the hammer serves as a
dog for the trigger E to catch upon to hold the hammer "at a cock," as
shewn at Figures 2 and 3; F is a mainspring, by which the hammer is
actuated when released by the trigger. The trigger E is pivotted to the
plate B at d, and a small spring e forces the lower end of the trigger forward
and its upper end rearward, so that it will always be in position to catch the
tail c of the hammer upon its point or projection f, and the compression of
this spring lets off the hammer, which strikes the cartridge G and explodes
its fulminate or priming, and fires the charge in the cartridge. The breech
plate H when used is pivotted at 9 directly under the rear end of the barrel A,
and its upper end h when against the rear end of the barrel covers the bore
thereof, except in one point where the hammer strikes against a small portion
of the heel of the cartridge to explode it. The breech plate too is grooved;
as shewn by the dotted lines at i, so that the hammer D may work in this
groove, and when both the breech plate and hammer are against the end of
the barrel, as shewn in Fig. 1, they occupy as it were the same space, thus
making a neat and compact finish to the arm. There is a shoulder j formed
on each side of the hammer D (one only being seen in the Figures), and
against these shoulders the curved side or part k of the breech plate H suugly
fits when the hammer is in the position shewn in Fig. 1, and these shoulders
and surfaces coming between the pivotted points of the hammer and breech
plate (b, g,) firmly locks the breech plate against the force of the exploding
charge, the tendency of the breech plate. in this position to fly back being

page_text: taken on the pin b. The hammer and breech plate when used together
mutually lock each other under the different circumstances of their use or
positions. When they are in the position shewn in Fig. 1, the breech plate
cannot be drawn down until the hammer is first drawn down. And when
they are in the positions shown in Fig. 2, the hammer cannot be let up until
the breech plate is first moved up, thus in the two positions their active and
passive characters are changed, each being thus in turn locked by its adjacent
piece or part with which it works. On the breech plate II there is a rigid
pin n against which the flange of the cartridge case comes, as shewn in
Fig. 2, when the arm is about to be loaded, thereby allowing the cartridge to
be only partially inserted in the bore of the arm, and when the breech platė H
is let up it moves away its pin n, and the part of the breech plate coming
against the cartridge pushes it to its seat. Thus the charging of the arm with
the cartridge is commenced and partially done by hand, but is completed by
the closing up of the breech piece. And when the breech piece is drawn
back to open the chamber of the fire-arm, the pin n comes against the flange
of the cartridge and draws it partially out, leaving the subsequent removal to
be done by hand, and thus the metallic case may be conveniently preserved to
be re-used.
In Fig. 5 I have shewn how the arm may be made without using the
breech piece H at all, relying solely upon the hammer to resist the recoil of
the discharge. In this case the hammer D is hung at 6 close up under the
barrel, and considerably in advance of the rear of the barrel. I have found
by experiment that if the pin be so located as to make (with a line
horizontally drawn through it, and a line drawn to the centre of the bore at
the breech of the arm, as shown by the red lines x, x,) or embrace an angle
of from fifteen degrees to twenty-seven degrees, that the hammer will stand
the recoil of the charge without flying back, the angle varying with the size
of the arm or the charge in the cartridge. And by so hanging the hammer,
an ordinary mainspring in strength can be used.
As before stated I do not limit this Invention to pistols, but mean to apply
it to any and all kinds of breech-loading fire-arms that are or can be used by
hand, such as carbines, rifles, muskets, fowling pieces, shot guns, and other
such arms. And I do not limit myself to single-barrelled pistols or guns, but
may apply it to cylinders, or double-barrelled guns, or other repeating guns.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements in Breech-loading
Fire-arms," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent, as aforesaid,―

page_text: First, the combination with a barrel or cylinder bored "through and
through," so as to be charged at the breech, of an under-hung hammer for
taking the recoil of the discharge, as herein set forth.
Second, I claim in combination with an under-hung hammer and a barrel
or cylinder that is loaded at the breech, a breech plate acting with the under- 5
hung hammer, as and for the purpose above described.
Third, I claim hanging the hammer of a breech-loading fire-arm (when the
hammer is to serve as a breech plate to resist the recoil) in advance of the
rear of and close underneath the barrel or cylinder, so as to enclose between a
horizontal line drawn through its centre of motion and a line drawn from its 1
centre of motion to the centre of the rear of the cartridge chamber an angle
somewhere between fifteen degrees and twenty-seven degrees, varying with
the size of the arm and cartridge, so that the recoil produced by the explosion
of the charge will not be able to force back the hammer.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto 1
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)