Improvements in Breech Mechanism for Quick-firing Guns.
Year: 1897

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Breech Mechanism for Quick-firing Guns.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication to me by
Ernst Ternström, of 8, Rue Auber, Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer)
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to breech mechanism for quick firing guns, the improve-
ments having especial reference to the percussion arrangement.
The chief object of the said invention is to obtain the two following advantages,
viz.:-
1° that the main spring can never remain armed whereby the possibility of acci-
dents is avoided even if perchance the gun be kept loaded.
2 that the firing-pin can be rearmed after a missfire without touching the breech
of the gun.
The improved mechanism consists of three principal parts: viz.,
1° the screw having a longitudinal opening and inclined plane for introducing the
cartridge;
2° the percussion device which is placed partly in the hand lever and partly in the
screw; and,
3° the extractor.
The hand lever has upon it a cylindrical head, the said lever and head being made
in one piece and arranged at right angles of each other. The said hand lever is also
provided with a handle having a safety catch and a bolt which, entering into the screw,
locks the lever to the same.
The cylindrical hand lever head is made with a longitudinal opening which, at
each side, has an inclined plain and contains the firing pin and its spring, the latter
bearing at one end against the back of the cylinder and at the other against the
firing pin.
The firing pin has in connection with it a second spring which serves to draw back
its point from the percussion cap of the cartridge case after having struck the same.
This spring is kept in place by a split ring retained in two grooves on the firing pin.
The trigger lever is placed in an opening of the hand lever and can pivot on an axis
which carries a spring hereinafter referred to as the returning spring for keeping the
trigger lever pressed against the hand lever.
The trigger is attached to the trigger lever by a pin and its extremity forms a hook
which enters into the firing pin. The said trigger has on each side lugs which corres-
pond exactly to the inclined planes of the cylindrical head of the hand lever, and is
pressed against the firing pin by a spring which bears against the screw.
trigger lever is attached an ordinary ianyard.
To the

page_text: The operation of the apparatus herein before described is as follows, that is to say,
the lanyard of the trigger lever being pulled rearwards the trigger follows its lever
drawing back the firing pin and at the same time compressing its spring. When the
firing pin spring is sufficiently compressed, the lugs of the trigger ineet the inclined
plane in the cylindrical head whereby the trigger is lifted to withdraw the hook of the
trigger out of the firing pin, which, being thus released, is thrown forward by its
spring and strikes the percussion cap. The returning spring brings back the firing
mechanism to its former position.
In case of a miss fire, the action on the trigger lever is repeated till the discharge
takes place.
Dated the 13th day of November 1897.
$
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the Firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., The General
Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of London, Patent Agents,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention (a communication to me by Ernst
Ternström, of 8, Rue Auber, Paris, in the Republic of France, Civil Engineer), and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to breech mechanism for quick firing guns, the improvements
having especial reference to the percussion devices.
The chief object of the said invention is to obtain the two following advantages,
viz. —
(1) That the main spring can never reinain armed whereby the possibility of
accidents is avoided even if the gun be kept loaded.
(2) That the firing-pin can be rearmed after a missfire without opening the breech
of the gun or rotating the breech block.
According to my invention the firing-pin is pulled back and the main spring armed
or compressed by means of a trigger pivoted to a trigger lever which is itself pivoted
to the breech block of the gun, inclined planes upon the trigger being arranged to
co-operate with other inclined planes adjacent to the trigger in such a manner that
when during the backward movement of the trigger lever and trigger a certain point
is reached the firing-pin is disengaged from the trigger and allowed to fly forward to
strike the percussion cap a single movement thus serving to compress the main spring
and fire the gun. A spring in connection with the trigger lever serves to move back
the parts after firing so that the trigger again engages with the firing-pin.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe the same as applied
to breech mechanism of the kind described in the Specification of former Letters
Patent No. 14273 of September 10th 1890 wherein a cylindrical breech block which
has its axis eccentric to the axis of the barrel of the gun is provided with a longi-
tudinal opening, which can be brought opposite to the barrel for introducing the
cartridges, and with an inclined plane for forcing the cartridges home.
In the accompanying drawings,-
Figure 1 is an elevation of the breech end of a gun of the kind described having
my improvements applied thereto :
Figure 2 is a section of the same on the line 2-2 Figure 1; and

page_text: Figure 3 is a half section on the line 3-3 Figure 1.
a is the breech end of the gun and b is the breech block which is mounted
eccentrically to the axis of the bore of the gun and provided with the longitudinal
opening c and with the inclined plane d.
e is a hand lever having upon it a cylindrical boss f. which is fitted into and is
capable of rotating in a corresponding recess in the breech block b the said lever
being provided with the handle g having a safety catch hand with a spring bolt i
for locking the lever to the breech bolt; these parts, however, forming no part of the
present invention are not further described.
The boss of the hand lever e is formed with a longitudinal opening j which
coincides with a hole in the breech block in which the firing pin slides the said
firing pin being made hollow and having within it the percussion spring which
bears at one end against the bottom of the recess in the firing pin and at the other
end against the back of the recess j in the boss f.
m is the trigger lever which is mounted upon the pivot pin n in a recess in the
hand lever e and the free end of which extends into a recess o in the breech block and
has attached to it the lanyard p by means of which the gun is fired.
q is the trigger which is pivoted to the trigger lever m by the pin q' and which at
its free end is of hook shape, as at q², and adapted to engage in a slot r in the wall
of the firing-pin k as clearly shewn in Figure 2.
is a longitudinal recess in the boss f in which the trigger q works and in this
recess is formed an incline s against which an inclined lug 81 on the trigger is
adapted to come into contact in such a manner that when during the
backward movement of the said trigger the inclined lug s¹ comes in contact with
and rides up the incline s the hook q2 is disengaged from the recess
in the firing-pin so that the latter is free to fly forward under the impulse
of the spring which is compressed during the backward movement of the
trigger.
9°
t is a spring which is secured to the trigger and serves to normally hold it with its
hook q² in engagement with the slot r.
u is a second spring in connection with the firing-pin which spring normally
serves to retain the point of the firing pin behind the face of the breech block; this
spring is considerably lighter than the spring / so that when the firing pin is released
by the trigger and the firing pin is driven forward the momentum of the said firing
pin compresses the spring u and allows the point of the firing-pin to move beyond the
face of the breech-block to fire the cartridge, the reaction of the spring returns the
firing-pin to its normal position with its point behind the face of the breech block
as herein before described. This spring at its front end is held in place by a divided
ring having two flats on its inner face which engage with corresponding flats won
the sides of the firing-pin.
In order that after the trigger lever has been pulled to discharge the gun
the
trigger shall automatically return into engagement with the slot in the firing-pin
the pivot n of the trigger lever is extended and has mounted upon it a spiral
spring a one end of which is suitably fixed in the recess in which the said pivot pin n
is placed, as shewn in Figure 1, whilst the other end is fixed to the trigger lever the
said spring being placed in torsion so that the normal tendency of the said spring
will be to retain the lever in the position shewn in Figure 2 the torsion of the
spring being slightly increased when the trigger lever is pulled as hereinafter
described.
The movement of the trigger lever m when operated by the lanyard p is limited
by the extension y of the trigger lever, which impinges against a corresponding
surface y on the breech block provided the breech is fully closed; in every other
position the extension y is stopped against the rear end of the gun and this before
the trigger lever has pivoted sufficiently for the trigger to be released from the
firing pin. This arrangement thus prevents the actuation of the firing pin before
the breech is fully closed.

page_text: To prevent the accidental discharge of the gun in case it is left loaded I attach
to the end of the lanyard p a pin which can be inserted through a hole in the
breech operating lever e into a hole or notch in the extension y of the trigger lever
to lock the latter.
The operation of the apparatus hereinbefore described is as follows, that is to say,
the lanyard p being pulled rearwardly the trigger lever m is moved so that the
trigger q draws back the firing-pink at the same time compressing the spring ; by
the time the said spring is sufficiently compressed the incline s has impinged
against and moved up the incline s whereby the trigger is withdrawn from
engagement with the firing pin which being thus released is thrown forward by
the spring and strikes the percussion cap of the cartridge.
In cases of missfire the action on the trigger lever can be repeated as often as
desired without opening the breech.
Although I have described my invention as applied to breech mechanism of the
kind herein before referred to it will be understood that my improved firing
mechanism can also be applied to other forms of breech mechanism.
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
1. In breech mechanism for quick firing guns, the combination of a breech block,
a firing-pin sliding in the said breech block, a spring in connection with the said
firing-pin normally out of compression, a trigger normally engaging with the said
firing pin and adapted to be pulled rearwardly to compress the spring, and means for
automatically disengaging the trigger from the firing-pin when the spring is
sufficiently compressed, substantially as described.
2. In breech mechanism for quick firing guns the combination of a breech block, a
firing pin sliding in the said breech block, a spring normally out of compression
for driving the firing-pin forwards, a trigger engaging with the said firing-pin,
inclines for disengaging the trigger from the firing-pin, a pivoted lever to which
the said trigger is pivoted and a spring in connection with the said trigger lever
for returning the trigger lever and trigger to their normal position after they have
been operated to discharge the gun, substantially as described.
3. In breech mechanism for quick firing guns, the combination with the firing
pin and the spring for driving the same forward of a second spring normally
out of compression and which serves to hold the firing-pin with its point behind
the face of the breech block the momentum of the firing pin moving forward
serving to compress the said second spring, substantially as, and for the purpose,
described.
4. In breech mechanism for quick firing guns wherein the spring for operating the
firing-pin is normally out of compression and wherein the trigger for drawing back
the firing pin and compressing the spring is pivoted to a lever, the combination with
the said trigger of inclines which at a certain time in the backward movement of the
trigger disengage it from the said firing-pin, substantially as described.
5. In breech mechanism for quick firing guns wherein a cylindrical breech block
which is eccentric with the bore of the gun is employed and which is provided with
a longitudinal opening which can be brought opposite to the barrel for introducing
the cartridges and with an inclined plane for forcing the cartridges home the
combination with the said breech block of a firing pin sliding in the said breech
block, a spring normally out of compression for driving the firing pin forwards, a
trigger engaging with the said firing pin, inclines for disengaging the trigger
from the firing pin, a pivoted lever to which the said trigger is pivoted, and a
spring in connection with the said trigger lever for returning the trigger lever
and trigger to their normal position after they have been operated to discharge the gun,
substantially as described.
6. Breech nechanism for quick firing guns consisting of the parts constructed and

page_text: combined substantially in the manner herein before described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings and operating as and for the purposes, set forth.
Dated this 12th day of August 1898.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.