IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Solmons Benson and
Johann Von der Poppenburg at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 15th June 1868.
We, JOHN SOLMONS BENSON, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Merchant, and JоHANN VON DER POPPENBURG, of Birmingham
aforesaid, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention has reference to those kinds of breech-loading fire-
arms in which the breech end is opened for loading and closed for
discharge by means of a block hinged to the side of the breech chamber
or shoe; and our said Invention consists of the improvements herein-
after described in extracting the exploded cases of the cartridges from
the barrels of the said fire-arms, and in holding the breech block of the
said fire-arms in its open or closed positions respectively.
We construct and arrange the parts of the said fire-arms for extracting
the exploded cartridge cases in the following manner :-Instead of
extracting the said exploded cases by giving to the breech block a
sliding motion parallel to the axis of the barrel, as is usual, we effect

page_text: the same object by the raising of the breech block for opening the
breech. The joint pin or axis of the breech block turns in eyes or snugs
on the side of the breech chamber or shoe, and the said breech is fixed
to the said joint pin or axis by a stud passed through the knuckle of
the said block; the pin or axis is thereby made to move with the
block. The hook or extractor is made upon a tubular piece capable of
sliding upon the joint pin or axis, the said tubular piece having an
inclined or helical slot made in it, in which slot a stud on the joint pin
works. A cross slot opening into the helical slot is also made in the
said tubular piece of the extractor, in which cross slot the stud described
works. A coiled spring around the rear end of the joint pin bears upon
the tubular piece of the extractor and presses it towards the mouth of the
barrel. On lifting the breech block after discharge and moving it through
about half a circle, so as to make it take a nearly horizontal position,
the stud on the joint pin works first in the cross slot and afterwards in
the inclined or helical slot of the tubular piece of the extractor. By the
action of the said stud and inclined slot the tubular piece of the extractor
is moved towards the butt end of the gun, and the hook or extractor is
advanced from the open end of the barrel into the shoe and the case of
the exploded cartridge pushed or extracted from the said barrel. The
parts described are so arranged that the extractor does not commence to
act until the breech block has been raised so far as to be clear of the
breech chamber. On loosing the breech block after the extraction
of the exploded case the said block is raised into a vertical position
by the pressure of the coiled spring against the tubular piece of the
extractor, and the said block is retained in that position by the means
herein-after explained. By the raising of the breech block the extractor
is returned to its place at the mouth of the barrel. By the arrangement
described the opening of the breech and the extraction of the exploded
case of the cartridge are effected by one motion. The breech block is
held or fixed in its closed position or open position in the following
manner: On the exterior of the rear eye or snug of the breech shoe
a nearly semicircular spring is fixed, the free end of the said spring
being provided with a rounded pin or stud which passes through a hole
in the said eye or snug and enters one or other of two holes or
depressions in the rear and large end of the joint pin or axis of the
breech block. When the breech block is shut down the stud of the
spring drops into one of the said holes or depressions and holds the block
in its closed position, and when the said block is raised into a position

page_text: at right angles to that last described the said stud drops into the other
of the said holes or depressions and holds the block in its open position.
In addition to the holes or depressions described in the rear end of the
joint pin or axis channels are made in which the stud works in passing
from one depression to the other and when the breech block is depressed
beyond the open position described for the extraction of the case of the
exploded cartridge.