IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH- LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Reeves, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 4th June 1861; and dated the 13th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Reeves at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1860.
I, CHARLES REEVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after explained, in
opening and closing the breech end of breech-loading fire-arms for charging.
and discharging; at the breech end of the barrel I make an opening or passage
crossing the bore of the barrel either vertically or horizontally. The said
passage is cylindrical or slightly conical. A plug mounted on a quick.
threaded screw is capable of being advanced into or withdrawn from the said
passage so as to close or open the bore of the gun. The back of the breech is
cut away sufficiently to allow of the introduction of the cartridge in a line.
nearly coincident with the axis of the barrel. In charging the gun the screw
is turned by means of a handle or lever on its end, and the plug withdrawn.
from the opening or passage. The charge is introduced into the barrel, and
by turning the screw in the required direction the plug is made to enter and

page_text: close the passage, and also the breech end of the barrel. The gun is then
ready for firing.
I sometimes make a neck in the plug, and cause the said neck to engage
with a plate which slides against the open end of the barrel. The end of the
barrel is in this case made flat, as well as the plate which slides against it.
By raising and lowering the plug in the manner herein-before explained, the
said plate is raised and lowered, and the end of the barrel closed or opened as
required.
In applying the last described form of my Invention to double-barrelled fire-
arms, one plug may be made to actuate a plate sufficiently large to open and
close both barrels. The plug may either be fixed on the screw and rotate with
it, or the screw may pass through the plug, and the said plug be made to move
to and fro on the said screw.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Reeves in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
. 10th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS-SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
REEVES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Reeves, Her special licence that I, the said Charles Reeves, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles,
Reeves, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles Reeves, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 be filed in the Great

page_text: 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 Charles Reeves, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after explained and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in opening and closing the breech
end of breech-loading fire-arms for charging and discharging. Figure 1
represents in side elevation a portion of a breech-loading rifle made according
to my Invention, the parts of the same being in the positions they respectively
occupy after the rifle has been charged and the breech end closed; Figure 2
is a plan of the same; Figure 3 is a transverse vertical section of the same
taken through the line a, Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical
section of the rifle, the parts of the same being in the positions they respec-
tively occupy when the breech end is opened for the introduction of the
charge. The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several
Figures of the Drawings.
At the breech end b of the barrel c, I make a vertical opening or passage e,
crossing the bore of the said barrel c. The said passage or opening e is
square, but it may be made cylindrical or slightly conical. In the said
opening or passage e a square plug d, (or a cylindrical or conical plug when
the said opening or passage is cylindrical or conical,) truly fitting the said
opening, works. The said plug d is mounted on the end of a quick threaded
screw f, and is capable of being advanced into or withdrawn from the opening
or passage e, so as to close or open the bore of the rifle, as herein-after
explained. The end of the screw f engages and turns in a recess d² of the
plug d; the shape of the said recess and end of the screw will be readily under-
stood by referring to Figures 3 and 4. The stock of the rifle is cut away at
g, at the back of the breech end, so as to expose the open end of the barrel c,
and thereby allow of the introduction of the cartridge or charge in a line coin-
cident with the axis of the said barrel. The breech end of the barrel is also
cut away at the back of the opening e, as best seen in Figure 2, so that when
the plug d is depressed the cartridge or charge can be pushed by the finger or
thumb into the charge chamber. To the under side of the stock of the rifle a
plate or disc h, having a concave screw in its interior, is fixed, in which concave
screw the quick threaded screw f works. The bottom of the screw f is con-
nected to a handle or lever i; a portion of the said lever also forming the
guard of the rifle, as represented. The lever connected to the screw f may

page_text: be made without the guard k; the said lever being so bent or shaped that it
may work under or around the usual fixed guard when it is moved for opening
or closing the breech end.
In charging the rifle, the screw f is turned by moving the handle or lever i
by its tail piece 2 half a revolution, that is, from the position represented in
Figure 1 to that represented in Figure 4. By the motion of the said screw f
it retires from the concave screw in the plate h, and withdraws the plug d
into the lower part of the opening or passage e. The bore of the brecch
chamber of the barrel is thereby opened as represented in Figure 4, and the
charge is introduced into the barrel through the open breech end g. After
the introduction of the charge the handle or lever i is turned into the position
represented in Figure 1; the screw f is thereby advanced into the opening e,
and the plug d raised in the said opening, as seen in Figure 2. The upper
part of the opening or passage e is thus closed as well as the breech end of the
-barrel, and the rifle is ready for discharge. The handle or lever i may be kept
in its place by means of a snap or spring catch fastening. Instead of con-
necting the plug d to the top of the screw f, as described, the said plug may
work upon the said screw. The screw in this case is made incapable of either
advancing into or retiring-from the passage or opening in the rifle. By giving
a rotatory motion to the screw in the manner already explained, the plug is
raised or lowered on the screw, and closes or opens-the-breech_end of the
barrel. The plug d may be made slightly wedge shaped, its small end being
uppermost, and the opening e in the barrel may be made of a corresponding
figure. When I make the said plug d and opening c wedge shaped, I make a
hole in the axis of the plug d, in which hole a short screw is fitted; the head
of the said screw lying nearly flush with the top of the plug d, the lower
end of the said short screw bearing on the top of the screw f. By turning
the said short screw the plug d may be slightly raised or lowered upon the
screw f, and the position of the said plug d, when the lever i is in the position
represented in Figure 1, may be exactly determined. If by wear or other-
wise the wedge-shaped plug d is not brought to its proper bearing when the
lever i is brought into the position represented in Figure 1, it may be accu-
rately adjusted by means of the said short screw.
In applying my Invention to double-barrelled fire-arms, I make the screw
work between the barrels, and cause the said screw to raise and lower a plug
or plate of sufficient size to cover or close the bores of both barrels. In this
case the screw works in a concave screw in the plug or plate, the said screw
also rotating in a disc similar to the disc h; but in its rotation neither
advancing into nor retiring from the said disc h, that is to say, the said screw

page_text: has a rotatory motion, but no motion in the line of its axis; the only motion
in the direction of the axis of the screw being that of the plug or plate, which
closes or opens the bores of the barrels. By the rotation of the screw the plug
or plate may be raised above the bores of the barrels and the charges intro-
duced, and by afterwards rotating the screw in the opposite direction the plug
or plate may be made to descend and close the bores of the barrels.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim as my
Invention, the improvements in breech-loading fire-arms herein-before de-
scribed and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, opening
and closing the breech end of single and double barrelled breech-loading fire-
arms by means of a plug or plate, working in an opening or passage made
vertically across the breech or back end of the bore or bores of the barrels ;
the said plug or plate being made to advance into or retire from the said
opening, and thereby to close or open the breech end by means of a quick-
threaded screw, connected to or working in the said plug or plate; the said
screw being actuated by a lever on the under side of the fire-arm.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Reeves, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
CHARLES REEVES. (L.S.)
Witness,
H. P. GOODWIN.