IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1865

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Wilson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 9th December
1865.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of the improvements herein-after explained
in arranging or combining the parts for opening and closing the breech ends
of breech-loading fire-arms. I make an opening at the top of the breech end.
of the barrel, through which opening the cartridge may be introduced; the
breech is closed by a plug having a sliding motion as well as a motion of
partial rotation. On one side of the rear end of the said plug a solid projection
or lug is made, which projection or lug, when the plug is in the position proper
for firing, lies in a transverse recess or groove formed in the rear of the breech,
by which means the plug is sustained in its position during the discharge of
the fire-arm. A top plate or cover is attached to and slides with the plug.
To guide the plug in its required sliding and rotatory motion I form in it. a
longitudinal groove or recess nearly its whole length which terminates at its
rear in a cross recess or groove. The end of a screw pin or stud fixed in the
side of the breech end of the barrel takes into the said groove and serves both
as a stop to limit and a guide to direct the motions of the plug. By removing

page_text: the pin or stud the plug can be liberated, and may be withdrawn for the pur-
pose of cleaning.
My Invention consists, secondly, of the arrangement herein-after
described, of the parts of breech-loading fire-arms of the kind commonly
called self-ignition breech-loading fire-arms, that is to say, breech-loading
fire-arms, in which cartridges are employed containing the fulminating
composition by which they are discharged. I screw or otherwise attach
or form on the end of the barrel a metal shoe or tube open at top
and of somewhat greater diameter than the barrel. I joint or hinge to the
top and forward end of the said shoe a metal block or breech piece, which
when shut down closes the breech of the barrel, and is held down firmly by a
spring bolt or catch taking into the rear end of the block and working in a
recess in the rear end of the shoe. The said spring bolt or catch is released
by the action of a lever. The discharge of the fire-arm is effected by a striker
working in the body of the block and driven against the cartridge by the fall
of the hammer, or the block may be jointed directly to the rear of the barrel
instead of to a shoe as described. I construct an extractor for partially with-
drawing the case of the exploded cartridge in the following manner :—I form
a horizontal groove in the top of the barrel under the joint of the bingod
block, into this groove I fit a sliding piece, one end of which fits in the
shoulder of the open bore of the breech, and is situated between the said
shoulder and the rim of the cartridge when the fire-aru is ready for discharge.
The sliding piece is connected with the joint of the block by means of a pinion
on the under side of the latter taking into a rack on the former, or by a tooth
or lever on the joint taking into a slot in the extractor, or by connecting the
said joint and extractor by means of a link or by other equivalent means of
connection. On raising the block the slide or extractor is moved from the
shoulder of the breech into the shoe, and carries the case of the exploded car-
tridge with it. The case can be removed by hand when the fire-arm is ready
for the introduction of a fresh cartridge. My improvements in fire-arms are
applicable to double as well as to single fire-arms.
My Invention consists, lastly, of the improvements herein-after described
in such cartridges for breech-loading fire-arms as contain the fulminate, by
means of which the cartridge is discharged.
My said improvements have reference to the metal anvil or pin against
which the fulminate contained in a metal cap is struck for the purpose of dis-
charging the cartridge. Instead of making the anvil solid, as usual, I make it
hollow, or of a tubular form, that is, with a small hole in its axis, through which
hole the flash passes and ignites the gunpowder, when the cap is struck by

page_text: the striker of the fire-arm. The anvil may be conical at top. The said anvil
is supported at the base of the cartridge and in its axis by means of a metal
cup, having an opening at bottom, the cylindrical portion of the cap occupying
the annular space between the anvil and the said metal cup; or the anvil may
be made of sheet metal bent so as to have in cross section somewhat the form.
of the letter N. An anvil of this form having a projection at its middle may
be employed in the same way as the anvil last described.