AN IMPROVEMENT IN DROP DOWN GUNS
Year: 1885

page_text: "
I, JAMES HENRY HANNAY, of N° 33 Porchester Terrace in the county of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for AN
IMPROVEMENT IN DROP DOWN GUNS" and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My invention relates to appliances to the mechanism of drop down guns which
prevent the barrels from dropping while the gun is on cock or in the act of firing,
releasing the barrels when either has been fired. Figs. 1, and 3 of the accom-
panying drawings shew my invention applied to the lock of a drop down gun
under three conditions that is to say Fig. 1 shows the condition when the barrels
are free to be dropped but the triggers are locked in the known manner by the
tumbler A held by the lever B, the bolt C then being free to be pushed back by
the dropping of the barrels. Fig. 2 shews the condition when the safety slide D is
pushed forward, releasing the trigger from the arrest of the tumbler A, but the
bolt C is then prevented by a tumbler E from retreating and consequently the
barrels cannot be dropped. Fig. 3 shews the condition when the trigger is raised
in the act of firing, the bolt C then being held forward by the projecting shoulder F
of the trigger. It will be seen that I joint to the safety slide D a rod G the end
of which, when it is pushed with D forwards, catches a hook on the tumbler E and
pushes E down to the position shewn in Fig. 2 butting against the bolt C. I also
provide on the trigger besides the projecting shoulder F, an upwardly projecting
stud H, which, when the trigger is pulled, raises the rod G disengaging it from the
hook of E, leaving E free to be returned by a spring to its inclined position as in
Figs. 1, and 3. But the pulling of the trigger at the same time raises the shoulder
at F so as to butt against C and so to prevent the barrels from dropping until the
trigger is let go, and F descends leaving C free to be moved back by the dropping
of the barrels as in the condition shewn in Fig. 1.
I have not shewn in the drawings the striker nor the details of the barrel joints
as these are of ordinary kind to which my present invention has no reference. It
is to be understood, however, that the bolt marked C in the drawings hereto
annexed is the hinder part of a bolt similar to that bolt marked D in Fig. 1 of
the drawings annexed to my previous specification N° 6194 of 1882, which bolt
when pushed forward by the spring enters a recess in the joint of the barrels

page_text: preventing them from being dropped. When this bolt is free to recede in
opposition to the spring, the barrels can be dropped. According to my present
invention the bolt is prevented from receding either by the tumbler E as in Fig. 2
or by the shoulder F of the trigger as in Fig. 3.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
In combination with the ordinary lock mechanism of a drop down gun the rod G
jointed to the safety slide, the tumbler E, and the stud H and shoulder F on the
trigger, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
Dated this 23rd day of January 1885,
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant,
28, Southampton Buildings,
London, W.C.