Improvements in Breech-loading smail-arms.
Year: 1898

page_text: Improvements in Breech-loading smail-arms.
I, CHARLES FRANCOTTE, of 65, Mont St. Martin, Liège, in the Kingdom of Belgium,
Gunmaker, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This invention has for its object various arrangements for connecting and
disconnecting the mechanism of fire-arms, having pivotting breech-blocks, to and
from the breech-boxes. These arrangements enable these fire-arms to be put
together and dismounted without the aid of any tool.
Two arrangements, and a modification of one of them, are represented in the
accompanying drawings as applied to a Martini-Francotte gun.
Figure 1 is a side view, Figure 2 a front view and Figure 3 a partial longitudinal
section taken through the middle of the breech-box.
The trigger-guard plate a (represented in Figure 6 with the mechanism attached
thereto) is fixed at the rear end by a stud b, in a manner well known in connection
with Martini-Francotte guns, whilst at the front end it is fixed by one or other of
the arrangements hereinafter described.
In Figures 1 to 3 the fixing is effected by means of a screw c, the lower non-
a hole in the
screwed part of which is held and guided so that it can be rotated in
front end of the part a of the trigger-guard plate, Figure 3. The screwed part of
this screw c is screwed tightly into the head of a second screw d, which can be
screwed into a cross-piece f fixed in the front part of the lateral walls of the box, or
made solid with those walls (Figure 2). The milled head of the screw c enables the
latter and the screw d to be easily manipulated, so as to be screwed into and out of
the cross-piece f, and the fixing or unfixing of the trigger-guard plate and of the
mechanism to be thereby quickly effected without having recourse to any tool.
The second arrangement is represented in Figures 4 to 9.
Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 a front view of the breech-box; Figure 6 a side
view of the trigger-guard plate a, with the mechanism of the fire-arm; Figure 7 is
a longitudinal section of the breech-box; and Figures 8 and 9 side and plan views
respectively of the fixing hook.
As in the preceding arrangement, the fixing device is placed at the front end of
the trigger-guard plate a; it consists, in this case, of a hook n provided with an
operating lever m, by means of which it can be rotated on its spindle n¹ and of a
cross piece i fixed to or formed with the lateral walls of the breech-box.
In the locked position the hook n takes over the cross-piece i, as shown by full
lines in Figure 6, and the operating lever m is in contact throughout its length with

page_text: the trigger-guard (as shown in Figure 6) in which position it is held by any suitable
means; but in the unlocked position the hook stands free from the cross-piece i, and
parallel with and in front of it, as shown by dotted lines in Figure 6, and the
operating lever m then stands in the position also shown by dotted lines in
Figure 6.
Figure 10 shows a modification of the fixing arrangement shown in Figures 4 to 9.
In this modification use is made of the same hook n arranged as in Figures 4 to 9,
but its operating lever m is directed forward when in the locked position and is held
in that position by any suitable means.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
claim is:
First. The device for enabling the mechanism of fire-arms having pivotting breech-
blocks, to be connected to and disconnected from the breech-box without the use of
a separate tool, which consists of a cross-piece fixed to or formed with the side walls
of the breech box, in combination with a screw connected with the front part of the
trigger-guard plate, and adapted to screw into the said cross-piece when the said
trigger-guard plate is in position in the breech-box, substantially as described with
reference to Figures 1 to 3 of the drawings.
Second. The device for enabling the mechanism of fire-arms having pivotting
breech-blocks, to be connected to and disconnected from the breech-box without the
use of a separate tool, which consists of a cross-piece fixed to or formed with the side
walls of the breech-box, in combination with a pivotting hook and operating lever
placed at the front part of the trigger-guard plate, the said hook being adapted to
take over the said cross piece when the said trigger-guard plate is in position in the
breech-box, substantially as described with reference to Figures 4 to 10 of the
drawings.