IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERLESS GUNS
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Martin Wall Parsons, of Brownsover, in the County of
'Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERLESS GUNS."
Sealed the 16th September 1879 and dated the 18th March 1870
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Martin Wall Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th March 1879.
MARTIN WALL PARSONS, of Brownsover, in the County of Warwick.
MENTS IN HAMMERLESS GUNS."
"IMPROVE-
My improvements relate to the mechanical contrivances in the locks and cocking
arrangement and safety bolt in those kinds of guns mentioned or referred to in
the title.
•
According to my Invention when the gun opened it is caused to cock itself by
means of the barrels acting as a lever, and on the barrels being depressed a suitably
shaped lump is caused to act upon a horizontal bolt, which runs through the false
breech, and in its turn presses against the front of the tumblers (which in my
improved guns act as the hammers) and raises them to full cock. On the gun being
closed a spiral spring working on the end of the cocking bolt forces the said bolt
back to its original or normal position.
When the gun is fired the locks are caused to rebound, and the sear takes into
the half cock bent. This arrangement is carried int effect in the following
manner:
The main spring is of the usual kind, and is connected to the tumbler or
hammer; but the pressure of this spring is taken from the hammer by means of a
stud or stop the impetus thus given to the hammer is sufficient to explode the
charge by means of the striker, and the spiral spring on the said striker then forces
back the said hammer against the mainspring, at which point the sear drops into
the half bent.
My improved safety bolt works automatically or not, as may be desired, and can
be worked by the cocking bolt which passes under it at right angles, and is pro-
vided with a suitable wedge shaped projection, which on the gun being opened
allows the safety bolt to slide to the left, thus blocking the tumblers until it is
desired to release them, which is done by pressing a stud to the right.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Martin Wall Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
September 1879.
MARTIN WALL PARSONS, of Brownsover, near Rugby, in the County of Warwick.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN HAMMERLESS GUNS."
My improvements relate to the mechanical contrivances in the locking and.
cocking arrangement and safety bolt in those kinds of guns mentioned or referred
to in the title.
According to my Invention when the gun is opened it is caused to cock itself by
reason of the barrels acting as a lever, and on the barrels being depressed a suitably
shaped lump is caused to act upon a horizontal bolt which runs through the false
breech, and in its turn presses against the front of the tumblers (which in my
improved gun act as the hammers) and raises them to full cock. On the gun being
closed a spiral spring working on the end of the cocking bolt forces the said bolt
back to its original or normal position.
When the gun is fired the locks are caused to rebound, and the sear takes into
the half cock bent. This arrangement is carried into effect in the following
manner :- -The main spring is of the usual kind, and is connected to the tumbler or
hammer, but the pressure of this spring is taken from the hammer by means of a
stud or stop; the impetus thus given to the hammer is sufficient to explode the
charge by means of the striker, and the spiral spring on the said striker then forces
back the said hammer against the mainspring, at which point the sear drops into
the half bent.
My improved safety bolt works automatically or not, as may be desired, and can
be worked by the cocking bolt which passes under it at right angles, and is pro-
vided with a suitable wedge shaped projection, which on the gun being opened
allows the safety bolt to slide to the left, thus blocking the tumblers until it is
desired to release them, which is done by pressing a stud to the right.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I have annexed hereto
Drawings thereof, which I will now proceed to explain.
I have illustrated and described a double gun, but my Invention is equally well
adapted for single guns.
Figs. 1, 3, and 5, are longitudinal sections on a plane dividing the two barrels of
a gun constructed according to my Invention. Figs. 2, 4, and 6, are sectional plans
corresponding with the Figures 1, 3, and 5 respectively. Figs. 7, 8, 9, and 10,
illustrate the relative actions of the sliding cocking bolt and of the safety bolt.
Fig. 11 is an elevation of the internal face of a lock complete. Similar letters of
reference indicate similar parts in all the Figures.
In Figs. 1 to 6 the tumbler a turns upon the pin b, and is propelled by a main
blade spring c situated to the rear of the tumbler a, and pressing in an upward
direction upon the projecting arm a¹ of the tumbler a; d is the sear which holds the
tumbler a at half or full cock. The said tumbler is released by the trigger acting
upon the sear d in the usual manner; e is the firing pin which passes through
the false breech f, and is pressed rearwards by means of a coiled spring which is not
shewn upon the Drawing, but which is well known and understood; g is the breech
end of the barrels having the usual means for being firmly secured when the gun is
closed, and for being readily released in order to open the gun. In Fig. 1 the gun
is shewn open, and the tumbler cocked, which action is performed thus:-Upon
depressing the forward end of the barrels the rear end rises, turning upon the pin h,
and a lump i having a cam shaped projection i¹ formed upon it forces rearwards the
cocking bolt k which slides in a slot in the false breech f, and has projections k¹
(seen plainly in Figs. 7 and 8) formed at its rear end, which engage with the

page_text: lumps a² of the two tumblers a, a, (see Figs. 1 and 2), and thereby raise the said
tumblers into the cocked position. When the gun is closed the cocking bolt kis
free to move forwards when the tumbler is released, or the said cocking bolt may
be pressed forward by the action of the safety bolt, as hereinafter described. When
the trigger is pulled the tumbler a is impelled by the mainspring c until the latter is
arrested by the fixed stop l, as seen in Figs. 3 and 5. The impetus thus acquired
by the tumbler causes it to continue its motion after the mainspring has stopped,
and to strike the firing pin e, as seen in Fig. 5, after which the tumbler rebounds
into the position shewn in Fig. 3, and is then held by the sear d which spaps into
the half bent as shewn.
My improved safety bolt is constructed and acts in the following manner: -m is
the safety bolt having a rectangular body m and cylindrical extremities m', which
pass through holes in the lock plates n, and are terminated by heads or knobs m³
which are situated outside the gun, and by which the safety bolt m may be moved
by the thumb and finger to the right or to the left transversely to the axis of the
barrels. When the safety bolt has been moved from right to left, as seen in Figs. 1,
2, 3, and 4, the projecting faces m³ present themselves in front of the faces as of the
tumblers, and if one of the triggers now be pulled its tumbler will fall upon the
said face m³, and will thereby be arrested before the firing pin e has been struck.
The tumbler will rebound slightly from the face m³ of the safety bolt, and will
then be held by the sear & snapping into the half bent. In this position the
tumbler at a³ stands just clear of the safety bolt at m³, and the latter can thus be
moved to the left or to the right for the purpose of blocking or unblocking the
second tumbler, which is supposed to have remained at full cock. When the safety
bolt is moved to the right, as seen in Figs. 5 and 6, the projecting faces m³ present
themselves to the recesses at formed in the tumblers a, and if one of the triggers
now be pulled its tumbler will fall against the firing pin e, as shewn in horizontal
section in Fig. 6, where the projecting faces m³ have entered the recesses a¹ in the
tumblers, and the gun will be fired; the tumbler will then rebound to half cock as
herein before described and shewn in Figs. 3 and 4, and the safety bolt will be left
free to be moved as desired; o is a small blade spring, the tip of which presses into
either of the two depressions o¹ formed in the forward face of the safety bolt m,
whereby the latter is sufficiently held in either position so as to prevent accidental
movement.
My improved safety bolt is rendered automatic upon the cocking of the gun in
the following manner:-A wedge shaped projection k² formed upon the top of the
cocking bolt k (see Figs. 7, 8, and 9) engages with a corresponding wedge shaped
projection m* formed upon the underside of the safety bolt m, so that when the
cocking bolt moves rearwards from the position Fig. 7 to the position Fig. 8 so as
to cock the tumblers, the safety bolt is thereby moved transversely from right to
left, so as to protect the firing pins, as hereinbefore described and shewn in
Figs. 1 to 4. Upon closing the gun the cocking boit k becomes free to be moved
forwards by the transverse movement of the safety bolt towards the right for the
purpose of allowing the tumblers to strike the firing pins when it is desired to fire
the gun.
In Fig. 11 the mainspring c is shewn to be an ordinary mainspring attached to
the lock plate forward of the tumbler instead of rearward of it as shewn in the
previous Figures.
Having now described and illustrated the manner in which my Invention is to
be performed, I wish it to be clearly understood that I do not limit myself to the
precise details hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings,
as the same may be varied to some extent without departing from the nature of
my Invention, but what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein before
in part recited Letters Patent is,-
1. Cocking hammerless guns by means of the cam piece i', the cocking bolt k,
and the lump a³, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbefore described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: 2. Protecting .the firing pins of hammerless guns by means of the automatic
safety bolt m, constructed and worked substantially as and for the purpose
herein before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Martin Wall Parsons, have hereunto set my
hand, and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy nine.
Witness,
W. JOHN PELLOW,
Clerk to Mr. G. R. Holland,
Birmingham.
M. W. PARSONS. (L.S.)