IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Blakemore Allport, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS,'
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Blakemore
Allport at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 23rd November 1872.
.
I, SAMUEL BLAKEMORE ALLPORT, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARME," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms, called drop
down guns, and consists of the construction and arrangement of parts
herein-after described for fastening down the barrels of the said guns for
discharge, and unfastening them for loading.
On the tang of the break-off and turning in a plane parallel thereto is
a hand lever, the axis of which passes through the said tang. The lower

page_text: end of the said axis carries an arm, in which there is an oblique slot.
In this slot the upper end of a lever situated at the back of the break-off
engages. This lever works in a vertical plane in a recess behind the
break-off, the lower and short end of the said lever taking into a slot or
opening in the rear end of a horizontal sliding bolt working in the body
of the gun. By means of a double spring acting on the vertical lever
the horizontal bolt is urged forward and made to snap into a recess in
the lump on the under side of the barrels.
After discharge the hand lever on the tang of the break-off is turned
aside when the oblique slot in the arm on the lower end of its axis
presses forward, the upper arm of the vertical lever engaging in the said
slot, and causes the retirement of the lower arm of the said vertical lever
and the withdrawal of the bolt. The barrels are now unlocked, and their
breech ends may be raised for charging. After charging the barrels are
shut down. In the descending motion of the breech ends of the barrels
the lump on their under side pushes back the sliding bolt until the said
breech ends have reached their closed position, when the bolt snaps into
the recess in the lump, and fastens down the said barrels for firing.
Instead of placing the lever, which is connected directly with the
sliding bolt, vertically, the said lever may work in a plane inclined at a
small angle to a vertical plane. This arrangement is especially convenient
when it is wished to make the locking bolt engage with a projection
on the face of the breech end of the barrels. In this case the locking
bolt consists of two horizontal bolts connected by a vertical bar, the
lower horizontal bolt engaging in the recess in the lump herein-before
described, and the upper horizontal bolt engaging with the projecting
lump on the face of the barrels. The extractor in this modification has
a piece cut away from its middle to admit the said projecting-piece on
the face of the breech ends of the barrels.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 30
filed by the said Samuel Blakemore Allport in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
BLAKEMORE ALLPORT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Manufacturer, send greeting.
35

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Blakemore Allport, Her
special license that I, the said Samuel Blakemore Allport, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel Blakemore
Allport, 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 SMALL-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Samuel Blakemore Allport, 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 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 Samuel Blakemore Allport, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms, called drop
down guns, and consists of the construction and arrangement of parts
herein-after described for fastening down the barrels of the said guns for
discharge, and unfastening them for loading.
On the tang of the break-off and turning in a plane parallel thereto is
a hand lever, the axis of which passes through the said tang. The lower
and of the said axis carries an arm, in which there is an oblique slot.
In this slot the upper end of a lever, situated at the back of the break-
off, engages. This lever works in a vertical plane in a recess behind the
break-off, the lower end of the said lever taking into a slot or opening in
the rear end of a horizontal sliding bolt working in the body of the gun.
By means of a double spring acting on the vertical lever the horizontal
bolt is urged forward and made to snap into a recess in the lump on the
under side of the barrels.

page_text: After discharge the land lever on the tang of the break-off is turned
aside, when the oblique slot in the arm on the lower end of its axis
presses forward, the upper arm of the vertical lever engaging in the said
slot, and causes the retirement of the lower arm of the said vertical lever,
and the withdrawal of the bolt. The barrels are now unlocked, and 5
their breech ends may be raised for charging. After charging the barrels
are shut down. In the descending motion of the breech ends of the
barrels the lump on their under side pushes back the sliding bolt until
the said breech ends have reached their closed position, when the bolt
snaps into the recess in the lump, and fastens down the said barrels for 1
firing.
Instead of placing the lever, which is connected directly with the sliding
bolt vertically, the said lever may work in a plane inclined at a small
angle to a vertical plane.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to 1
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section (partly in elevation),
Figure 2 in end elevation (partly in cross section), and Figure 3 in plan
of under side, the breech end of a breech-loading drop down gun (without 2
the stock), the fastening and unfastening mechanism of which is con-
structed and arranged according to my Invention. Figure 4 represents
a part of the same detached. The same letters of reference indicate the
same parts in the several Figures of the Drawings.
a, a, are the barrels; b is the lump on the under side of the barrels in
a recess, in which the horizontal sliding bolt c engages to fasten down
the barrels for discharge; d is the body of the gun, in which the sliding
bolt c works; and e is the break-off, against which the face of the open
breech ends of the barrels a bear when shut down. The horizontal
sliding bolt c is withdrawn to unfasten the barrels for loading, and the
said bolt made to snap into the lump, and fasten down the barrels for
discharge by the following mechanism :-Working in a recess behind the
break-off e is a vertical lever fƒ, ƒ³, turning on the centre g, the said lever
having arms of nearly equal length. The said lever has motion in a
vertical plane, and its upper arm of works in an oblique slot h³ in the arm
or tumbler h, carried by the axis i, which passes through the tang kof
the break-off.

page_text: On the tang of the break-off, and turning in a plane parallel there-
with, is a hand lever 1, the said hand lever being secured by the screw
pin m to the axis i. The arm or tumbler his represented separately in
Figure 4. The lower arm f* of the vertical lever ƒ,ƒ³, takes into a slot
or opening in the horizontal sliding bolt c. On the under side of the
tang of the break-off is a double spring p, bearing upon the shoulder h³
of the tumbler or arm h.
I
By means of the said spring p the horizontal sliding bolt c, when at
liberty to move, is urged forward, and made to snap into the recess in
the lump 6 on the under side of the barrels, and fasten down the said
barrels.
:-
The action of the fastening mechanism of the gun is as follows :-
After the gun has been discharged the parts occupy the respective
portions represented. To unfasten the gun for loading, the hand lever
is turned aside, as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3, when the oblique
slot in the arm or tumbler h acting upon the upper arm ƒ of the
leverff, presses the said arm forward or towards the break-off. The
lower arm f of the said lever is thereby moved in the opposite direction,
and effects the withdrawal of the sliding bolt c from the recess in the
lump 6, and unlocks the barrels. On releasing the hand lever 1, after
the breech ends of the barrels have been raised from the break-off for
charging, the sliding bolt c is pressed forward by the spring pacting
through the tumbler and lever fiƒ³, and the nose of the said bolt is
projected into the recess in the body into which the lump 6 takes. After
charging the gun the barrels are shut down. In the descending motion
of the breech ends of the barrels the lump b, acting against the nose of
the bolt o, pushes it back into the body until the said breech ends have
reached their closed position, when the bolt c snaps by the action of the
spring p into the recess in the said lump b, and fastens down the barrels
for firing, as illustrated in the Drawing.
Instead of giving the forward or snapping action to the sliding bolt c
by means of a double spring acting on the tumbler, the same may be
effected by a coiled spring placed in a recess in the break-off, the said
spring bearing against the upper arm of the vertical lever. This arrange-
ment is illustrated in longitudinal section in Figure 5 of the Drawings,
where the coiled spring bearing on the upper arm ƒ of the lever ƒ, ƒ³, is
marked g. In this arrangement the upper arm of the lever is inclined

page_text: to the lower arm at or about the angle represented, and the end of the
said upper arm is cranked.
Figure 6 represents the lever f, f, of the arrangement Figure 5
detached. Or the snapping action of the bolt c may be effected by a
double spring placed in a recess at the back of the break-off bearing
against the upper arm of the lever ƒ, ƒ³.
Figure 7 represents in longitudinal vertical section, Figure 8 in end
elevation, partly in cross section, and Figure 9 in plan of upper side,
with the barrels removed, a drop down gun in which the lever ƒ, ƒ³,
instead of being vertical, is inclined at a small angle to a vertical plane,
The inclination of the
and the upper arm is inclined to the lower arm.
lever is best seen in Figure 8, and the manner in which its two arms are
engaged respectively with the slot in the tumbler h, and with the
horizontal sliding bolt c is shewn in the said Figure 8 and also in
Figure 7.
The action of the fastening and unfastening mechanism of the gun,
Figures 7, 8, and 9, is the same as that of the gun represented in
Figures 1, 2, and 3, and the description herein-before given of the said
Figures 1, 2, and 3 equally applies to the said Figures 7, 8, and 9, and
corresponding parts are marked with the same letters of reference.
In place of giving motion to the vertical or inclined lever ƒ, ƒ³, by
means of an inclined slot in the tumbler, as before described, the said
slot may be dispensed with, and the upper arm of the said lever be con-
nected to the tumbler by a link. This modification of my Invention is
illustrated in plan and elevation in Figure 10, where the tumbler is
marked h, the link is marked h, and the vertical or inclined lever is
marked f.f. The link is connected to the tumbler by a stud, and the
upper arm of the lever takes into a slot in the link.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention of improvements in breech-
loading small arms of the kind called drop down guns the construction
and arrangement or combination of parts herein-before described, and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, for fastening down the barrels
of the said guns for discharge, and unfastening them for loading, that is

page_text: to say, working the horizontal sliding bolt of the said guns by means of
the vertical or inclined lever fif, at the back of the break-off, the said
lever being actuated to withdraw the bolt by means of an inclined slot
in, or a link on, the arm or tumbler h, on the axis of the hand lever 1, the
several parts being constructed and combined together, and working
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Blakemore Allport, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
SAMUEL BLAKEMORE ALLPORT. (L.S.)
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Olerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.