IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN LOCKS FOR THE DISCHARGING CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES AS USED IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Hargrave Grey, of No. 43, Old Bond
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Maker, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN LOCKS FOR THE DISCHARGING
CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES AS USED IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 20th April 1866, and dated the 24th October 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Hargrave Grey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th October 1865.
I, FREDERICK HARGRAVE GREY, of No. 43, Old Bond Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN LOCKS FOR THE DISCHARGING
CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES AS USED IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
The tumbler of the lock (marked B and B, B, in the Drawing left here-
with) is made with an arm on it so formed as to strike the end of a horizontal
plunger (marked A and A, A, in the said Drawing) working through the base
of the breech piece, the front end of which plunger strikes the percussion cap
in the centre of the cartridge. The arm or striking portion of the tumbler
may be connected with the plunger by a stud or link, or may be independent

page_text: of it. The above being so arranged as to work upon and inside the lock plate
it simplifies the construction and preserves the ordinary shape of the gun, and
is at the same time compatible with perfection of action in the locks to which
it is applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Hargrave Grey in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th April 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
HARGRAVE GREY, of No. 43, Old Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Hargrave Grey, Her special licence that I, the said
Frederick Hargrave Grey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Frederick Hargrave Grey, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUN LOCкs," upon the condition.
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Hargrave Grey, 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 Frederick Hargrave Grey, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that
is to say:
My improvements in the construction of gun locks consist in making the
tumbler of the lock with an arm on it so formed as to strike the end of a
horizontal piston or sliding plunger fitted into the lock plate and working in a

page_text: cylinder or dovetailed groove, or attached by other means, and having a
portion of its front end in contact with the cap striker, which works through
the base of the breech piece and communicates the blow to the percussion cap
or detonating portion in the centre of the cartridge. The sliding plunger may.
be connected with the tumbler by a swivel or stud or independant of it. The
above being so arranged as to work upon and inside the plate of an ordinary
bar gun lock it simplifies the construction and preserves the proper shape and
proportion of the gun with front action or bar locks, and is at the same time
compatible with perfection of action in the locks to which it is applied; it
also removes the hitherto existing objection to the central-fire gun, of the cap
striker working outside in connection with the moisture of the atmosphere,
which causes rust to accumulate and destroy its action.
The Drawings hereunto annexed represent the manner in which I carry my
Invention into effect.
Figure 1 represents a sectional portion of the breech piece of a gun, shewing
the interior of the lock, the plunger, and cap striker; Figure 2 represents the
inside of the lock plate without the limbs, showing the dovetailed groove A, A,
in which the plunger works; Figure 3 is the tumbler, the hammer portion
of which 6 strikes the end of the plunger marked C in Figure 4; Figure 5
represents the front of the false breech, shewing the cap strikers in the
centre.
The sectional portion of breech piece d, d, d, Figure 1, is an iron body, into
which the front portion of the lock is fixed; but I do not confine myself to
any system of body or means of working or holding down the barrels, nor to
any other arrangements shewn in the Drawings, except the introduction and
working of the plunger, Figure 4, upon the lock plate a, a, Figure 2, which is
struck by the arm of the tumbler b, Figure 1, and is driven against the cap
striker e, e, which communicates the blow to the percussion cap or detonating
portion in the centre of the cartridge, and effects the discharge of the gun.
On raising the tumbler of the lock after the discharge by the ordinary lever f
the cap striker is returned by a spiral spring working upon it in a recess in
the false breech 9, 9, or by any other convenient means.
In Figure 1 the lock is represented at half-cock, and the same letters refer
to the same parts in all the Figures in the annexed Drawings, by which the
nature of my Invention will be seen.
Having now described the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, I declare that I claim the introduction of a percussion
plunger working inside the plate of an ordinary bar or front action gun lock,
by means of which arrangement I am enabled to make the central-fire breech-

page_text: loading gun of the same shape and proportions as the ordinary muzzle-loader,
and to convert the ordinary muzzle-loader into a central-fire breech-loader in
a manner that all the moving parts are protected from the moisture of the
atmosphere, and I claim the Invention of doing this in manner and for the
purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Hargrave Grey, have hereunto.
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
FREDERICK HARGRAVE GREY. (L.S.)