improvements in the Actions of Breeon Loading sporting Guns and in Appliances for Automatically. Extracting the Empty Cartridge Case or Cases.
Year: 1886

page_text: improvements in the Actions of Breeon Loading sporting Guns,
and in Appliances for Automatically. Extracting the Empty
Cartridge Case or Cases.
I WILLIAM A'COURT GRANVILLE BIRKIN of Aspley Hall, Nottinghamshire,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of this invention is, to so arrange a spring or other appliance to or
in connection with the snap lever that on said snap lever being actuated the spring
is put into tension to force the breech end of the barrel or barrels up or open,
I also arrange in connection with the extractor pin, which is governed by a
spring, a lever operated from the joint pin, a tumbler block being forced up a given
distance and then caused to escape from the lever by a flat or other spring, the end
of the tumbler lever dropping through an opening formed in the under side of
the lump.
The end of the tumbler is so arranged that in the act of closing the gun the end
of the tumbler lever rides under the solid part and on reaching an aperture, it
suddenly springs up, at the same time, a nose of the tumbler block comes into
contact with a shoulder or lip of the hammer (internal) which is thrown back or
cocked the main spring being put into tension thereby.
A safety bolt is arranged in connection with the trigger, in such a manner that
a quarter turn causes it to lock the arm at safety or to open it ready for firing..
The joint pin is so shaped that a quarter turn will release it and allow of the
barrels being removed from the stock with the tail piece.

page_text: and in Appliances for Automatically Extracting the Empty
Cartridge Case or Cases.
I WILLIAM A'COURT GRANVILLE BIRKIN of Aspley Hall, Nottinghamshire,
Gentleman, 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:-
The object of this invention is to so arrange a spring or other appliance to or
in connection with the snap lever that on said snap lever being actuated the spring
is put into tension to force the breech end of the barrel or barrels up or open.
I also arrange in connection with the extractor pin which is governed by a
spring, a lever operated from the joint pin, a tumbler block being forced up a given
distance and then caused to escape from the lever by a flat or other spring, the end
of the tumbler lever, which forms part of the tumbler block, dropping through an
opening formed in the under side of the lump.
The end of the tumbler is so arranged that in the act of closing the gun, the end
of the lever rides under the solid part and on reaching an aperture it suddenly
springs up, at the same time, a nose of the tumbler block comes into contact with
a shoulder or lip of the hammer (internal) which is thrown back or cocked, the
main spring being put into tension thereby.
A safety bolt is arranged in connection with the triggers in such a manner that
a quarter turn causes it to lock the arm at safety or to open it ready for firing.
The joint pin is so shaped that a quarter turn will release it and allow of the
barrels being removed from the stock with the tail piece.
My invention is clearly shown in the annexed drawings Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 5, 6
and 7 in which A is the stock, B the barrel, C the tail piece, D is the pin on
which the barrel or barrels tilt. The lump E on the underside of the barrel is
carried to the extremity of the breech and has a cylindrical chamber F in which a
piston or plug G of the extractor H moves to and fro, in the back direction under
the action of a helical spring, and in the other by means of a lever I the end of
which rides in said chamber F for extraction purposes. The chamber has two
openings J and K and when the lever I noves in one direction in the opening of
the barrels to compress the helical spring as at Figure 2, the end L of the lever I,
when the barrels are fully tilted, passes out of the opening K and a spring M acting
on the tail end N of said lever I, causes it to bear against the lump E as at
Figure 3, the helical spring at this instant returning the extractor H to its first
position ready for the insertion of a fresh cartridge into the barrel B.
The pin D has a lever P whose fore end is in the path of an arm Q forming part
of the lever I and when the barrels are being closed said lever P strikes against the

page_text: arm Q and forces it down which causes N to come into contact with a nose piece R
to cock the hammer or striker S as seen at Figure 4 and as the breech becomes
fully closed the lever P slides past the end Q by putting an extra pressure on the
spring M the end K of the lever I having in the meantime arrived opposite_the
opening J and takes up its first position on the bottom of the breech casing T as
seen at Figure 1. The end L of the lever I then enters the chamber F and remains
there as at Figure 1 for the next opening of the breech this being effected by the
tilting of the barrel after the catch U of the snap or lever action V, see Figure 5,
has been operated, the striker S remaining cocked by the sear W retaining the
striker in that position and with the main spring X in tension for the striker to be
released when the trigger Y is next pulled.
The sear W is kept in its notch of the striker boss by a tail piece Z of the main
spring X the sear being on the same pin a as that which carries the triggers and in
such a position that when the trigger is pulled the back part b of the sear is lifted
to release its front end from the notch whereby the striker is let free to be forced
forward under the action of the main spring X.
c is the trigger spring.
If the barrels are sluggish in their tilting action they can be started in their lift
by a spring d, this being in connection with an arm e of a snap action as at
Figure 5.
Figure 6 is a back end view of the breech portion through the line 1-2 of
Figure 5 and Figure 7 is a cross section through the line 3-4 of Figure 4 to show
the construction of the tilting pin D a portion of which is cylindrical and a portion
flat; a V shaped slot f is formed terminating in a bayonet slot so that when the
pin D is turned in one direction it can be drawn outwards for the disengagement
or separation of the lump E therefrom when the barrels have to be removed such
as for packing them in a gun case. Instead of drawing the pin outwards for this
removal it can be turned by a key acting on the projecting part g to bring the flat
portion round for the release of the barrels.
The trigger Y is formed with a cylindrical aperture and a slot h leading there-
from. In this cylindrical aperture a rectangular. stem i of a safety bolt j is fitted
and when the bolt j is in the position indicated by full lines in Figure 5, the
stem i lays across the slot h and prevents the trigger being moved but when the
locking bolt is pushed round into the position indicated by dotted lines, the narrow
part of the stem i is brought opposite the slot h so that the triggers can be pulled
for the firing.
The lever P has an important function to perform in connection with extracting
the cartridge, it moves with the barrel in the opening operation and as it does so
it lifts the arm Q and forces the end L of lever I along the chamber F and brings
said end L into contact with the piston G but not until the breech end of the barrel
is sufficiently clear of the breech face to push the extractor outwards. In the con-
tinued upward movement of the breech end of the barrel, the lever P continues to
lift the arm Q and just as the barrels are fully opened the end of P escapes Q and
the end L of the lever I comes out of the opening K when the spring M forces it
against the curved part at the bottom of the lump E at which instant the extractor
returns to its first position ready for the insertion of a fresh cartridge into the
barrel. The barrels are then depressed and the end I rides along the curved part
towards the opening J, at the same time the lever P strikes upon the arm Q and
as the barrels continue their motion for the closing, the arm Q is pressed down
sufficiently far for the lever P to pass it. It is during the pressure of P upon Q
that the tail piece N cocks the striker, the spring M. retaining N in contact until
the next discharge takes place, the forward movement of the hammer pressing
down the tail piece N and putting the end L of the lever I into the chamber F so
that the next time the barrel is opened the end L rides along the chamber for the
extraction as before mentioned.

page_text: 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:-
The several improvements in breechloading sporting guns as hereinbefore
described notably
1. The lever I with its arm Q and tail piece N and the functions the several
parts perform in conjunction with the lever P for extracting the empty cartridge
case and cocking the hammer or striker S all as herein described and arranged
substantially as shown in the drawings.
2. The pin D shaped and arranged as herein before described by which a turning
operation releases the barrel or barrels as herein before set forth.
3. The safety bolt and its method of action in the cut away part of the trigger
as set forth.