IMPROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Talbot Pitman, of the American and European
Patent Offices, No. 67, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS."-A com-
munication.
Sealed the 28th November 1856, and dated the 12th September 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Talbot Pitman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th September 1856.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices,
5 No. 67, Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN REPEATING FIRE-ARMS," a
communication from a foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to that description of repeating fire-arms, in which
a chambered cylinder is arranged to rotate on an axis parallel with the barrel.
The main object of the Invention is to enable the operations of rotating the
breech and firing to be performed easily with a simple arrangement of mecha-
nism operated by a single pull on one trigger. In order to accomplish this, I
adopt certain arrangements and combinations of the parts of the lock, by which
the hammer is made self-cocking after every fire, and the mainspring is

page_text: relieved from all strain, while the hammer remains cocked. I also employ
certain novel devices by which the rotating of the cylinder, the locking of the
same at the time of firing, and the letting off of the hammer are effected.
The chambered cylinder has on its rear end a series of ratchet-formed notches
radiating from the centre, and terminating at their outer extremities in holes
drilled a little deeper than the notches. By these notches and holes operated
upon by a dog working through a slot in the recoil shield, and driven by the
mechanism of the lock, the cylinder is revolved and locked at the proper
moments. The cylinder is provided with nipples set obliquely, as usual, and is
fitted to the stock and barrel in any convenient way, so as to admit of rotation.
The hammer is enclosed within the stock, where it swings on the same pivot as
the trigger, which occupies the usual position. The hammer is made as long
as possible consistently with its swinging inside of the stock, and is arranged
direetly in line with the barrel. It has a tumbler, as usual, but the tumbler
has only one notch. The sere is not attached to the trigger, but hung on a
separate pin; it is in the form of a pawl, and is thrown into the notch of the
tumbler by means of a spring to hold the hammer at cock.
The mainspring is of the bent form, known as the U spring; it is fitted at
its but end to work on a transverse pin or pivot, and its point is connected by a
link or stirrup with the tumbler of the hammer. A small spring is so placed
as to press upward against the upper limb of the mainspring, so as to give the
rear portion of that spring a tendency to rise and its point to fall and draw
down the tumbler, and thus throw back the hammer. This tendency can only
act however while the mainspring is free to move on its pivot, which is always
the case when the trigger is free; it follows that the hammer will always be
thrown back and cocked after each fire.
A lever works on the same pivot with the mainspring, and has a long and
short arm, so arranged that the short arm shall by pressure on the mainspring
develop its elasticity at the proper moment while the long arm works the dog,
which operating through a vertical slot in the recoil shield rotates the chamber
cylinder and locks it when required. Motion is given to this lever by a cam,
which forms part of the trigger, and operates upon a projection or toe of the
lever; this cam also throws the sere out of the notch of the tumbler to let the
hammer fall to discharge the piece when the trigger is pulled.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Talbot Pitman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th March 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices, No. 67, Grace-
church Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Talbot Pitman, Her special licence that I, the said John Talbot
Pitman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Talbot Pitman, or my executors, administrators, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 REPEATING FIRE-ARMS," a communication from a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Talbot Pitman, 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 per-
formed, 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 John Talbot Pitman, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a side view of my improved pistol, having part of one side of the
stock removed to shew the lock; this view represents all the parts in the position
they assume when the pistol is not in use. Figure 2 is a view similar to
Figure 1, but shewing the parts in the position they occupy at the instant of
firing. Figure 3 is a rear view of the cylinder, illustrating the mode of rotating
and locking the cylinder. Figure 4 shews the sight at the breech. Similar
letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
This Invention relates to that description of repeating fire-arms in which a

page_text: chambered cylinder is arranged to rotate on an axis parallel with the barrel.
The main object of the Invention is to enable the operations of rotating the
breech and firing to be performed easily with a simple arrangement of mecha-
nism operated by a single pull on one trigger. In order to accomplish the
above result, an important part of the Invention consists in certain arrange-
ments and combinations of the parts of the lock by which the hammer is made
self-cocking after every fire, and the mainspring is relieved from all strain
while the hammer remains cocked. Other features of the Invention consist
in certain novel arrangements and combinations of mechanical devices, by
which the rotating of the cylinder, the locking of the same at the time of
firing, and the letting off of the hammer are effected.
In the accompanying Drawings A is the chambered cylinder, which is con-
structed at its rear end with a series of ratchet-formed notches a, a, radiating
from the centre at equal distances apart, as shewn in Figure 3, and terminating
at their outer extremities in holes b, b, drilled into the solid portion of the
cylinder a short distance beyond the bottom of the notches. The number of
the above notches and holes corresponds with the number of chambers in the
cylinder. The cylinder is also intended to be provided with nipples set obliquely
into the rear of the several chambers; but this arrangement of nipples is the
same as that in other revolvers, and constitutes no part of my Invention. The
cylinder may be fitted to the stock S and barrel G in any well-known manner,
so as to be capable of the necessary rotary motions. B is the hammer, which
is enclosed entirely within the stock, where it swings on the same pivot c as the
trigger C, the position of which is nearly the same as in ordinary fire-arms.
The hammer is made as long as possible consistently with its swinging in the
stock, and is placed in the middle of the stock in line with the barrel, and so as
to strike the nipple of the chamber that is uppermost. The hammer is formed
with a tumbler h, substantially like the tumblers of ordinary gun locks, but
having only one notch d. D is the sere, which instead of being attached to the
trigger, as in other locks, is made in the form of a pawl, and hung on a separate
pin e, placed in front of the tumbler, and is thrown back into the notch d of the
tumbler, as shewn in Figure 1, to hold the hammer cocked, by means of a spring
within the stock. E is the mainspring, which is of the bent form known as
the spring. This spring, instead of having its but end secured rigidly to the
stock, like the mainspring of other fire-arms, is fitted to work on a transverse
pin or pivot g, and at its point it is connected by a link or stirrup i with the
tumbler h. F is a smaller spring, arranged to work within the bend of the
mainspring; this spring F is attached firmly to the stock at one end by a

page_text: screw k, and the other end presses upward against the upper limb of the main-
spring, producing a tendency of the rear portion of the mainspring to rise, and
of the point thereof, which connects with the hammer, to fall and draw down
the tumbler, and thus to throw back the hammer. Instead of the spring F,
another for the same purpose may be formed, by extending in the proper
direction the upper limb of the mainspring, pivotted as before named, until
the end rests against a shoulder in the upper part of the stock. This tendency,
however, can only act while the mainspring is free to move on the pivot g, at
which time its own elasticity can have no play but by the peculiar action of
mechanism yet to be described. The mainspring is always set free to move
on the pivot, and therefore exerts no elasticity of its own when the trigger C is
left free, and therefore the hammer is always thrown back by the action of the
spring F as soon as the trigger is set free after a discharge, far enough for the
sere D to fall into the notch d of the tumbler and cock it, as shewn in Figure 1.
The motion beyond that point is prevented by a stop Z. H is a lever working
on the same pivot g, to which the mainspring is fitted, and having a long and
short arm, the latter of which is made to lap over on the mainspring E, and
the former is made with a toe m to rest on a lifting cam C¹, which forms one
piece with the trigger. The action of the spring E on the main spring when
the trigger is set free causes the short arm of the lever H that overlaps the
mainspring to be raised, and the longer arm to be consequently depressed, and
the toe of the latter arm pressing on the edge of the cam C¹ throws the latter
back, and runs down to the bottom of it, as shewn in Figure 1, thus throwing
forward the trigger; but when the trigger is pulled back the cam C', acting on
the toe m, lifts up the long arm of the lever, as shewn in Figure 2, and causes
the short arm to press down upon the mainspring and depress the bend thereof,
thus producing a tendency of the point of the spring which is connected with
the tumbler to rise; but as the tumbler is held by the sere, the point of the
spring is prevented from rising, and thus the spring is strained so as to develope
its elasticity to act in an upward direction on the tumbler. The strain of the
spring increases as the drawing back of the trigger continues, but by the time
the toc m is raised nearly to the top of the cam, where the lever will produce
the greatest strain on the mainspring, and give it the greatest force, the cam
C¹ comes in contact with the sere D, and a very slight movement serves to
throw the sere out of the notch d, and set free the hammer, which now having
the full force of the mainspring upon it is driven violently forward to strike
the nipple and explode the charge.
The rotation of the cylinder is effected by means of a dog n, attached by a

page_text: joint to the extremity of the long arm of the lever, and passing through an
upright slot p made through the recoil shield 1 on one side of the arbor t of the
cylinder to the notches a, a, in the cylinder. The position of the slot p rela-
tively to the cylinder is represented in Figure 3, where the slot is shewn in
outline. The dog forms an angle with the lever, and a spring q is applied
between them, which tends to throw the point of the dog towards the cylinder.
When the trigger is free, as shewn in Figure 1, the dog lies in a notch occu-
pying the position a*, as indicated in Figure 3; but as the dog is raised by the
action of the lever II when the trigger is drawn, the rotary movement of the
cylinder produced by the dog causes the hole 6 at the end of the notch to
approach the slot, and by the time the cylinder has moved as far as required
the hole is directly opposite the slot, where the dog falls into it, as shewn in
dotted outline in Figure 2, thus locking the cylinder so as to be incapable of
rotating either way. The falling of the dog into the notch takes place before
the sere is thrown out of the notch d. When the trigger is liberated after the
discharge, and the long arm of the lever is thrown down by the action of the
spring F, to effect the re-cocking of the hammer, the dog n is drawn out of
the hole b, and moved down the slot p to the next notch a by the movement of
the lever.
Having thus described my Invention, what I claim under the above in part
recited Letters Patent is as follows,-
. 1. I claim, in combination with the arrangement of the mainspring to work
on a pivot, so as to be capable of relief from all strain, except at the time of
firing, the application to said spring of a spring F, operating upon it, as
described, to draw back and effect the cocking of the hammer, substantially as
herein described.
2. I claim, in combination with the arrangement of the mainspring to work
on a pivot as described, the lever II and the cam C¹ on the trigger operating
together, and upon the mainspring, substantially as specified, to strain and
develope the elasticity of the mainspring by the act of drawing the trigger
to fire.
3. I claim sere D, as arranged, entirely disconnected from the trigger, and
operated upon to set free the tumbler by means of a cam C¹ on the trigger,
substantially as herein described.
4. The attachment of the dog which operates in the ratchet a, a, on the
cylinder to the same lever II, by which the strain is thrown on to the main-
spring.
5. And, finally, I claim the arrangement of the slot p in the recoiled shield,

page_text: and the holes b, b, at the end of the ratches a, a, on the cylinder, whereby the
cylinder is locked, so as to be incapable of rotation in either direction before
the hammer is let off, substantially as herein set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Talbot Pitman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JOHN TALBOT PITMAN. (L.S.)