Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 24th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 10th Feb., 1888
I, EDWARD PALLISER of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall in the County of
Middlesex Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to firearms of the Martini Henry Class, having a pivotted
falling breech block, and it has for its object to cause the cartridges, when these are
automatically fed on to the brocch block from any suitable magazine arrangement to
be automatically pushed into the cartridge chamber by the act of lowering and raising
the breech block. For this purpose the breech block has two parallel vertical slots in
a longitudinal direction, into which pass the limbs of a forked carrier, that has a
curved tail passing down below the breech block and resting with its lower end upon
the bottom plate of the shoe. The tail of the carrier is connected by a link to the
nose or short arm of the lever that raises and lowers the breech block, so that on
moving this lever to first lower and then raise the breech block, it at the same time
actuates the carrier so as to cause its upward projecting fork to seize the cartridge
that has dropped on to the block and to push it forward into the cartridge chamber
sufficiently far to enable the nose of the breech block, which is specially rounded off
for this purpose, to complete the pushing in of the cartridge as it rises again, by
bearing against the base thereof. When the block is in the raised position the fork of
the carrier lies in the grooves so as to be flush with the upper surface of the block.
According to another modification the carrier is formed with only a single arm
acting at the side of the cartridge, the hollow of the breech block being so raised
that it guides cartridge into the chamber.
Dated this 24th day of February 1907
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improved Breech Action for Firearms.
I, EDWARD PALLISER of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall in the County of
Middlesex 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 :-
This invention relates to the breech action of fire-arms of the Martini, Peabody, and
Harston Class having a pivotted falling breech block, and it has for its object to cause
the cartridges, when these are automatically fed on to the breech block from any
suitable magazine arrangement, to be automatically pushed into the cartridge chamber
of the gun.
The invention consists in combining with the breech block for this purpose a carrier
which is so arranged and actuated by the lever that works the breech block, that when
the latter is in the lowered position and a cartridge has been delivered on to it from
the magazine, the carrier is situated at or near the rear end of the cartridge, while on
the upward movement of the lever, the first part of which is effected without at all
raising the breech block, the carrier is thereby made to move rapidly towards the
front end of the breech block, and in doing so to carry the cartridge into the
chamber.
On the upward or closing motion of the breech block, the carrier remains in the
forward position, and when the lever commences its motion for lowering the breech
block again, the carrier is thereby rapidly moved backward to the rear end again
before the breech block begins to fall.
The said carriers and their connection with the breech block and lever may be
variously constructed and arranged. By way of example I will proceed to describe
two such constructions with reference to the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 shews a
vertical longitudinal section of the breech mechanism of a gun, which may be that of
the ordinary Martini Henry rifle, and of which only so much is shewn as is necessary
to explain my invention. Fig. 2 shews a cross section on line X X Fig. 3 which
shews the same view as Fig. 1, but with the lever moved so as to bring the carrier
into the opposite position, the breech block remaining in the raised position. Fig. 4
shews the same view with the lever lowered still further so as to lower the breech
block. Fig. shows an inner side view of the part B of the breech block. Fig. 6
shews a plan of the breech block and Fig. 7 shews a side view of the carrier lever
detached.
The breech block A has a narrow slot A' formed on one side thereof, or it is narrowed
or has its one side cut away to receive a plate B which is fixed thereto in such a manner
as to leave the said narrow slot A¹ between them. In this slot is situated the carrier
lever C which is pivotted to the block A by a screwed pin D, the slot between A and B
being of such a form as to allow the carrier lever C to assume the two opposite
positions shewn at Figs. 1 and 3.
The carrier lever C is connected to the breech block lever E by means of a curved

page_text: link F, pivotted to a pin on the lever and having at its other end a pin that passos
through a slot C in the carrier C and enters a groove A² in the side of the block A.
The carrier lever C has its upper end slotted as shewn and has attached to it the
carrier head G by means of a pin G', shewn in dotted lines, passing through the
carrier head and through the slot of C, and also through a slot B' in the plate B, on
the outer side of which it has a head, so that by means of the pin G₁ the carrier
head G is caused to partake of the movement of the carrier lever C and at the same
time to follow the direction of the slot B¹. This slot may either be made to follow
the curvature of the hollow of the block A, as shewn, or it may be made straight.
In the former case the carrier head G will consequently travel along the curved
edge of the block A.
The notch or recess in the block A in which the nose of the lever E works, instead
of being made of the usual form whereby the lever is caused to raise or lower the
block directly after it begins to move, is enlarged considerably as shewn, so that when
the block is in the raised position as at Fig. 1 the lever E can be moved from the
position there shewn into the position shewn at Fig. 3 without lowering the block,
during which movement it will be seen that the lever will bring the carrier lever C
and carrier head G from the forward position at Fig. 1 to the backward position at
Fig. 3.
On continuing the downward motion of the lever E this will now move the block
into its lowest position which is somewhat below that shewn at Fig. 4, and during
such motion the block will first be made to act on the extractor of ordinary construc-
tion (not shown) so as to extract the empty case, after which the lever E will actuate
the magazine of whatever construction this may be so as to cause this to deliver a
cartridge on to the block. By a suitable spring action the lever E is then made to
move back again to a slight extent, whereby it is made to bear against the shoulder e
in the notch of the block, and consequently to raise this into the position shown at
Fig. 4.
While the block remains in this position the inner end of the lever E is
moved forward until it comes in contact with the part a of the slot of A, by which
motion it will, by means of the link F, move the carrier lever C and carrier head G
from the backward position into the forward one as shewn at W Fig. 4, and in doing
so, as the carrier head G bears against the end of the cartridge it will push this from
the position I into the chamber of the gun until it has assumed the position II. On
the further motion of the lever E (which is rendered possible by the slot C¹ of lever U)
it will begin to raise the block.
The front corner d of this being rounded off as shown in dotted lines at d it will,
in rising act upon the rear end of the cartridge so as to gradually push this home
into the chamber, after which by the time the lever has reached the point b of the
notch, the block will have been raised to its highest position in which it is then held
by the lever passing on to the curve c of the notch in completing its movement.
It will be evident that instead of having only one carrier lever, there may be two,
one on each side of the block A and instead of the pivotted carrier head G the lever (
may act direct in the case of one on each side being used, or a single one may have a
head fixed or formed thereon, in which case the slots in the lever and plate B or side
of the block may be dispensed with.
Fig. 8 shews another modification of my invention as applied to the modified
forme of Martini action for which I have obtained Letters Patent No. 3304 of
1886.
the
In this arrangement the breech block A is formed with two slots A¹ A¹ in the
positions shewn in the plan of the block at Fig. 9, in each of which slots is situated
a carrier C pivoted to the block at D and connected to the lever E by a link F,
hole in the carrier into which the pin of the link enters being slotted in order to allow
of the continued motion of the lever for raising the block A after the carrier C has
arrived at its extreme forward position, as described with reference to the previous
arrangement.
The action of the several parts is otherwise similar to that previously described.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is
1. In combination with the rising and falling breech block of a gun, the use of
carrier mechanism pivoted to the breech block and so arranged and actuated by the
ordinary breech block lever, as to automatically convey a cartridge situated on the
breech block into the chamber of the gun.
2. In carrier mechanism such as is referred to in the preceding claim, the com-
bination of a carrier lever C, pivoted at its lower end to the breech block A, a carrier
head G having a slotted connection with the carrier lever C. and with the block A, or
with a plate thereon and a link F connected at one end to a slot in the carrier lever
and at the other end to the breech block lever E substantially as and for the purpose
herein described with reference to Figs. 1 to 7 of the drawings.
3. In carrier mechanism such as is referred to in the first claim, the combination of
carriers C working in slots A¹ of the breech block and links F connected at one end
to slots in the carriers and at the other end to the breech block lover E substantially
as herein described with reference to Figs. 8 and 9 of the drawings.
4. In combination with carrier mechanism such as is referred to in the preceding
claims, so constructing the notch of the breech block in which its lever works, that
the lever can be moved in either direction for bringing the carrier to the forward or
backward positions before it begins to lower or raise the breech block substantially as
herein described.
Dated this 24th day of November 1887