IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."-A com-
munication from abroad by Christopher Miner Spencer, of the City
of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th September 1861, and dated the 5th April 1861..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th April 1861.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention of improvements in breech-loading fire-arms consists in an
improved construction of the moveable breech and mode of locking the same,
whereby it is easily opened and closed, and very firmly secured in place during
the explosion of the 'charges.
The moveable part of the breech consists of two pieces, which are connected
together, and are worked, or opened and closed, by means of a lever which
forms the trigger guard. In that part of the moveable breech which is
opposite to the open end of the barrel is a slide which, when the parts are

page_text: closed, is opposite to the end of the cartridge, and is used for the purpose of
transmitting to the percussion priming the effect of the blow of the hammer.
The cartridge is made with a projecting hollow flange which abuts up against
the end of the barrel, and a serrated edge on the edge of the moveable breech
will strike against the projecting flange of the exploded cartridge and draw it
out of the barrel when the breech is opened to receive a new charge. The
cartridges may be either supplied by hand or from a magazine made in the
stock, from which they are pressed forward by a helical spring. A tongue or
lever is adapted to the gun stock, and is made, by means of a spring, to press
upon the top edge of the moveable breech-piece and serve as a guide for the
delivery of the exploded cartridge, and also to guide into the barrel the fresh
cartridge from the magazine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 5th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 BREACH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," being a com
munication from Christopher Miner Spencer, of the City, of Hartford, and
State of Connecticut, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improvements in Breech-loading Fire-arms" consists in
an improved construction of the moveable breech and mode of locking the
same, whereby it is easily opened and closed and very firmly secured in its
place during the explosion of the charge. In that part of the moveable breech
which is opposite to the open end of the barrel a slide is fitted for the purpose'
of transmitting to the percussion priming the effect of the blow of the hammer.
Another part of the Invention relates to certain contrivances in connection:
with the movable breech for the purpose of withdrawing the cases of the
discharged cartridges from the chamber of the barrel, and for conducting new
cartridges thereinto from a magazine in the stock.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a
gun with the improvements adapted thereto, the parts being in the position
required for firing; Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the breech and parts of the
stock, magazine, and barrel, exhibiting the parts in their relative positions at
one stage of the operation of loading; Fig. 3 is a top view of the same;
Fig. 4 is a transverse section right through the breech; Fig. 5 is a central
section of a ball cartridge of the kind used in the gun.
The barrel A is screwed into the breech holder B, which is secured by
screws to the stock C; E and F are the two principal portions of the moveable
breech, made of a width or thickness greater than the diameter of the bore of
the barrel, and fitted snugly into a slot a, a, a, provided for it in the breech
holder B in rear of the barrel. The sides of this slot are parallel with the
bore of the barrel, and the lower portion E of the breech which is secured to
the breech supporter by a screw pin b, has its front and back faces made of
an arc-form, concentric with the pin b, as shown at 'c and d, in Figures 1 and 2:
The arc d of the rear face has a greater radius than the arc c of the front face,
and between these are-formed faces there is in the upper part of the piece E
a recess e, f, extending all across it, for the reception of the piece F, which is
fitted snugly into, but in such manner as to slide freely within the recess in a
manner which will be understood by a comparison of Figures 1 and 2, under
the control of a trigger guard lever G, and spring 9. The lever G is attached
to the bottom of the piece E near the front thereof by a knuckle joint h, and

page_text: with a piece F by a pin joint i at the bottom of a stem j, which is rigidly
attached to the piece F, and passes through a hole provided for it in the
piece E. The spring g is applied between the bottom of the piece F and the
bottom of the recess e, f, in the piece E, and tends to force the piece F
upward or outward from the recess as far as permitted by the lever G, which
is brought by the spring into contact with the bottom of the piece E, as shown
in Fig. 1. The upper face d' of the piece F is in the form of an arc, corre-
sponding with the larger arc d of the piece E, and the recess e, f, must be
deep enough to allow the piece F to be received entirely within it, so that the
face d¹ may be flush with the arc d, as shown in Fig. 2. The slot a; a', a³,
for the reception of the breech E, F, is made of a similar form to the breech,
the lower part fitting to the arces c, d, and the upper part being formed to
receive the piece F, which, when forced upward by the spring g, fits very
snugly against the back portion a' of the upper part. The barrel terminates
in the face of the upper portion of the front of the slot, and the front face k
of the piece F constituting the face of the breech may or may not fit close up
to the face a, according to the kind of cartridge used. In the arrangement
represented in the Drawing, the face k of the moveable breech does not fit
close to the face a of the barrel, as the gun is constructed to use a cartridge
with a metallic case H (Fig. 5), and having a flange. all round its rear, to
retain it in the chamber after its charge has been fired, such flange being
hollow and containing a percussion priming.
When the breech is in the proper position for firing, as represented in Fig. 1,
it is locked by the piece F fitting to the upper part a', a, of the slot in the
breech holder; and the upper portion a of the rear of the slot receives the
force of the recoil from the piece F. To open the breech the lever G is drawn
down away from the stock, and during the first part of this movement of the
lever the piece E cannot move with it because this piece is locked by the
piece F, but the latter begins to move down out of the upper part of the slot
in the breech holder as soon as the lever G starts, and when the piece F is
drawn down into the recess e, f, by the continued movement of the lever the
piece E is unlocked, and the two pieces E, F, both move together with the
lever G. When this lever has been moved down as far. as permitted by a
fixed stop m, which enters a groove w in the arcs d and d¹, as shown in
Fig. 2, a cartridge can be introduced by hand through the rear muzzle
of the barrel from the upper opening of the slot a, a', a², of the breech holder,
or it can be received in front of the face k of the breech from the magazine I
that is formed in the stock. In moving the lever G back to close the breech
the piece F cannot move in the cavity e, f, of the piece E till the whole of it

page_text: arrives opposite to the narrow upper portion a¹, a³, of the cavity in the breech
holder B, when it is forced upward into the portion a³, a², as shewn in Fig. 1,
by the spring g. The whole breech is then locked till sufficient force is applied
to the lever G in a downward direction to overcome the pressure of the spring g
in order to allow the piece F to pass to or nearly to the bottom of the recess e,f.
Recesses of sufficient depth to receive the spring when compressed are
provided in the pieces E and F, as shown by dots in the Figures. J is the slide
upon which the hammer L strikes, and which is driven forward by the hammer
against the rear flange of the cartridge to effect the explosion of the charge.
This slide J is fitted to a groove in the side of the piece F, and its front end is
made of suitable form to cut the flange of the cartridge, and so fire the
priming when it is driven forward by the hammer falling against it. The
slide J is attached to the breech E by a screw or pin p, which passes through
a slot p' in the slide, and is fast in the breech. q is a narrow serrated pro-
jection provided on the face of the smaller arc c of the piece E of the breech,
for the purpose of catching the flanges 1 of the cases of the discharged cartridges
so as to pull them out from the chamber of the barrel as the breech opens, and
in the upper part a¹, a² of the slot in the breech holder there is arranged a
tongue K, which is hinged at r to the breech holder B, at the back of the
slot, and which has a spring s so applied as to cause its front extremity always
to bear upon the moveable breech E. This tongue K, when the breech is
closed rests on the piece F, but as the breech opens the tongue K drops over
the piece F on to the smaller arc c of the piece E, and so serves to prevent
the discharged cartridge case from dropping back in front of the face k of the
breech, and to guide it out of the breech supporter as the serrated projection q
draws it out of the chamber. This tongue K also serves to prevent the full
cartridges from dropping out of the magazine when the breech is opened, and
also conducts them to a proper position in front of the face k of the breech to
enable them to be forced into the chamber of the barrel by the act of closing
the breech. The cartridges are forced from the magazine I as required by a
spiral spring t applied at their rear. As the breech closes it pushes the
tongue K upward out of its way. To prevent the tongue K from interfering
with the action of the serrated projection q the tongue is grooved at its end to
allow the projection to pass through it. The tongue K works in the groove w
which is provided in the arcs d, d, of the breech for the reception of the
stop m before described. A narrow groove u is provided in the lower portion
of the front of the slot a, a', a², and in the lower portion of the chamber
of the barrel for the serrated projection q to work in, and a projecting tongue v
is provided in the piece F of the moveable breech E for the purpose of filling

page_text: the groove when the breech is closed and thereby preventing the bursting of
the cartridge case into the groove and any consequent difficulty of removing
the cartridge.
Having now described this Invention of "Improvements in Breech-loading
Fire-arms," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as
aforesaid,
The mode herein set forth of constructing and operating the breech part of
the gun.
I also claim the use of the slide J in combination with the moveable breech
and hammer for the purpose herein specified.
I further claim the use of the serrated projection 9 on the breech and the
tongue K for the purpose herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)