IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Horsley, of 10, Coney Street, York,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 28th August 1868, and dated the 2nd March 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Horsley at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd March 1868.
I, THOMAS HORSLEY, of 10, Coney Street, York, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-
ARMS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to enable a person using a breech-
loading fire-arm to see readily whether it be loaded or not. For this
purpose I combine with the breech plate which closes the rear end of
the barrel a small pin capable of sliding to and fro in a corresponding
hole bored into the face of the plate. This pin is acted on at its rear
end by a small spring to cause its forward end to project somewhat
from the face of the plate. When a cartridge has been placed in the rear
end of the barrel and the breech is closed the pin will be pressed back

page_text: by the base of the cartridge, but if no cartridge is in the barrel then the
pin will remain projecting from the face of the plate. When the pin
is pressed backwards it is caused to act on a lever which lies in a slot
in the breech plate; this lever turns on an axis at its lower end, and at
its upper end, which projects out from the top of the breech plate, it
carries a plate or shield which if the pin is not pressed back covers
over the word "loaded," or it might be some other sign engraved or
marked upon the top of the breech plate. If, however, the pin is
pressed back it turns the lever on its axis so that the shield no longer
covers the word "loaded." Any one using the gun can thus at once
see if it be loaded.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Horsley in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HORSLEY, of 10, Coney Street, York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Thomas Horsley, Her special licence
that I, the said Thomas Horsley, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas Horsley, 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
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Horsley, 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas Horsley, 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 thereof, that is to say:-
The object of this Invention is to enable a person using a breach-
loading fire-arm to see readily whether it is loaded or not. For this
purpose I combine with the breech plate which closes the rear end of
the barrel a small pin capable of sliding to and fro in a corresponding
hole bored into the face of the plate; this pin is acted on at its rear
end by a small spring to cause its forward end to project somewhat
from the face of the plate. When a cartridge has been placed in the
rear end of the barrel and the breech is closed the pin will be pressed
back by the base of the cartridge, but if no cartridge is in the barrel,
then the pin will remain projecting from the face of the plate. When
the pin is pressed backwards it is caused to act on a lever which lies
in a slot in the breech plate; this lever turns on an axis at its lower
end and at its upper end, which projects out from the top of the breech
plate, it carries a plate or shield which if the pin is not pressed back
covers over the word "loaded," or it might be some other sign engraved
or marked upon the top of the breech plate. If, however, this pin is
pressed back it turns the lever on its axis so that the shield no longer
covers the word "loaded." Any one using the gun can thus at once
see if it be loaded.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood
and readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings
hereunto annexed.

page_text: hole bored vertically into the body and intersecting the hole in which
the pin a works. 6 is an indicator or shield plate fixed at the upper
end of the lever 61. The end of the pin a when there is no cartridge
in the barrel is caused by its spring to project beyond the face of the
breech plate, and the lever 6' and plate 6' are then in their most
forward position. The end of the pin a is inclined so that the head of
the cartridge in the barrel may not catch upon it in closing the breech,
and the cartridge as it comes up to the breech plate presses back the
pin a and the lever 6', and the indicator or shield plate 63 move back
with it. The shield plate in so moving back uncovers a part of the
top of the breech plate which it previously covered, and on this part
may be marked the word "loaded," and then the person using the arm
seeing this mark will know that there is a cartridge in the barrel.
It will be understood that each of the barrels is provided with its own
separate indicating parts.
What I claim is, the applying to breech-loading fire-arms a pin or
instrument which is displaced by the head of the cartridge when a
cartridge is in the barrel and the breech is closed, such pin or instrument
communicating motion to a readily observed indicator at the exterior of
the piece.
I also claim the arranging indicating apparatus substantially as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Horsley, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.