IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE GUNS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Willard Brigham Farwell, of the City, County,
and State of New York, United States of America, for the Inven-
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Willard Brigham Farwell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 12th September 1874, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLARD
BRIGHAM FARWELL, of the City, County, and State of New York,
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINE GUNS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my
executors, administrators, and assigns; Her Royal Letters Patent for the
same, and have made solemn Declaration that I am the true and first
Inventor thereof; that I am the sole owner thereof,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Willard Brigham Farwell, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the three accompanying Sheets of
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say):
This Invention relates to several improvements in machine guns, and
consists more particularly in a new arrangement of mechanism for
feeding the cartridges into the barrels; in a new mechanism for con-
fining the cartridges in their places within the barrels when firing; in a
new apparatus for locking the breech closers; new means for exploding
the charges; and a novel arrangement of mechanism for pointing the
gun and traversing it.
By the present Invention the mechanism of a machine gun is greatly
simplified, and greater efficiency of operation obtained, the most
important feature of the Invention being in the new feeding apparatus
and in the traversing mechanism, by which the range or sweep of the
gun is with mechanical absolute certainty adjusted after each firing in
a new direction to thus secure the most powerful effect possible with a
given number of charges.
t
My Invention derives its chief value from this fact, that by its means
the proportion of cartridges actually utilized in firing upon an enemy is
greatly increased, that therefore a smaller amount of ammunition need
be carried with a gun, and that consequently the cost of transporting
ammunition is immensely reduced. In connection with a series of
barrels, which are arranged horizontally side by side, this traversing
mechanism is eminently valuable, because thereby the range of each
barrel is changed at each new adjustment of the gun sideways, whereas
in the Gatling gun, for example, by each adjustment the range of one of
the barrels only is actually varied, because all the barrels are only fired
when vertically above the axis of the longitudinal pivot around which
they turn.
C
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 represents a longitudinal
vertical section of my improved machine gun, the section being taken
21
ח
.
11

page_text: SCHOW
Figure 3 is vertical transverse section on the line of the operating
shaft H.
Figure 4, a top view of the mechanism below the barrels.
Figure 5 is a detail face view of the toothed traversing wheel on the
working shaft.
Figure 6, a detail side view of the notched bar for locking and
disengaging the hammer; and Figure 7, a top view partly in section of
the gun.
Figure 8 is a detail cross section of a modification of the feed
magazine.
Figure 9 is a detail longitudinal section; and Figure 10, a top view
partly in section of said modification.
Figure 11 is a detail section of the breech end of a barrel showing a
modification of the hammer.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
A, A, A, in the Drawing are the barrels of the gun, which are
arranged side by side and mounted on a frame B, which has trunnions C, C,
that are supported in the gun carriage D, a suitable turntable E-being
interposed between the gun carriage and the frame that receives the
trunnions to allow for adjusting the gun laterally by the traversing
mechanism herein-after more fully described. F is the elevating and
depressing serow working in a nut a that is sunk mto the carriage D,
the upper end of said screw entering a cylindrical cap 6 that supports
the rear or breech end of the frame B, so that by turning the tail
screw F the frame & will be vibrated on the trunnions O, and the
barrels A, A, thereby set at a suitable inclination, according to the range
which it is desired to obtain.
The traversing mechanism consists principally of a worm or screw G,
which has its bearings in the back portion of the frame B, and passes.
through a nut d, which is by a longitudinal dovetail-shaped pro-
jection e connected with the cap 6 herein-before mentioned, that is to

page_text: say, the dovetail e enters a corresponding groove in the upper part of
the cap b. The dovetail connection e allows the nut d to slide longi-
tudinally on the cap b, so that thus when the tail screw F is worked the
change of inclination is transmitted to the back part of the frame B
through the longitudinal spontaneous motion of the nut d on the cap b,
that is to say, provided that the axis of the worm G is brought vertically
above and in line with the axis of the tail screw F when the barrels A
are all in a horizontal position then it is evident that if the muzzle ends
of the barrels are to be pointed downwards by the elevation of the cap
the axis of the worm G will be displaced further backwards, whereas
the said worm will be displaced further forward when the muzzles of
the barrels are pointed upwardly, and the afore-mentioned sliding
mechanism between the nut d and cap b is to enable the screw G to be
thus disposed forwardly or backwardly in accordance with the direction.
in which the barrels may bc pointed.
b
It will be observed that by the dovetailed connection with the cap b
the nut d is also prevented from being laterally displaced. In the back
part of the frame 6 is hung transversely a horizontal shaft H, which has
a crank fat one end, so that by means of said crank it may be revolved
for operating the gun. At one end of the shaft H is fitted upon the
same a toothed wheel g, which by a suitable clutch lever may be moved
lengthwise on said shaft to be thrown in gear either with a toothed
wheel or with a pinion i. When by sliding it on the shaft H the
wheel g is thrown in gear either with a toothed wheel h, said toothed wheel
being mounted upon the shaft of the worm G, then the said worm will
be revolved in a direction opposite to that in which the shaft H is being
revolved by means of the crank f, but when the wheel g is thrown into
gear with the pinion i said pinion turning loose on a suitable arbor j,
then another pinion 7 which is connected with i will mesh into the teeth
of the wheel h, and cause the worm G to revolve in the same direction
in which the shaft H is being turned by means of the crank f. Thus by
merely shifting the wheel g on the shaft H the rotation of the worm G
may be reversed at pleasure. By rotating the worm G the nut d will
affect the worm thread thereof, so as to displace the worm as it is being
turned laterally, and thus traverse the entire frame B with all its appen-
dages, and consequently also the barrels. After the gun has been
traversed in one direction it can by shifting the wheel g be readily
traversed in the opposite direction, and thus the field in front of the gun.

page_text: can be swept at pleasure. The wheel g is to be provided with a limited
number of teeth only, so that an intermittent rotary motion will only be
applied to the worm G, it being necessary to perform the traversing
operation previous to the firing of the barrels, and therefore it would be
injurious to the mechanism and to the proper operation of the gun to
impart a continuous rotary motion to the worm G, as in that case the
barrels would be in the traversing motion even while being fired, the
firing operation being also controlled by the rotation of the shaft H;
but it is also desirable to regulate the degree of turning to which the
worm G is subjected during each rotation of the shaft H, because when
the gun is set to take the range of the enemy, say, 200 yards distant
from the gun, the traversing motion must be larger than when an enemy
who is, say, a thousand yards from the gun is to be reached, as the
divergency of the angle of adjustment will be greatly increased with the
increased distances. It is consequently desirable to give the gun more
traversing motion when the enemy is nearer, and less when he is farther
away from the gun, and for this purpose I make the few teeth which I
provide on the wheel g adjustable therein, so that I can push any suitable
number of teeth inwardly and out of effect, and leave any desired number
projecting outwardly and in effective position. The teeth of the wheel g
have therefore slotted shanks that are connected by bolts to the body of
the wheel g, or they have projecting bolts that pass through radial slots
of the wheel g, and in either case the said teeth can be pushed inward so
that they will not affect the pinion i or the wheel h, or they can be
brought outward in gear with the said pinion i or wheel h. Thus when,
for instance, for obtaining a short range it is desirable to use eight teeth
on the wheel-g the surpins number of teeth is pushed inward for a longer
range. This part of the Invention is fully shown in Figure 5 of the
Drawing.
In line with the bore of each barrel A is arranged a cylindrical breech
closer I, within which the firing needle m is contained. All the several
breech closers I are by downwardly projecting pins n respectively con-
nected with a longitudinally movable frame J, which slides in the
frame B, and rests between upwardly projecting pins q, q, of toothed
racks o, o, that mesh into toothed segments p, which project from a rock
shaft L. The rock shaft L is vibrated by cam and crank connection
with the shaft H in the requisite manner, and when vibrated it imparts
its motion to the toothed segments p, and moves the racks o and by their

page_text: .
means the frame J forward or backward as may be required, and with
that frame the breech closers I. The breech closers move in the rear
parts of the barrels, and behind them are arranged in said barrels the
firing hammers M, M, which are all made in the form of double-headed
pins that are embraced between their heads by spiral springs 8. Tho
rear end of each spring & abuts against a shoulder t formed in the rear
part of the barrel, so that the spring may be contracted by pushing the
hammer M as far back in the barrel as it is possible to push the same,
as in Figure 1, in which case the spring will be contracted between the
front head of the hammer M and the said shoulder t. In this position
the hammer M is locked by means of a transversely sliding plate N that
enters through a slot in the rear part of the barrels from beneath, and
stands in front of the rear head of the hammer. The plate N is notched
at proper intervals, so that when it is laterally moved after having locked
the hammer the notches will successively come in line with the rear
heads of the hammers M, and thus release said rear heads, and allow the
springs & to expand and propel the hammers successively forward against
the firing pins m in the barrels. ⚫
I prefer to fire the barrels of the gun successively, that is to say, to
first fire one barrel and then another, and so on until they have all been
discharged and then to reload and again fire the barrels successively. In
order to do this the afore-mentioned notches in the plate N are so placed
that when the notch pertaining to the first barrel arrives in line with
the hammer of the first barrel, so as to release the same all the other
barrels will still retain their hammers in the locked position. A slight
additional motion of the bar N will release the hammer of the second
barrel but still lock the remaining hammers. A still further slight side
motion of N will release the third barrel, &c., so that thus successive
firings of the several barrels will be attained. The bar N receives its
motion transversely in the frame B by a lever u,
cam that is mounted upon the shaft H, the
projecting into a cam groove of the cam to receive the requisite
vibrating motion from the same.
which is vibrated by a
lever u having a pin
It will be observed that by firing the barrels successively instead of
firing them simultaneously, the recoil which would be very material in
a simultaneous discharge is greatly reduced, in fact diminished to such
an extent as to be hardly preceptible, and that nevertheless by one
rotation of the shaft H all the barrels will be discharged which is fully

page_text: as much in the matter of speed as could be attained were the barrels all
discharged simultaneously during one rotation of the working shaft.
The cartridges after they have been exploded leave their shells within
the breech parts of the barrels, that is to say, directly in front of the
breech closers I. These shells are after firing withdrawn by means of
the cartridge extractors O.
The extractors are plates that are fitted when the breech closers I
bear against the cartridges under said breech closers into slots formed in
the lower portions of the barrels or cartridge chambers, and they are all
connected to a plate or bar P that extends transversely under the barrels
parallel and in front of the plate or frame J herein-before referred to.
The plate P has toothed racks w projecting backwardly and meshing
into the toothed segments x that are mounted upon a rock shaft S hung
in the frame B. The rock shaft S is vibrated by a crank connection y
with a cam z that is mounted upon the shaft H, so that during each
rotation of the shaft H the shaft S will be rocked first backwards and
then forwards. When the shaft 8 is rocked backwards its toothed
segments carry the bar P also backwards, and thereby take the
cartridge extractors O backward and cause them with their prongs at the
front ends to withdraw the cartridge shells, and to drop them through
the openings that are formed by the backward movement of the extractors
in front of them.
SMP
Before a new cartridge is placed in the barrel the extractors are again
moved forward to form supports for the new cartridges and to prevent
the latter from falling through. After the cartridge extractors have
been moved forward and the cartridges dropped in from above upon
them as herein-after described, the breech closers I are moved forward
and carry the cartridges ahead into the breech ends of the barrels and
hold them there until fired. But in order to prevent the breech closers I
from yielding backwardly during the explosion of the cartridges under
the influence of the expanding gases, the said breech closers are
especially locked by means of the afore-mentioned bar J, which besides its
longitudinal motion is also capable of receiving transverse reciprocating
motion from a lever T which is pivoted to the frame B, and which has
a pin projecting into a groove of a cam a³ that is mounted upon the
shaft H.
When the frame or plate J and with it each of the breech closers is in

page_text: so as to carry its projecting arms 6, shown in Figure 4, directly behind
the back edge of the openings in the barrels in which the extractors O
move when liberated. The arms 62 lock the breech closers I in their
forward position, and prevent them from being pushed backwards by
the force of the explosion of the cartridges. After firing the first motion
is a transverse motion of the bar J, whereby its arms b² are carried clear
away from and out of line of the barrels allowing the breech closers
thereupon to be moved backwards, and the cartridge extractors to follow
in the manner already shown.
The motion imparted to the frame J and breech closers is greater than
that of the cartridge extractors, so that by the backward motion of the
breech closers the hammers also may be crowded back and their springs
contracted, and the hammers then locked in the cocked position herein-
before mentioned. The pins n of the breech closers enter transverse
slots of the plate J to allow the latter to move laterally as described.
Directly above the openings which are formed in the lower parts of the
barrels for the reception of the cartridge extractors are formed in the
upper parts of said barrels openings for the reception of cartridges from
the magazine. This magazine U consists principally of a transversely
sliding frame, which is by longitudinal partitions d³, d², divided into a
series of compartments or chambers, each compartment having the size
necessary for the reception of one cartridge. Intermittent transverse
rectilinear motion is imparted to this magazine U by means of a pawl e³,
which is actuated by a locking lever V, that receives its motion from a
cam W on the shaft H. After each discharge of the cartridges in the
barrels the magazine U is moved by means of said pawl, which enters a
toothed rack formed at the side of the magazine sufficient to bring one
new chamber and cartridge over each barrel, so that the cartridge in said
chamber may be dropped into the barrel upon the cartridge extractor to
be pushed into place by the breech closer. During the motion which is
imparted to the magazine U by means of the pawl said magazine is
carried against a spring f³ contracting said spring, so that finally when
all the chambers of the magazine have been emptied it will only be
necessary to disengage the pawl e from off the rack on the magazine to
enable the said spring få to carry the magazine back into the first
position. This disengaging of the pawl from the rack may be made to
take place automatically by means of a pin m³ projecting from the side.
of the upper magazine and actuating the pawl at the proper time to

page_text: release it from the rack, or by any other means. For charging the
magazine I use the inverted magazine X of the same: size and con-
struction substantially as the magazine U, but inverted as shown. This
magazine X is filled with cartridges, one in each chamber, and has its
lower openings closed by means of two slides 93 and 73: The slide g?
closes say every five alternate chambers and the slide /* every remaining
set, of five chambers, both said plates being open, in line with the solid
parts of each other.
When the magazine X has been placed over the magazine U in the
manner shown it is only necessary first to draw the slide 9³ so as: to
bring-its solid portions under the solid portion of the slide ³, thereby
the chambers that were closed by the slide 93 are all opened and their
cartridges discharged into the corresponding chambers of the magazine U.
The slides and-hare then moved simultaneously to bring their solid
portions under the chambers that were last emptied, and the chambers
that have been closed by h³ are thereby emptied into the remaining cor--
responding chambers of the lower magazine. The magazine X is then
entirely emptied, and can be removed from the magazine U, leaving the
same in condition to charge the barrels five times or more if a larger
number of chambers is provided in said magazine for each barrel.
In Figures 8, 9, and 10 I have shown a modification of the feed
magazine U which enables me to dispense entirely with the upper
magazine X, and also with the slides 9³ and hª. In this modification the
said feed magazine is also made with series of chambers that are open at
the bottom, and under it is a ladder-like frame A³, which has a rung
for every chamber of the magazine. These rungs pass through slots in
the sides of the magazine-U, so that thus the frame A and the said
magazine are intimately connected with each other; though capable of a
degree of play equal to the length of the slots through which the rungs
pass.
9.
When the rungs are under the chambers of the magazine, as in
Figure 9; the cartridges contained therein are held in place and cannot
fall out. In this position the magazine is applied to the gun. After
application to the gun the frame A³ is pulled to bring its rungs away.
from under the cartridges, and the latter then drop upon a plate 8³, which
is directly above the barrels, having an opening t³ over each barrel. The
magazine is thereupon. moved by pawl and rack, as herein-before

page_text: described, once after every discharge of the barrels to resupply them with
cartridges until the magazine is entirely empty.
Instead of pulling the frame A' after the magazine has been placed on
the gun the said frame may by a projecting wedge on the gun or other-
wise be moved automatically after application to ensure the deposition of
cartridges upon the plate 8³. After the cartridges are on 8 the frame A
will join the magazine in its intermittent rectilinear motion, aiding
thereby in pushing the cartridges successively into the barrels.
Figure 11 represents a modification of the hammer arrangement in the
barrel. This form of hammer M2 is tubular and not double headed, the
spring & playing within the hammer resting against the closed front end
thereof and against a shoulder on the cascabel plate. The locking
bar N enters a notch of the tubular hammer through a slot in the
barrel A, and serves to lock and release the hammer in the manner
already described.
In order to prevent the hammer from turning in the barrel I provide
it with a projecting feather f³, that enters a groove in the barrel, and
vice versa.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as new and desire to
secure by Letters Patent is,-
b
1st. The combination of the tail screw F with the swivel cap 6 and
with the dovetail attachment e of the nut d of the traversing apparatus
substantially as specified.
2ndly. The working shaft H carrying the adjustable wheel g and com-
bined with the pinion i, toothed wheel h, and traversing worm G for
operation substantially as described.
3rdly. The wheel g for transmitting the traversing motion made with
sliding teeth that can be drawn inwards out of effect or pushed outwards,
as and for the purpose described.
4thly. The combination of the cylindrical breech closer I containing
the firing pin m with the double-headed hammer M, spring 8, and with
the shoulder t formed within the barrel, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
5thly. The laterally movable bar N arranged in a machine gun so
that it enters the barrels to lock the firing hammers M in the manner

page_text: described, and notched at intervals to cause the barrels to be fired suc-
cessively and not simultaneously, as set forth.
6thly. The bar J combined with the breech closers I, and with
mechanism whereby it is moved backward and forward and also laterally
to carry the breech closers into the proper positions, and to lock the
same during the firing operation, as specified.
7thly. The combination of the lower magazine U, which is subdivided
into chambers with a series of bands A, A, and with a pawl e³ and
actuating lever V, substantially as described.
8thly. The combination of the inverted magazine X, which is sub-
divided as described with the slides 9 and and with the main
magazine U, which has an intermittent rectilinear motion, as described.
9thly. The frame A³ combined with the cartridge magazine U, as
described.
10thly. The tubular hammer M³ arranged to embrace the spring 8 and
guided at f³, as specified.
11thly. In a machine gun containing a series of barrels rigidly con-
nected together, mechanism for successively discharging said barrels, as
described.
12thly. A machine gun whose barrels are simultaneously loaded, and
from which the cartridge shells are simultaneously extracted but whose
barrels are successively fired, as set forth.
13thly. The combination of the reciprocating cartridge extractor and
receiver O with the breech closer I, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Willard Brigham Farwell, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
WILLARD BRIGHAM FARWELL. (L.S.)
Signed in presence of
ARTHUR V. BRIESEN,
CHARLES RAETTIG.