IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC GUNS
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I SAMUEL RUSSELL of No 156 Schermerhorn Street in the City of Brooklyn and
State of New York, United States of America, Physician, do hereby declare the
nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN ELECTRIC GUNS 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 guns or other fire-arms, which are adapted to fire
electric cartridges particularly those cartridges which are constructed with a small
electric conductor of high resistance, usually a fine platinum wire arranged in
contact with the powder, which conductor upon the passage through it of a
sufficient electric current is heated to incandescence and ignites the powder.
Guns for firing such cartridges are usually provided with an electric battery,
preferably placed in the stock, the circuit wires in connection with which lead to
the opposite terminals of the cartridge, and the trigger of which is arranged to close
the circuit and cause the electric current to traverse the incandescing conductor
in the cartridge.
This invention consists of certain improvements in the construction and mode of
operation of a gun especially adapted to such cartridges, all as fully hereinafter
described.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings is a vertical longitudinal section of the
breech-portion of a double-barrelled shot-gun constructed according to my invention,
the plane of the section passing through the axis of one of the barrels and through
the centre of the stock-Figure 2 is a longitudinal section cut on the plane denoted
by the line 2 2 in Figure 1, and looking in the direction of arrow 2. Figure 3
is a section of the cartridge and breech-block with a diagram showing the electrical
connections.
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Referring first to Figure 3 A is the cartridge, B the breech-block of the gun
and C the battery. In order to facilitate an understanding of the gun I will first
briefly describe the particular construction of cartridge shown in Figure 3 to which
the gun is especially adapted. This cartridge forms the subject of a separate
application for patent filed by me bearing even date herewith. The shell of the
cartridge has a metallic base a formed with an in-turned neck a'. In this neck is
inserted an electric primer A¹ consisting of a central metal pin b, a tubular
insulating sheath o surrounding the said pin, a metal strip e on the outside of the

page_text: said sheath, and an incandescing conductor & at the front end of the sheath. This
conductor d which is preferably a fine platinum wire is joined at one end to the
The primer A¹ projects
front end of the pin b and at its other end to the strip e.
into the shell far enough to bring the conductor d in the forward portion of the
charge of powder.
The cartridge is fired as shown in Figure 3. When in the gun its base a comes
against the breech block B which is connected through a stop t, spring s and wire v
with one electrode of the battery C, and the other electrode thereof is connected
through a wire with a metallic firing pin D. When the spring a touches the
stop t, the base a of the cartridge is brought into electrical connection with one
electrode of the battery.
In order to fire the gun it is then only necessary to press forward the firing pin D
until its tip touches the exposed rear end of the pin b, whereupon the electric
current passes from the battery through wire v, spring 8, stop t, breech block B,
base a, metal strip e platinum wire d, metal pin b, firing pin D and wire x. Thus
the wire d is heated to incandescence, the powder is ignited and the gun is
discharged.
The construction of the gun will now be described referring to Figures 1 and 2.
The gun is without hammers resembling externally the so called "hammerless "
guns or internal hammer guns and being constructed internally in some respects
similarly thereto.
Let E E designate the barrels, F the stock and G the breech. The gun is a
breech loader and is provided with the usual fastening for bolding the barrels to
the breech when turned up, consisting of hooks hh on the barrels engaging a
sliding bolt or frame H which is operated to release the books by the usual
unlocking lever I on top of the breech. The bolt H is pressed forward by the
spring J on a rod j as usual.
The breech block B is solid with the breech and is formed with two conical holes
in which are fitted tubular conical plugs K K of insulating material, which form
bearings for the firing pins D D. The point of the cone is turned toward the front
so that but a small orifice is made in the face of the breech block.
Each plug K is held in place by a ring-shaped framo k of metal which takes
against a shoulder on the plug and is forced toward the front by two screws i i
(Figure 1). Back of this ring k the plug K is made smaller and over it is placed a
helical spring L which reacts against a shoulder on the plug, and presses
'back wardly against the head of the firing pin D. The rear surface of this head is
covered with an insulating disc m. TT are the triggers, or more correctly, firing-
levers. Externally, these are the same as on any ordinary gun, but internally each.
is formed with two arms M. and N. The arms M M extend up to the respective
firing pins D D where their ends rest against the insulating discs m m.
either trigger is pulled, the arm M pushes its firing pin forward until its point
touches the centre of the cartridge and fires it. The springs L L press back the
firing pins, and also serve as trigger-springs; hence they should have sufficient
stiffness to give the requisite "pull" to the triggers.
When
The arms N N of the two triggers extend rearwardly and their ends are turned
up, as shown at n in Figure 1. Underneath the top plate of the breech is arranged
a slide P which has a limited movement forward and backward. On this slide is
an arm which projects downwardly to the ends n of the arms N N. When the
slide P is moved forward as shown, the end of Q does not interfere with the
ends n n and the triggers may be pulled, as denoted by dotted lines in Figure 1.
But when the slide P is moved to the rear, the end of the arm Q comes directly
over the ends n n of both arms N N and the triggers are locked and cannot be
pulled. This is the "safety lock" of the gun. It is operated by means of a
roughened button R on the top of the stock, and when moved either forward or
back it is held there by the spring p acting against a V-shaped projection 9 on the
.slide. When the unlocking lever I is turned to permit the barrels to be "broken
down" the backward movement of the bolt H pushes back the slide P and so sets

page_text: the gun to "safety." This is done by the pin ; which moves with the bolt H,
striking and pushing back a shoulder r on the slide P. After being loaded the
gun cannot be fired until the button R has been pushed forward. The manipulation
of the gun is thus the same as of the well known "hammerless gun
referred to.
before
As an additional safeguard against accidental firing, the gun is also provided
with automatic means for breaking the circuit within the gun, in addition to the
break between the firing pin and the cartridge whenever the slide P is drawn back
to "safety." In this manner the battery is entirely isolated from both terminals of
the cartridge except when the gun is ready to be fired. This is accomplished by
means of the spring & and contact stop t. The spring passes in front of the arm Q
and when the slide P is moved back it does not touch the stop t and the circuit is
broken as shown in Figure 3. But when the slide is pushed forward the arm Q
presses the spring against the stop, as shown in Figure 2.
When my gun is first loaded and the barrels are turned up, it is impossible to
discharge it because the triggers cannot be pulled and the cartridge is not in
electrical connection with either polo of the battery. When the slide is pushed
forward the triggers are released and one terminal of the cartridge is connected with
one pole of the battery; and when the trigger is pulled, connection is made between
the other terminal of the cartridge and the other pole of the battery, the circuit is
established and the cartridge is exploded.
This invention is by no means limited to the precise character of gun shown as
it is equally applicable to single barrolled guns and may with slight modification
be applied to rifles and magazine guns and other breech loading guns.
Prior to this invention electric guns have been of two classes. In the first class
the cartridge contains a platina wire, one terminal of which connects through the
barrel and breech with one electrode of the battery, and the other electrode of tho
battery is connected to a firing pin or sharp needle, which, when pushed forward
by pulling the trigger, penetrates the cartridge and its charge of powder until it
touches the other terminal of the platina wire, whereupon the circuit is completed
and the gun is fired. In guns of the other class, the cartridge has had two exterior
contact-terminals upon its base, both insulated therefrom, which in loading the
gun have been made to touch respectively two corresponding contacts on the breech
block of the gun, and the latter have formed the terminals of an open circuit to
be closed by a push button or key in order to fire the gun.
The object of the present invention is to provide an electric gun which shall be
practicable when applied in ordinary use, and which, while simple in construction
shall be certain in its action and entirely free from danger. To this end the firing-
pin is made to touch the centre of the cartridge instead of penetrating the latter,
and the automatic means are provided for breaking the circuit and locking the
trigger, so that after loading the gun it is impossible to fire it until it has been
prepared for firing by a distinct preparatory movement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The combination with an electric cartridge consisting of an incandescing
conductor in contact with the powder, its one end connected electrically with the
metallic base of the cartridge and its other end connected with a contact at the
centre of the base and insulated therefrom, of a gun for firing such cartridge
provided with an electric circuit, one terminal of which connects with the breech
block and the other terminal with a firing pin, and means for protruding the firing
pin into contact with the centre of the base of the cartridge in order to fire the
gun, as described.
2. A gun for firing electric cartridges having its breech-block (adapted to make
contact with ono electric terminal of the cartridge) in electrical connection with
one electrode of a battery, and a firing-pin (adapted to be protruded into contact
with the other electric terminal of the cartridge) in connection with the opposite

page_text: electrode of the battery, and provided with means for normally breaking the former
connection, in order that neither electrode of the battery shall be normally* in
connection with either terminal of the cartridge, substantially as described.
3. A. breech loading gun for firing electric cartridges provided with a slide P in
connection with the unlocking device for opening the breech, arranged to be
displaced by the manipulation of the breech in loading the gun, and adapted in
being displaced to break the electrical connection between the breech block and
a battery, in order that the gun cannot be fired after being loaded until the said
slide has been replaced by a special manipulation, as described.
4. In an electric gun, a firing pin arranged to be protruded by the pulling of the
trigger and to fire the cartridge by making electrical contact therewith, in com-
bination with a mechanical safety-lock, adapted to prevent the protrusion of said
firing pin until it is withdrawn, substantially as described.
5. In a gun for firing electric cartridges the combination of breech-block B,
firing pin D, battery C with its opposite electrodes connected respectively to said
breech block and firing pin, trigger T having arms M N, safety slide P baving
arm Q for mechanically locking the trigger, and circuit-breaking springs and its
contact stop t, substantially as described.