AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL ARMS.
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Middleditch Scott at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th March 1882.
WILLIAM MIDDLEDITCH SCOTT of the firm of W and C Scott and Son of
Birmingham in the County of Warwick Gun Manufacturers AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH LOADING SMALL ARMS.
My invention has reference to breech loading small arms of the kind commonly
called drop down guns, and consists of the construction and combination or
arrangement of parts hereinafter described for cocking the internal hammers of
the said drop down guns by the raising of the breech ends of the barrels from the
break off for opening the guns.
By my invention the power required to cock the hammers on opening the gun
for charging is considerably reduced and the manipulation of the gun thereby
facilitated
In constructing cocking mechanism according to my invention, I use internal
hammers provided with the ordinary main springs and in the body of the gun and
opposite each of the hammers an inclined recess or opening is made extending
from near the joint on which the barrels turn to the back of the break off. In
each of the said recesses or openings, a sliding rod, hereinafter called a cocking
rod, works.
The inner end of the cocking rod projects, in its normal position, a short distance
beyond the back of the break off and its end is situated opposite the breast of the
hammer On the underside of the barrels and near the joint on which they turn
a cranked lever is situated; or a fixed arm projecting downwards may be used in
place of the cranked lever. To the nearly vertical arm of the cranked lever or to
the fixed arm described, the outer end of the before mentioned cocking rod is
jointed. Around the cocking rod a strong coiled spring is placed, one end of the
said spring taking an abutment against a shoulder on the cocking rod and the
other end of the said spring taking an abutment against a shoulder made in the
recess or opening in the body in which the cocking rod works.
When the breech ends of the barrels are raised from the break off, the cranked
lever or the fixed arm described on the barrels, acting upon the cocking rod
pushes the said rod backwards in the body and its nose end bearing against the

page_text: breast of the hammers lifts it to full cock, the hammer being retained in its cocked
position by the ordinary sear mechanism. When the breech ends of the barrels
are depressed for closing the gun the cocking rod is drawn forward leaving the
hammer in its cocked position and the strong coiled spring around the cocking rod
is compressed between the shoulder in the body and the shoulder on the cocking
rod. The result of this arrangement is that, the spring of the withdrawn cocking
rod is held in a state of tension so that when the breech ends of the barrels are
raised from the face of the break off for opening the gun the power of the com-
pressed spring assists in forcing outwards the cocking rod for cocking the hammer.
Thus the power exerted to close the gun is utilized at the next opening of the gun
for assisting in the cocking of the hammers; the cocking 'is thereby rendered
much easier than when the leverage only of the barrels is used for that purpose.
The arrangement of parts for cocking the gun may be used without the spring
described.