IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH FIRE ARMS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ambrose McEvoy, of 18, Adam Street, Adelphi,
in the County of Middlesex, and George Vincent Fosbery, of Paris, at present
residing at Albury, in the county of Surrey, Lieutenant Colonel, for an
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN CONNECTION
WITH FIRE ARMS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Ambrose MoEvoy
& George Vincent Fosbery at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on
the 28th September 1880.
CHARLES AMBROSE MCEVOY, of 18, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, and GEORGE VINCENT FOSBERY, of Paris, at present residing at Albury,
in the County of Surrey, Lieutenant Colonel " IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH FIRE ARMS."
Our improvements relate to attachments to military or other firearms in which
rapid firing is occasionally required. The attachment is a magazine or holder of
reserve cartridges, so constructed that the said cartridges shall be supplied one by
one in a convenient position for being inserted into the chamber of the gun by the
hand of the soldier or sportsman by means of a guide, or shall after the extraction
of the fired cartridge be forced into the said chamber by means of a spring, a lever,
or other suitable device.
The said magazine is so constructed as to be attached to the gun when in use
by suitable studs or bands, or by a combination of studs and bands, and is
preferably attached to the left side of the said gun, but may be placed vertically
above the breech.
When applying the said Invention to the Martini Henry rifle, for which it is
more especially designed, we construct the said magazine either so as to extend
above the line of the axis of the barrel, in which case the cartridges being placed
one above the other descend by their own weight into the position required, from
which they are released and carried into the chamber by pressure upon a stud or
button attached to the side or to the rear end of the apparatus.

page_text: Or we attach a similar apparatus to the same side of the gun, the cartridges
being elevated by means of a spring or springs into such a position as that they
may be either pushed directly into the chamber by the hand or that a carrier
forced forward by hand will place them in the required position, or the said carrier
which has a side as well as longitudinal motion, controlled by hinged rods or bars
suitably pivotted, is forced forward by a spring previously placed in a state of
compression by the act of opening the breech of the said gun, and released by the
action of the lever from the overdraw used in operating the extracting device of
the Martini Henry rifle aforesaid.
Sometimes we combine with the said flat reservoir or magazine a tube, made
preferably in sections, which either slide one into the other or are attached by
screws or bayonet joints, or in any other convenient manner one to the other, and
contain a portion of the cartridges to be carried, placed longitudinally, and forced
into the body of the said magazine by a coiled spring, as is done in other tubular
magazines; and we provide a hinged door by which the said cartridges may be
introduced into the said tube, and in the remaining or vertical portion of the said
magazine we provide an elevator, which is operated either by the lever which
opens and closes the breech of the said gun, or by a spring or springs, which are
compressed and released by the said lever, or by the other moving parts of the
breech mechanism set in motion by the said lever.
And we also provide a check to control the movement of the cartridges in the
tube whilst the elevation of the cartridge in the body of the magazine is taking
place.
Also we sometimes employ a device which we term a compressor, by which every
cartridge is held securely in place during the firing or other handling of the gun,
and is only released at the moment when it is required to make an advance to
supply the said vertical portion of the said magazine.
And we furnish the upper portion of the vertical part of the said magazine with
a hinged lip, and if necessary with a carrier, which will conduct the cartridge next
required for use into the proper position either by guides, which move with the
cartridge and afterwards return to their position, and are actuated either by hand
or as above described, or we fix a guide of such a form to the upper part of the
magazine as that it will not interfere with the extraction of the fired cartridge,
but will guide the new cartridge to its place when the hand is applied to force it
forward.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles Ambrose McEvoy & George Vincent Fosbery in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th March 1881.
CHARLES AMBROSE MCEVOY, of 18, Adam Street, Adelphi, in the County of
Middlesex, and GEORGE VINCENT FOSBERY, of Paris, at present residing at Albury,
in the County of Surrey, Lieutenant Colonel. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
BE USED IN CONNECTION WITH FIRE ARMS."
Our improvements relate to attachments to military or other fire arms in which
rapid firing is occasionally required. The attachment is a magazine or holder of
reserve cartridges so constructed that the said cartridges shall be supplied one by
one in a convenient position for being inserted into the chamber of the gun.
The said magazine is so constructed as to be attached to the gun when in use
by suitable studs or bands, or by a combination of studs and bands, and is
preferably attached to the left side of the said gun, but may be placed vertically
above the breech.
When applying the said Invention to the Martini Henry rifle, for which it is
more especially designed, we construct the said magazine either so as to extend
above the line of the axis of the barrel, in which case the cartridges being placed
one above the other descend by their own weight into the position required, from
which they are released and carried into the chamber by pressure upon a stud or
button attached to the side or to the rear end of the apparatus. Or we attach a
similar apparatus to the same side of the gun, the cartridges being elevated by
means of a spring or springs.
This magazine or cartridge carrier, as arrranged for attachment at the side of the
gun, consists of a case of a width sufficient to contain a single cartridge of a length
sufficient to contain ten, more or less, with a prolongation sufficient to contain the
supplying device, and it is made of such a form that the bases of the cartridges
completely fill one end of the case whilst the bullets also completely fill the other,
it is thus (the cartridges being of taper form) somewhat segmental in form.
The case may be made of sheet metal. At the top of the case is placed a hood,
which prevents the upper cartridge from being lifted out of the case by the device
used to raise the cartridges, and this hood can be made to revolve partially on its
axis in such a manner that at one time the hood is in a position to receive a
cartridge, at another the hood being turned towards the gun will release one
cartridge, whilst its lower edge will prevent the cartridge next in succession from
rising in the magazine or case. This hood may be revolved by hand, having a
spring to cause it to return to its former position, and this rotation may be caused
by a longitudinal bar carrying a pin, which enters an inclined slot in the hood and
which when pressed forward will cause it to rotate.
With a view to the facility of loading the magazine we leave one side of the case
open, with the exception of a strip of metal at each side sufficient to retain the
bases and the points of the cartridges in place, and at one point we provide a slot
into which a cartridge may be inserted, but out of which it will not again fall,
this being provided against by a flange which covers the base end of the
cartridge.
In order that our said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: fixed at the side of a breech loading rifle, a Martini-Henry rifle, for example, to
supply to it cartridges as they are required; Figure 5 is a transverse section taken
on the line 1, 1, in Figure 3, and Figure 6 is a section taken on the line 2, 2, in
Figure 1.
a, a, is a case so proportioned that the cartridges will rest within it one on the
other in radial positions, the base of the cartridge being considerably larger in
diameter than the fore end, at which is the bullet. The cartridges can be inserted
into the case by a slot at a¹, or a portion of the case may be arranged to open as a
door to admit them. The cartridges are pressed upwards in the case by a spring
either acting directly beneath the cartridges, or it may be upon an arm pivoted at
the centre and entering the fore part of the case through a slot. As represented
in the Drawings the case is intended to contain a coiled or other spring which in
expanding follows the curvature of the case. b is a hood having pivots at b¹, b¹,
in lugs projecting upwards from the case a. One of the functions of the hood b is
to prevent the cartridge being forced out of the case in an upward direction.
is of an inverted trough like form. a² is a hook like flap at the side of the case a,
by which it is hooked on over a bar provided for the purpose at the side of the
arm. The cartridges are delivered over the top of the flap a² which is by the side
of the breech trough of the fire arm, and so placed that the cartridge rolling out
of the case over the upper edge of the flap rolls or drops directly into the breech
trough, and a forward push thrusts it direct into the chamber of the barrel.
It
The delivery is effected by the pressure of the thumb upon a slide c which
carries a pin c¹. The end of this pin enters an inclined slot upon the top of the
hood b, so that the forward movement of the slide turns the hood about one quarter
round and brings its opening, which was underneath, to the right side, and into
such a position that the cartridge which the hood contains is able to roll out into
the breech trough of the fire arm. During this movement of the hood it continues
to act as a stop preventing the upward movement of the cartridges in the case.
As soon as the cartridge has been delivered and the pressure upon the slide c is
withdrawn the spring 2 brings the slide back. The hood at the same time resumes
its original position with its open side underneath, and then the spring raises the
cartridges in the case and places one of them within the hood ready to be delivered
when the slide c is next moved forward.
In the use of the fire arm (say, for example, a rifle of the Martini-Henry con-
struction), the breech is opened and the case of the cartridge last fired thrown out,
and then the slide c is pressed forward with the thumb, thereby causing a cartridge
to be delivered. The thumb is then rapidly withdrawn from the slide and applied
to the base of the cartridge which now lies in the breech trough of the rifle, and
so the cartridge is forced into the barrel. In arms of the bolt construction the
thumb is not required to push the cartridge forward, as this will be effected by the
bolt as it moves forward to close the breech.
In some cases it may be convenient to cause the hood to be rotated auto-
matically by the breech action of the arm; in the case of the Martini-Henry rifle
this may be done by providing a lever pressed by a spring against the breech block,
so that as the breech opens the lever descends, and in so doing it gives motion to
a rack which gears with a toothed wheel, and so imparts motion to the revolving
hood or delivering instrument.
A slight modification only is required if it be desired to have the magazine
above the barrel of the arm in place of at the side of and beneath it; but the
position at the side is that which we prefer. If, however, the magazine is to be
above the barrel the hood is at the bottom of the case a in place of at the top.
The attachment of the magazine to the arm is made, as already described, to the
left side. The hood drops the cartridge direct into the breech trough, from whence
it is pushed into the barrel as already described. The magazine must be fitted
sufficiently high above the barrel not to interfere with the clear sight required for
aiming.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of our said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim,-
First. The combination, substantially as described, with a breech loading fire arm
of an apparatus situate on the left side of the breech mechanisın, and serving as a
magazine or holder of reserve cartridges; the said apparatus delivering the cart-
ridges at the side of the breech trough one by oue as required, and causing them
to fall or roll into the breech trough ready to be thrust directly forward into the
chamber of the barrel.
Second. The combination, substantially as described, with a breech loading fire
arm, of an apparatus situate over the breech mechanism, and serving as a magazine
or holder of reserve cartridges, the said apparatus delivering the cartridges one by
one as required, and dropping them into the breech trough ready to be thrust
directly into the chamber of the barrel.
Third. Our apparatus to be used in connection with fire arms for the supply
of cartridges thereto, substantially as described and illustrated by the Drawings
annexed.
In witness whereof, we, the said Charles Ambrose McEvoy and George
Vincent Fosbery, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty
eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and eighty one.
C. A. MCEVOY.
GEORGE V. FOSBERY.
(L.S.)
(L.S.)