IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, of the Firm of
Robertson, Brooman, and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the
City of London, Patent Agents, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."-A communication from abroad by
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Clinton Edgcumbe
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 18th February 1868.
I, CLINTON EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman,
and Company, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agents, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists chiefly of improvements upon a former
Invention of Antoine Alphonse Chassepot, for which Letters Patent
were granted me on the 7th September 1866, No. 2304.

page_text: The principal object of the present improvements is to adapt the fire-
arms described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent for the
employment of flanged cartridges and to provide the arms with an
automatic arrangement for extracting the cartridge cases.
The
movable head shown in the Drawings annexed to my former Specifica-
tion is dispensed with, and the caoutchouc obturator is replaced by a
metallic piece, which I call a piston; through the centre of this piston
a channel of truncated conical form is formed for the passage of the
striker or needle (which is shortened) when impelled by the spring.
The metallic piston is lodged in a chamber in the front end of the
breech bolt and is held by a screw passing through the side of the bolt
and entering a circular groove on the outside of the piston. A square
tooth or projection is formed on the periphery of the piston near its
head; this tooth serves to operate the extractor. The rear or tail of
the extractor is in the form of a flat ruler terminated at the front by the
extractor proper, which is a curved piece having the form of a portion
of the inner circumference of the barrel and having a recess to receive
the flange of the cartridge. A longitudinal groove or slot is formed in
the rear flat portion of the extractor into which the tooth of the piston
takes. The extractor slides in a recess in the bottom of the breech
chamber. The employment of flanged cartridges modifies the con-
figuration of the charge chamber and dispenses with the combustion
chamber described in the Specification before mentioned. The rear of the
charge chamber, that is to say, the rear end of the barrel, has a circular
groove to receive the flange of the cartridge. A cavity is formed to
receive the extractor proper, which completes the annular portion at the
entrance of the charge chamber. In withdrawing the breech bolt, as
described in my said former Specification, the tooth of the piston
reaching the end of the longitudinal groove of the extractor draws back
the extractor and with it the cartridge case, which is then thrown out by
inclining the gun. When a fresh cartridge is inserted its flange enters
the recess of the extractor which pushes it into place when the bolt is
pushed forward. Thus the extractor is operated by the bolt both to push
the cartridge into place and to extract the case.from the barrel.
Other improvements in the fire-arms previously patented as before
stated are as follows:-The screw passed through the main or top piece
to enter the slots in the bolt is replaced by a plate passed through this
main piece and held by a pin; this piece serves as a tenon to slide in
the groove of the bolt.
The tenon on the spring-carrying rod is

page_text: dispensed with as well as the corresponding mortise in the button at
the hind part of the bolt; the whole is replaced by a button or stopper
screwed into the rear end of the bolt. The sight rises on a hinge
towards the front of the barrel to facilitate operating it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CLINTON
EDGCUMBE BROOMAN, of the Firm of Robertson, Brooman, and Company,
of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agents, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, 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 Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, Her
special licence that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Antoine Alphonse Chassepot, of
Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, 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
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, do

page_text: the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hercunto annexed, that is to say :-
·
This Invention consists chiefly of improvements upon. a former
Invention of Antoine Alphonse Chassepot, for which Letters Patent
were granted me on the 7th September 1866, No. 2304. The principal
objects of the present improvements is to adapt the fire-arms
described in the Specification of the said Letters Patent for the
employment of flanged cartridges and to provide the arms with an
automatic arrangement for extracting the cartridge cases.
: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal section.
of a fire-arm constructed according to the present. improvements;
Figure 2 is a section shewing the extractor in action, that is to say,
in the act of withdrawing the cartridge case; Figure 3 is a transverse
section through the line 1, 2, of Figure 2; Figures 4, 5, and 6 are
separate views of the extractor; Figures 7 and 8 are separate views
of a piston or obturator hereafter described.
The movable head shown in the Drawings annexed to my former
Specification is dispensed with, and the caoutchouc obturator is
replaced by a metallic piece a, which I call a piston; through the
centre of this piston a channel of truncated conical form is formed
for the passage of the striker or needle R. (which is shortened) when
impelled by the spring T. The metallic piston a is lodged in a
chamber in the front end of the breech bolt B, and is held by a
screw passing through the side of the bolt and entering a circular
groove c on the outside of the piston. A square tooth or projection d
is formed on the periphery of the piston near its head; this tooth
serves to operate the extractor. The rear or tail of the extractor
is in the form of a flat ruler terminated at. the front by the
extractor proper g, which is a curved piece having the form of a
portion of the inner circumference of the barrel, and having a recess
to receive the flange o of the cartridge.
as
The cartridge is shown in two positions; in Figure 1 it is seen in
the charge chamber, and in Figure 2 withdrawn from this
chamber. A longitudinal groove or slot i is formed in the rear flat
portion of the extractor into which the tooth d of the piston takes.
The extractor slides in a recess.% in the bottom of the breech chamber.

page_text: The employment of flanged cartridges modifies the configuration
of the charge chamber and dispenses with the combustion chamber.
described in the Specification before mentioned. The rear of the
charge chamber, that is to say, the rear end of the barrel, has a
circular groove o" to receive the flange o of the cartridge; a cavity h¹
is formed to receive the extractor proper g, which completes the
annular portion at the entrance of the charge chamber. In
withdrawing the breech bolt, as described in my said former
Specification, the tooth d of the piston a reaching the end of the
groove of the extractor draws back the extractor and with it the
cartridge casc, which is then thrown out by inclining the gun.
When à fresh cartridge is .inserted its flange enters the recess o¹ of
the extractor, which pushes it into place when the bolt is pushed
forward. Thus the extractor is operated by the bolt both to push
the cartridge into place and to extract the case from the barrel.
Other improvements and modifications in the fire-arms previously
patented as before stated are as follows:-The screw. passed through
the main or top piece to enter the slots in the bolt is replaced by a
plate p, Figures 1 and 2, passed through this main piece and held by
a pin ; this piece serves as a tenon to slide in the groove of the
bolt B. The tenon on the spring-carrying rod f is dispensed with
as well as the corresponding mortise in the button at the hind part
of the bolt; the whole is replaced by a button or stopper L screwed
into the rear end of the bolt. The sight rises on a hinge towards
the front of the barrel to facilitate operating it.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim
as the "Improvements in Breech-loading Fire-arms,"
First. The construction and employment as herein-before explained
of a cartridge case extractor, arranged and acting substantially
as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
Second. The construction and employment as herein-before explained
of a metallic obturator or piston, arranged and acting substantially
as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.

page_text: Third. The employment of the plate p, represented at Figures 1
and 2, as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Fourth. The employment of the button or stopper L, represented
in Figures 1 and 2, as and for the purpose herein-before described.
Fifth. The general arrangement or combination of parts of breech-
loading fire-arms herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Clinton Edgcumbe Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.