IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Christian Sharps, of Hartford, in the State
of Connecticut and United States of America, for the Invention,
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
·PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Christian Sharps
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 11th November 1852.
I, CHRISTIAN SHARPS, of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut and
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS " to be as
follows:-
It consists, first, in providing the rear end of the barrel of a breech-
loading gun with an adjustable bushing or short tube, that shall closely
and tightly fit a recess in the rear end, contain or hold the charge either
in part or in whole, and be capable of being pressed backwards against
or toward the moveable breech, in order at any time to ensure' a'close
or properly close joint between them.
Secondly, in providing the sliding or moveable breach, or the rear
end of the barrel that abuts against said breech, with a facing or ring
of platina, or material not easily oxidisable by any one or more of the
volatile products of combustion of the charge or powder, the same being
to prevent, in a great degree, the oxydation of those surfaces of the
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page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Christian Sharps in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th May 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
CHRISTIAN SHARPS, of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut and
United States of America, senil greeting:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Christian Sharps, Her special license
that I, the said Christian Sharps, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Christian Sharps, 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, excrcise, 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-ARME," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Christian Sharps, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Scal Patent Office
within six calender months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Christian Sharps, do hereby
declare that the following, taken in connection with the accompanying
Drawings, is a Complete Specification of my said Invention, setting
forth the nature thereof, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed:
The nature of my. Invention consists, first, in providing the rear end
of the barrel of a breech-loading gun with an adjustable bushing or

page_text: short tube that shall closely and tightly fit a recess in the rear end
contain or hold the charge either in part or in whole, and be capable of
being pressed backwards against or towards the moveable breech, in
order at any time to ensure a close or properly close joint between
theni.
Secondly, in providing the sliding or moveable breech, or the rear
end of the barrel that abuts against said breech, with a facing or ring
of platina or metal not easily oxidisable by any one or more of the
volatile products of combustion of the charge or powder, the same being
to prevent, in a great degree, the oxylation of those surfaces of the
barrel and breech that are in contact at the time of an explosion of the
charge or a discharge of the gun.
Of the said Drawings, Figure 1, represents a side elevation of a
cavalry carbine, constructed according to my Invention. Figure 2, is
a central vertical and longitudinal section of the same.
top view of it. Figure 4, is a front view of the slide block or sliding
breech. Figure 5, is a rear end view of the barrel.
Figure 3, is a
The carbine represented in such Figures is a breech-loading one, and
is of the kind recently patented in England on the Thirty-first day
of March, of the fifteenth year of Her present Majesty's reign, the
Patent being taken out in the name of Moses Poole, and for an Inven-
tion which was a communication from a certain foreigner residing
abroad.
In the Drawings above mentioned, A represents the barrel of the
carbine or gun; B, the stock; D, the sliding breech; and E, the lever
thereof; F, is the link by which the sliding breech is connected with
the lever E, and made to slide in the passage C, made downwards against
the rear end of the barrel. The barrel is counterbored at its rear end,
or made larger in diameter there, and for a short distance from the
extreme end, in order to receive an adjustable bushing or tube G, which
is placed within in, and made to fit closely in it, and to slide rearwards
towards and away from the sliding breech D. The tube G, is intended
to receive the cartridge or charge, and to be forced back against the
sliding breech, as occasion may require, in order to make a close joint
between then. Were not a contrivance like the adjustable bushing
used, or, in other words, were the rear end of the barrel made to rest

page_text: in direct contact with the sliding breech, it would soon, by the friction
of the breach against it, and by repeated explosions of the charge,
become so worn as to make the joint more or less open, or too-open."
By my improvement, that is to say, by the adjustable bushing, the
joint may be kept sufficiently close, so far as wear on such bushing is
concerned.
In regard to the second part of my Invention, I provide the move-
able or sliding breech D, where it rests against the adjustable bushing,
or the rear end of the barrel when no adjustable bushing is used, with
i facing or ring of platina, which I insert in the surface and into the
block, as seen.at I, in Figures 2, and 4.
Under ordinary circumstances it is found that the volatile products>
of combustion of the charge are very apt-to excoriate or otherwise
injure the front surface of the sliding breech block; but by putting in
said block, as described, a ring or facing of platina or other metal
(capable of resisting thic destructive effects arising from the explosion
of the charge), the difficulty above mentioned is obviated.
What claim as my-Invention is as follows:-
Firstly, the adjustable bushing applied to the barrel, and a sliding
or moveable breech, substantially in manner and for the purpose as
set forth:-
And secondly, the combining with the sliding breech and the barrel
the ring or facing of platina, or other suitable material capable of
resisting the destructive effects of the explosion of the charge as
specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Christian Sharps, have-hereunto
set niy hand and seal, this Eighth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
Witness,
JOHN CLEVELAND PALMER.
GUY ROWLAND PHELPS.
CHRISTIAN SHARPS. (L.S.)