IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CHARGING THE SAME.
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to François Jules Manceaux, of Paris, in the
Empire of France, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of
** IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CHARGING THE SAME.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said François Jules Man-
ceaux at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th March 1869.
I, FRANÇOIS JULES MANCEAUX, of Paris, in the Empire of France,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN APPARATUS FOR CHARGING THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in certain new and improved means or
modes of constructing the fire-arms patented by me on the 30th day of
March, in the year 1867, No. 962, and an improved apparatus for charging
the same.
The first part of my present improvements consists in fitting the barrels
between plates which stretch across from one side to the other, and

page_text: connected to side plates or straps by means of screws or otherwise.
The side plates are carried on trunnions and are held in place by screw
nuts. The trunnions enable the apparatus to be mounted upon a
carriage so that it can be used in field operations. The rear end of the
side plates are of greater thickness, the thicker parts being slotted on
the under side for the plates of the breech closer to work in as hereafter
described. These plates are centred upon pins, one of the ends of each of
which have screw nuts on them. The pins are prevented working loose by
means of tappets. The breech closer plates extend a distance beyond the
rear of the barrels, and have near their ends long holes for the ends of a
transverse bar to fit into which serves to hold the transverse bar in place.
The outer ends of the bar are threaded for nuts to be placed on them to
hold the plates at their rear ends rigid. The lower sides of the plates
are connected and strengthened by a rod or bolt. The central part of
the transverse bar is bulged and forms a threaded socket for a rod to
work in when turned by a handle or bar at its rear end. The front end
of the rod is rounded or of knob shape, which finds its seating in a
recess in the rear face of a sliding breech closer, and is held secure by
two half plates which are screwed on to the face. The under side of the
transverse bar carries a projection or lug for attaching the upper end of
a link to; the lower end of the link is connected to a hand lever centred
upon the frame of the carriage. It is by means of the hand lever that
the necessary raising and lowering of the breech closer on the centre pins
are effected. The front face of the breech block or a face plate secured
thereto has a series of holes for the reception of plugs or projecting
nipples which when the breech closer is forced home pushes the
cartridges forward in the barrels until they lodge themselves in the
charge chambers. The elevation and depression of the barrels for range
are governed by a threaded rod fitted to the frame, as in ordinary field
guns. The lever handle can be retained at any point by means of a paul
acting against a tooth of a ratchet wheel fitted on the side of the frame.
The extreme rear end of the threaded rod of the breech closer is furnished
with a ring or socket for a long lever bar to be inserted in order that
greater leverage power may be used if necessary for closing the breech.
The nipples, closings, or plugs are formed with rods at their rear ends
which pass into holes made for their reception in a block screwed into
the shoulder of a piece of metal which is screwed into the hole of the
face plate. The fore ends of the plug has a conical face to act against an
inclined surface of the block. The ends of the plug rod impinge against

page_text: a disc of horn placed in a chamber formed in the piece before referred to
and serving as an elastic body for the reception of the rivet. Behind the
metal piece is a screwed block pierced with two holes to enable it to be
inserted into the hole by means of a tool. The ignition of the charge
is produced by the ordinary quick match or cap lodged in the vent hole
in the back frame or plate. The fire is communicated to each row of
barrels, and from one row to the other by a line of corresponding vent
holes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said François Jules Manceaux in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 24th September 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCOIS
JULES MANCEAUX, of Paris, in the Empire of France, Gun Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Francois Jules Manceaux,
Her special licence that I, the said Francois Jules Manceaux, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Francois Jules Manceaux, 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 FIRE-ARMS, AND IN APPARATUS
FOR CHARGING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Francois Jules Manceaux, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under , 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francois Jules Manceaup, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in certain new and improved means or
modes of constructing the fire-arms patented by me on the Thirtieth
day of March, in the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven,
Number 962, and an improved apparatus for charging the same.
The first part of my present improvements consist in fitting the
barrels between plates which stretch across from one side to the other
and connected to side plates or straps by means of screws or otherwise.
The side plates are carried on trunnions, and are held in place by screw
nuts. The trunnions enable the apparatus to be mounted upon a
carriage so that it can be used in field operations. The rear ends of the
side plates are of greater thickness, the thicker parts being slotted on
the under side for the plates of the breech closer to work in as here-
after described. These plates are centred upon pins, one of the ends of
each of which has screw nuts on it. The pins are prevented working
loose by means of tappets. The breach closer plates extend a distance
beyond the rear of the barrels, and have, near their ends long holes for
the ends of a transverse bar to fit into which serves to hold the
transverse bar in place. The outer ends of the bar are threaded for nuts
to be placed on them to hold the plates at their rear ends rigid. The
lower sides of the plates are connected and strengthened by a rod or
bolt.
The central part of the transverse bar is bulged and forms a
threaded socket for a rod to work in when turned by a handle or bar
at its rear end. The front end of the rod is rounded or of knob shape
which finds its seating in a recess in the rear face of a sliding breech
closer, and is held secure by two half plates which are screwed on to the
face. The under side of the transverse bar carries a projection or lug
for attaching the upper end of a link to. The lower end of the
link is connected to a hand lever centred upon the frame of the
carriage. It is by means of the hand lever that the necessary raising
and lowering of the breech closer on the centre pins are effected. The
front face of the breech block or a face plate secured thereto has a
series of holes for the reception of plugs or projecting nipples which
when the breech closer is forced home pushes the cartridges forward in

page_text: The
the barrels until they lodge themselves in the charge chambers.
elevation and depression of the barrels for range are governed by a
threaded rod fitted to the frame as in ordinary field guns. The lever
handle can be retained at any point by means of a paul acting against a
tooth of a ratchet wheel fitted on the side of the frame. The extreme
rear end of the threaded rod of the breech closer is furnished with a ring
or socket for a long lever bar to be inserted in order that greater
leverage power may be used if necessary for closing the breech. The
nipples or closing plugs are formed with rods at their rear ends which
pass into holes made for their reception in a block screwed into the
shoulder of a piece of metal which is screwed into the hole of the face
plate. The frore end of the plug has a conical face to act against an
inclined surface of the block. The ends of the plug rods impinge against
a disc of horn placed in a chamber formed in the piece before referred to
and serving as an elastic body for the reception of the recoil. Behind
the metal piece is a screwed block pierced with two holes to enable it to
be inserted into the hole by means of a tool. The ignition of the
charge is produced by the ordinary quick match or cap lodged in the
vent hole in the back frame or plate. The fire is communicated to cach
row of barrels, and from one row to the other by a line of corresponding
vent holes.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a view of so much of a
mittraillseue or fire-arm as is necessary to show my Invention. It is
composed of a serries of barrels which are fitted between plates A, A,
which stretch across from one side to the other, so as to firmly unite the
two side plates B, B, upon which the trunnions are formed for supporting
the mittrailleuse upon a carriage or frame so that it can be moved from
place to place and employed in field operations. The rear ends of the
side plates B, B, are of greater thickness than the other portions, and
are slotted so that the guide plates of the closer can work therein.
These plates are centred upon pins or axles which are kept in position
without working loose, by means of tappets acting upon the nuts on
their ends. The breech closer plates O extend a distance beyond the
rear end of the barrels, and have near their ends long holes which
serve to hold secure a transverse bar J. The centre portion of the
transverse bar is of larger diameter or is thicker than the other parts,
so that the threaded rod L which passes through it may be turned so as
to bring the breech closer nearer to or further from the rear of the

page_text: barrels. The front of the threaded rod L is rounded, the rounded
portion being fitted between two half plates q, q. The under side of the
closer plate has lugs v, v, for carrying a pin V, to which the upper end of
a link or lever bar U is jointed. The lower end of the link is pinned to
a lever Q so that the closer when released from the barrels can be raised
and lowered upon their joint pins H, H, which are fitted in the side
plates B, B. The under side of the rear of the side plates has pro-
jections for the closer to slide upon as it is being moved, and when it has
travelled such a distance as to be tilted it rests upon a plate / which
forms part of the closer frame G, G. The front of the closer or breech
block O has a face plate P secured thereto, this plate is provided with a
series of holes corresponding to the number of barrels fitted in the frame
upon the carriage. The holes are threaded for the reception of screw
plugs or nipples through which plates or pins are fitted, the inner ends
of these pins rest upon a disc of horn or other yielding material so that
when the explosion takes place the force of the recoil is diminished.
The distance the pins may project is regulated by a washer or plug
screwed into the back of the plate P. Under the rear of the brecch end
of the barrels I attach or lodge one end of an elevating screw by which
the depression or elevation of the barrels is governed. The lower end of
the screw works in a block or socket on the carriage. The drawing back
of the breech closer is regulated by the hand lever Q, and it can be
retained at the required point by means of a paul working in the teeth
of a ratchet wheel S fitted on the side of the frame. When the barrels
are filled or loaded with cartridges and the breech closer brought in
contact with the rear of the barrels by means of the lever handle, the
fire can be communicated by means of a percussion cap or by means of
a fuse or quick fire at one side or other part of the barrel framing, which
fire is instantly forced through a hole and impinges against the cartridge
case with sufficient impulse as to break it and explode the powder
therein. The explosion in the barrel causes the fire to be driven through
another hole which leads from the first barrel to the second, and this
causes the second charge to be fixed in the same manner as the first, and
from the second to the third barrel in succession, until the whole of the
barrels on that level have been discharged, when the fire will pass up to
a series of barrels placed above the first-named series in succession, and
in a similar manner to a third series of barrels, if the frame has three
series of barrels placed in it as is represented in the Drawings.
I have added a number of detail and sectional Figures in the

page_text: Drawings, so that my Invention may be fully comprehended, these
Figures being no distinct that no description of them is necessary.
In the Figures above referred to I have shewn the barrels as loaded.
with what are known as wire cartridges, that is a cartridge having a wire
attached to a wad at the rear of the bullet and terminating in the twist
of the paper case at its rear end.
But in order that my Invention may be the better understood and to
show that I do not confine myself to the employment of wire cartridges
only I do in Figures. 19, 20, & 21, shew that metallic base cartridges may
be employed. The cartridges that are here delineated are of the con-
struction patented by me on the Ninth day of July, in the present year
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, but other make of cartridges
having a metallic base may be employed if deemed necessary. When
metallic base cartridges are used it is compulsory to extract the empty
cases, or as much of them as are left in the barrels before fresh full
charged ones are inserted. And in order to accomplish their extraction
I fit a rod or pusher in each plug against which the base rests, the
pushers are connected to a plate which is free to move to-and-fro in a
space provided for it in the closer, the plate is fitted with pins which
project beyond the rear of the closer, and when the closer has been with-
drawn to its full extent the projecting pins strike against the transverse
bar or bridle, and drive with sufficient force the pushers as to dislodge
the base of the cartridge from the chamber in the plug. The pushers
being placed at the sides of the plugs force the bases out at an angle,
when the weight of the fore part is enough to cause them to leave the
plugs altogether and fall to the ground.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
improvements in fire-arms :-
Firstly. The general construction and arrangement of the arm known
as the mittrailleuse as herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
Secondly. The arrangements of the moving parts whereby great
facilities are obtained for loading and unloading purposes, as herein-
before described and shown in the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: And, thirdly. I claim the employment of a yielding material such as
a disc of horn at the rear of the nipples or closing plugs, as described
and shewn in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francois Jules Manceaup, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
F. J. MANCEAUX. (L.S.)