Improvements in Magazine Fire-arms.
Year: 1891

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Date of Application, 5th Dec., 1891
Complete Specification Left, 4th Oct., 1892-Accepted, 3rd Dec., 1892
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Magazine Fire-arms.
We, WILLIAM GRIFFITHS, of Mossley House, Main Road, Bexley Heath,
in the County of Kent, Engineer, and HERBERT FERDINAND WOODGATE,
Lieutenant in Her Majesty's South Wales Borderers, stationed at Woolwich,
in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
Our invention chiefly relates to military rifles having magazines but our invention
is applicable to other magazine fire-arms and to magazine guns, and it comprises
improved mechanism for utilizing the force of the recoil for performing various
operations in working the fire-arm, ridelicit, opening the breech, extracting and
ejecting the empty cartridge cases, cocking the hammer and closing and locking
the breech as hereinafter described.
In carrying out our invention we employ a shoe, in which the barrel and the
breech piece are free to slide, the rear end of the said shoe being closed by a cap.
In the breech piece work's a bolt carrying an extractor and which is acted upon
by a spring, one end of which presses against the cap on the shoe, the said spring
serving to close the breech.
The bolt carries what we term a locking uut which fits in the shoe and has a
stem or arm provided with a knob at the end, the said stem working in a slot
running along the rear portion of the shoe and being adapted to enter cam-ways at
each end of the said slot. The locking nut rotates freely on the bolt and is actuated
for locking by a helical spring which is carried in the said nut and fixed at one
end to the bolt, or other suitable mechanism for effecting the purpose may be
employed.
The locking nut is provided with projections adapted to enter slots in the rear
end of the breech piece or is otherwise suitably formed so that the partial rotation
of the said nut enables it to be locked against the breech piece.
up
The motion for unlocking the breech and extracting the cartridge case is imparted
by the recoil of the barrel, which drives the stem of the locking nut
the cam-way
in the shoe until it reaches the slot in the top of the said shoe when the bolt, being
free from the barrel, runs back extracting the empty case and ejecting it through a
hole in the side of the breech piece. As the bolt is released from the breech piece
the barrel is stopped and returned by a spring to its former position, a new cartridge.
being pushed into position from a magazine and fed into the chamber by the
return of the bolt.
The lock-work is carried by the guard as is also the main spring.
When our invention is applied to a machine gun, we provide means for releasing
the hammers.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Magazine Fire-arms.
We, WILLIAM GRIFFITHS, of Mossley House, Main Road, Bexley Heath,
in the County of Kent, Engineer, and HERBERT FERDINAND WOODGATE,
Lieutenant in Her Majesty's South Wales Borderers, stationed at Woolwich,
in the County of Kent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what

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manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained¹
in and by the following statement :--
Our invention chiefly relates to military rifles fitted with magazines, but it is also
applicable to other magazine fire-arms, and to magazine guns, and it comprises
improved mechanism for utilizing the force of the recoil, which serves to open the
breech, extract and eject the empty cartridge cases, cock the hammer, and close
the breech, as hereinafter described.
In the accompanying drawings
:-
Figure 1 shews in partial side view a magazine gun constructed according to our
invention:
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of the same, shewing the position of the breech
bolt on the discharge of the arm, and before the recoil action commences:
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section shewing the extreme effect of the recoil on the
breech bolt, and the clearance made for the, admission of a fresh cartridge to the
barrel:
Figure 4 is a horizontal section shewing the breech bolt as having reached
the point in its back movement where the extractor acts to discharge the spent
cartridge:
Figure is a cross section on the line 12 of Figure 2:
Figure 6 is a cross section on the line 3, 4 of Figure 3 ; and,
Figure 7 is a cross section on the line 56 of Figure 2.
Figures 2 and 3, indicate the direction in which the sections are viewed.
The arrows,
In Figures 1 to 4 inclusive, a is the barrel, rigidly secured to a tubular breech
piece b, which is free to slide in a cylindrical metallic case c, made fast by screws
to the stock of the gun. This case is closed at its rear end, and is slotted at c¹ for
the reception of the cartridges from the magazine d, and at c³ for the discharge of
the spent cartridges.
e is the breech bolt, which is free to slide in the breech piece b, and is carried
rearward by the breech piece under the action of the recoil.
which
The inter-
The barrel is fitted with a sleève a¹ to form a seat for a coiled spring a³,
Fitted to the rear end of
bears against the forward end of the cylindrical case c.
the breech bolt e, and free to turn thereon, is a locking nut e¹, shewn detached at
Figures 8 and 9. This nut carries an arm e', which projects through a cam-slot ca
(Figure 1) formed in the right hand side of the cylindrical case c.
locking of this nut with the rear end of the tubular breech piece b, takes place
when its arm has traversed the forward curve of the groove, and is in the
depressed position of Figure 1. The rear bend of this slot provides for the locking
of the breech bolt in its back position, a spring catch e being employed to hold
down the arm e2 when depressed. The locking position assumed by the nut is due
to the forward movement of the breech bolt, which causes the arm e² to travel
along the cam-slot until it reaches the forward bend of the slot. Arrived at this
point, the arm is thrust down into the position of Figure 1 by means of a coiled
spring e, which imparts an axial motion to the nut, and causes it to engage with
the tubular breech piece.
Figure 8 shews in plan view the nut as interlocked with the breech piece b. An
annular groove is cut on the inner face of the breech piece, near the rear thereof,
and this groove is entered by notches which correspond to the projections or
locking pieces of the nut. When, therefore, the nut is brought up so as to enter
the notches of the breech piece, it will, being free to move axially under the action
of the coiled spring e, interlock with the breech piece, and thus secure the bolt
until the recoil, after firing, takes place. The first effect of this recoil is to drive
back the breech bolt and -barrel. The back pressure thus put upon the bolt, will
cause the nut to be turned by its arm 2 travelling up the cam-groove, and the
release of the bolt from the breech piece will be thereby effected, leaving the bolt
free to move back alone, under the influence of the recoil, and compress its
propelling spring e, as shewn at Figure 3.
In order to retard the movements of the breech bolt while completing its back

page_text: motion and commencing its return, to give time for the placing of a fresh cartridge
in line, the rear end of the slot is curved as shewn at Figure 1, thus causing the
arm to travel through a lengthened course in comparison with the progress made
at the same time by the breech bolt.
The forward or return motion of the breech bolt, thus slightly retarded, is
effected by the recoil of the compressed spring, which, as will be seen, bears-
upon the closed end of the case c, and enters a guiding sleeve e carried by
the bolt.
This bolt is made hollow, as usual, to receive the firing pin f with its retracting
spring (Figure 4) which projects through the rear thereof, and within the plane
of motion of the hammer g, the case c and sleeve e being longitudinally slotted to
admit of the hammer g rising to strike the firing pin.
Projecting from the underside of the breech bolt, close to the fore end thereof,.
is a stud, which serves, in the advanced position of the bolt, to hold down the
cartridges which are pressed upwards by the propelling spring of the magazine..
On the recession, however, of the bolt, the uppermost cartridge is thrust up into
the dotted position (Figure 3) ready to be forced on the return movement of the
bolt by the recoil of the spring et into the barrel. e is the extractor, consisting of
an elastic hooked finger attached to and recessed into the breech bolt e. To
prevent this bolt turning in its traverse movements, it is fitted with a stud which.
enters a longitudinal groove formed in the breech piece b. The means for operating
the hammer may be of any ordinary or approved construction.
Affixed to the stock, near its forward end, and serving as supports and guide for
the barrel, are two metal bands h, Figures 1 and 2, and shewn detached at Figures 11
and 12. The foremost of these bands (Figure 11) serves not merely as a guide for
the barrel, but carries also a foresight.
To facilitate the discharge of the spent cartridge, we propose to use a lever
extractor of the form shewn at Figure 10, and mount the same in a slot. This
extractor is fitted into a slot made at the junction of the breech piece and barrel,.
and works upon a pivot-pin. The outer end of this lever extractor works in a
longitudinal slot in the case c; its inner or shorter end entering the cartridge
chamber in the breech, to take onto the cartridge head. On the recoil of the
barrel, the outer end of the extractor comes into contact with the rear end of the
longitudinal slot, when the breech is within 4 of an inch of being fully unlocked..
By the further backward movement of the breech piece, the extractor is forced
back until its highest point is low enough to pass inside the case, thus offering no
obstruction to the completion of the recoil. This tipping movement of the
extractor starts the empty cartridge case, leaving it free to be taken back and
ejected by the bolt. The forward end of the longitudinal slot serves to bring the
extractor back into place, upon the return of the barrel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is :-
:-
The means above described for locking, unlocking and working the breech bolt
of magazine fire-arms, in which the recoil action is relied on for operating the
breech bolt.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicants.