Year: 1886

page_text: 1, HENRY PIEPER, manufacturer, residing at Liege, kingdom of Belgium, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to fire-arms having cartridge-chambers that are separate
from and movable in respect to the barrel, such as revolvers and others, and its
object is to prevent an escape of gas through the joint between any chamber and
the barrel by means of the cartridge-case.
For this purpose the chambers are made of such length relatively to the cartridges
that the case of the cartridge being in a line with the barrel, will project a short
distance into the said barrel when the chamber is in contact therewith, or that the
case will be caused to so project at the moment the shot is fired off, and the
weapon is provided with means for producing a clearance between the cartridge
case and the end of the barrel when the chamber is to be moved sideward, or to
be rotated.
The said means may consist in arranging the barrel to be shifted forward and
backward relatively to the cartridge-chambers, or the latter relatively to the
former, by the medium of a suitable mechanical device. Or the arms are fitted, in
rear of the cartridge-chambers, with a movable breech piece by which the cartridge.
case may, after firing, be drawn back into the chamber by as much as is required
for its clearing the barrel, or by which it may be entirely withdrawn from the
chamber.
With paper cartridges loaded with shot, and in which the rim of the case is
folded down inward, it is but requisite that the said rin on being expanded by
the firing, overlaps the joint between the barrel and the chamber for efficiently
closing the same.
Dated the thin
1
™

page_text: Improvements in Fire-arms with Movable Cartridge-chambers.
I, HENRY PIEPER, manufacturer, residing at Liege, Kingdom of Belgium, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement
My invention relates to fire-arms having cartridge-chambers that are separate
from and movable in respect to the barrel, such as revolvers and others, and its
object is to prevent, at the moment of discharge, an escape of gas through the
joint between any chamber and the barrel by means of the cartridge-case.
For this purpose the chambers are made of such length relatively to the cartridges
that the case of the cartridge being in a line with the barrel, will project a short
distance into the said barrel when the chamber is in contact therewith, or that the
case will be caused to so project at the moment the shot is fired off, and the weapon
is provided with means for producing a clearance between the cartridge-case and
the end of the barrel when the chamber is to be moved sideward, or to be
rotated.
The said means may consist in arranging the barrel to be shifted forward and
backward relatively to the cartridge chambers, or the latter relatively to the
former, by the medium of a suitable mechanical device. Or the arms are fitted, in
rear of the cartridge-chambers, with a movable breech-piece by which the cartridge-
case may, after firing, be drawn back into the chamber by as much as is required
for its clearing the barrel, or by which it may be entirely withdrawn from the
chamber.
On the annexed two sheets of drawings Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are sectional elevations
of a gun involving my improvement, and provided with rotating cartridge-chambers,
the movable parts of the gun being shown in different positions. Figs. 4 and 5
represent to a larger scale a cartridge-chamber of the said gun containing a ball-
cartridge, and a portion of the barrel in different positions. Figs. 6 and 7 are like
views of a cartride-chamber of the same or a similar gun containing a paper
cartridge loaded with shot, Fig. showing the cartridge before firing and Fig. 7
the empty cartridge-case after firing.
In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, b is the rear portion of the barrel, c the revolving cylinder
containing the cartridge-chambers, f the hammer, d the trigger-guard pivoted at d¹,
e the bar serving to cock the hammer and connected to the arm g of the guard d
by a short link, and a link connecting together the guard and the barrel, the
latter being arranged to slide lengthwise with its rear portion in the frame i.
a a are cartridges loaded with balls. The cases of these cartridges have such
length that, when the barrel b is in contact with the rotating cylinder c, the case
of the upper cartridge will project to a small extent into the barrel and thus cover
or obturate the joint between the barrel and the chamber registering therewith
the said obturation being rendered complete by the expansion of the cartridge-case
brought about by the discharge of the gun.
The guard d, being in
Fig. 1 shows the gun loaded and the cock set at rest.
normal position, keeps the barrel b against the cartridge-chamber by means of the

page_text: link h. (See also Fig. 4). When, subsequent to the discharge, the guard & has
been brought into the position shown by Fig. 2, it has pushed the barrel far enough
away from the cylinder c as to produce a clearance between it and the empty
cartridge-case, so that the cylinder c may then commence to rotate. The guard
being thereupon turned down further, the said clearance will become larger, so as
to allow a loaded cartridge, with the ball projecting, to be brought in a line with
the barrel by the rotation of the cylinder c, produced automatically in any known
Inanner. This position of the parts is shown by Figs. 3 and 5. The guard at the
same time causes the hammer f to be cocked through the medium of the rod e. If
thereafter the guard is raised, so as to close against the stock of the gun, the barrel
will be pushed upon the projecting end of the cartridge, while simultaneously the
rod e is withdrawn from the hammer. The gun is then ready for firing.
With paper cartridges loaded with shot, and in which the rim of the case is
folded down inward, as shown by Fig. 6, it is not necessary that the case should
project into the barrel previous to the discharge, provided the aforesaid chambers
and the cartridges have such relative length that the said rim on being expanded
by the discharge, overlaps the joint between the barrel and the chamber and thus
closes the same, as in Fig. 7.
The described mode of obturation may be applied to any other system of
repeating-arms having a cartridge-receiver separate from the barrel, whether the
said receiver is arranged to rotate or to be moved otherwise, and it may also be
used with pieces of artillery, such as mitrailleuses.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and object of
my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby
declare that what I claim is :
1. In fire-arms having cartridge-chambers separate from and movable in respect
to the barrel, the employment of the cartridge-case as obturator of the joint
between the barrel and the chamber, in combination with means for producing a
clearance between the cartridge-case and the barrel, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
2. The combination, with the rotating cylinder c containing a number of
cartridge-chambers, of a barrel b movable lengthwise in respect to the said cylinder,
and of mechanism for thus moving the barrel, substantially as and for the purpose
specified.