IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Augusto Albini, of Genoa, but now residing at Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, Captain in the Italian Navy, for
the Invention of 66 T
Dannee
"
Sealed the 5th June 1863, and dated the 17th December 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Augusto Albini at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th
December 1862.
I, AUGUSTO ALBINI, of Genoa, but now residing at Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Captain in the Italian Navy, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in opening
the breech end of breech-loading fire-arms for the introduction of the charge
and in securely closing the same during discharge. I prolong the breech end
of the barrel beyond the discharge chamber to a length somewhat greater than
that of an ordinary cartridge. The upper side of the prolonged part is open
for a sufficient length to admit of the introduction of a cartridge. The
end of the prolonged part is terminated by a cap which closes the said end,
and which screwing on the said end is capable of a rotatory motion. A rod"
passes through the centre of the said cap and terminates in the prolonged end
of the barrel with a conical plug or closer having packing, which plug or

page_text: closer accurately fits the conical end of the charge chamber. The projecting
end of the rod is provided with a handle by which the said rod can be pushed
forward and withdrawn, and by which a rotatory motion can also be given to
the said rod. When the rod is pushed home and the plug made to close the
charge chamber the handle of the said rod may, by a slight rotatory motion in
a direction proper to drive home a screw, be made to engage with a fastening
on the end of the screw cap. The sliding motion of the said rod is thereby
prevented, and the plug is held firmly in its place in the end of the charge
chamber. By continuing the rotatory motion of the said handle the screw cap
is made to turn on the screwed end of the prolonged part of the barrel, and
the slight advancing motion of the cap presses the plug very firmly on the
conical end of the charge chamber. After discharge the handle is turned in a
direction contrary to that by which a screw is driven home, when the screw
cap is made slightly to recede on the end of the prolonged part of the barrel
and the handle disengaged from the said cap. The rod and plug may now be
withdrawn and the fire-arm is ready for being charged again.
Instead of affixing the handle to the end of the rod it may be attached to
the screw cap. In this case the rod is made to engage with the cap in the
following manner:-The rod is made semi-cylindrical or flat through the
greater part of its length, its extreme end being cylindrical and of small
diameter. The hole in the cap through which the rod works is semi-cylindrical
or flat.
When the rod has been pushed home the turning of the cap makes
the hole in the said cap cross the end of the semi-cylindrical or flat part of
the rod, and the shoulder of the rod is supported by the end of the cap. The
rod is made to slide by taking hold of its small cylindrical end.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Augusto Albini in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTO
ALBINI, of Genoa, but now residing at Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Captain in the Italian Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and. sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Augusto Albini, Her special licence that I, the said Augusto Albini,

page_text: my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Augusto Albini, 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Augusto Albini, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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 Augusto Albini, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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, that is to say:
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in opening
the breech end of breech-loading fire-arms for the introduction of the charge
and in securely closing the same during discharge. I prolong the breech end
of the barrel beyond the discharge chamber to a length somewhat greater than
that of an ordinary cartridge. The upper side of the prolonged part is open
for a sufficient length to admit of the introduction of a cartridge. Upon the
prolonged part is a cap connected with a screw plug, which plug screws in the
said prolonged part and closes it. A rod passes through a hole in the centre
of the said screw plug and terminates in the prolonged end of the barrel with
a conical plug or closer, which plug or closer accurately fits the conical end of
the charge chamber. The rod of the plug or closer is made semi-cylindrical
or of a prismatic figure through the greater part of its length, its outer end
being cylindrical and of small diameter. The hole in the screw plug, through
which the rod of the closer works, is of the same figure as that part of the rod.
which passes through it. The projecting end of the rod is provided with a
button or knob, by which the said rod can be pushed forward and withdrawn,
When the rod is pushed home and the plug or closer made to close the end of.
the barrel, the screw plug is turned by means of a handle attached. to it, and
the hole in the said screw plug is made to cross the end of the rod, and a
shoulder on the said rod is thereby supported by the said screw plug and the
plug or closer pressed firmly to its seat. The fire-arm is then ready for
discharge. To re-charge the fire-arm after firing the screw plug is turned a

page_text: semi-rotation so as to bring the opening in the said screw plug coincident
with the rod of the closer. The said closer can now be withdrawn from the
breech chamber and a fresh cartridge introduced.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will now proceed. to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in which
the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, a portion of a breech-loading rifle
constructed according to my Invention; and Figure 2 is a plan of the same,
the parts of the rifle in the said Figures 1 and 2 being in the positions which
they respectively assume when the said rifle is ready for discharge; Figure 3
is a plan of the said rifle, the parts of the same being in the relative positions
which they respectively assume when the breech end is open ready for the
introduction of the cartridge or charge; Figure 4 is a longitudinal vertical
section of Figure 1; and Figure 5 is a longitudinal vertical section of Figure 3;
Figure 6 is an end elevation (partly in section) taken at the dotted line a of
Figure 4; Figures 7, 8, and 9 represent portions of the rifle as herein-after
explained.
In the rifle represented in the Drawings the hammer and portions of the
lock are omitted, in order that the parts constituting my Invention may be the
better exhibited. The same letters are employed to indicate the same parts in
the several Figures of the Drawings.
end c.
b is the barrel of the rifle, and c is the prolonged breech end of the same,
the said breech end having an opening at top through which the cartridge
or charge is introduced into the barrel b. The breech end c is closed by a
screw plug d screwing in a hollow screw e in the said breech end. A tubular
capfis connected with the screw plug d, and encircles the whole of the breech
The screw plug d and tubular cap f are shown separately in longi-
tudinal section in Figure 7; 9 is the plug or closer of the rifle, sliding in
the breech end c; and g* is the stem or rod of the said plug or closer, the
greater part of the said rod 9 having a figure somewhat resembling that of a
triangular prism, as will be understood by referring to the side elevation,
Figure 8, and end elevation, Figure 9, of the said plug or closer and rod.
The screw plug d has an opening in it corresponding in figure with that of
the rod g of the plug or closer g. The plug or closer g is pushed forward and
withdrawn by means of a button or knob h fixed at the small end of the rod g².
The plug g is guided in its sliding motion by a screwed pin i on its under side,
working in a slot k in the breech end. The engagement of the pin i in the slot k
also prevents the plug g-from rotating. The rod g² of the plug or closer 9 has
a shoulder at g³, against which the rotating screw plug d is made to bear, in

page_text: hold the plug or closer on the conical
When the parts of the rifle are in the
the manner herein-after explained, and
seat at the breech end of the barrel b.
relative positions represented in Figures 3 and 5, an opening f' in the tubular
cap coincides with that in the breech end c, and a cartridge may be passed
through the said openings f², c², into the breech end of the barrel b. The
plug or closer g is now pushed forward by means of its button or knob h, and
made to close the open breech end of the barrels, as represented in Figure 4
By depressing the handle connected with the screw plug d, so as to give a
semi-rotation to the said plug, the opening in the said plug crosses the
shoulder or end g³ of the rod 92, and holds the plug or closer g firmly against
the conical seat at the open end of the barrel b, as represented in Figure 4.
The crossing of the shoulder and opening in the screw plug d will be best
understood by an examination of Figure 6. By the semi-rotation which is
given to the screw plug d, the said plug is made slightly to advance in the
screw e in the breech end, and to press the plug or closer g very firmly on the
conical seat of the barrel. The opening c² in the breech end is at the same
time covered by an uncut part of the tubular cap f being brought over the
said opening. The motion of the screw plug and tubular cap is limited by a
pin m on the breech end, engaging in the inclined slot n in the tubular cap f
(see Figure 3). The rifle is now ready for discharge, the plug or closer g being
supported during discharge by the screw plug d bearing firmly against the
shoulder g of the said plug or closer g. The handle 1, by which the screw
plug d is turned, may be kept in its place in the recess in the side of the stock
by a spring catch fastening. After discharge the handle is raised into a
nearly vertical position, as represented in Figure 5; a semi-rotation is thereby
given to the screw plug d and cap f, and the opening in the screw plug
brought opposite to or coincident with the rod 9' and the
cap f, made to coincide with that in the
closer 9 can now be withdrawn through the opening in the
the closer g moved to the position represented in Figure 5.
is thus made clear for the introduction of another cartridge. After charging
the plug or closer is pushed home, and the said closer fixed in the manner
already described. The different relative positions which the parts of the rifle
assume when the breech end is opened for the introduction of a cartridge, and
when the said rifle is ready for discharge, will be readily understood by an
examination of the longitudinal sections, Figures 4 and 5.
breech end c.
opening f2 in the
The rod g² of the
screw plug d, and
The breech end c
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the

page_text: same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention the general arrangement or combination of parts for
opening and securely closing the breech ends of breech-loading fire-arms,
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Augusto Albini, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
AUGUSTO ALBINI. (L.S.)