IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECHLOADING FIREARMS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Jepson Atkinson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th September 1880.
JOHN JEPSON ATKINSON, of the Middle Temple, London, Barrister at Law
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECHLOADING FIREARMS."
This Invention has for its object the production of a strong, simple, safe, convenient
and reliable breech loader capable of withstanding hard usage without much liability
to get out of order, and to possess great freedom from requiring frequent cleaning,
whilst, from its great simplicity of arrangement and fewness of parts, this operation
when required may be more readily performed, and it becomes also cheaper to
manufacture, and less liable to derangement than in those cases where more parts
and greater complication are employed, at the same time that the barrel is firmly
attached to the stock and framework or parts which are used in forming the
weapon, thus avoiding the objections which are found to exist in practical use with
those arms in which the barrel or barrels are made moveable for loading, and so
forming a weapon applicable to sporting or military purposes.
33
"
In carrying out my Invention I employ a barrel or barrels, either smooth bore
or rifled, which is or are firmly attached to a metal part or " action firmly
attached to the stock, and on this metal part or "action" I form or attach a
projection or part, in the case of a double barrel or military arm there may be
two, on or against which the moveable breech block, which opens to give access
to the barrel or barrels for loading, and is provided with a recess or recesses for
" action
its reception, closes and locks, and on the under side of this metal part or
below where the projection or part is formed or attached I form a flange or
flanges, rib or ribs, projection or projections, so as to strengthen the metal part
or "action at the point where the force of the explosion is resisted. On to this
metal part or
"action" I attach the moveable breech block by a suitable joint
or hinge at its back or tail end, so as to admit of its being opened and closed by
an upward and downward movement, and I form a hollow in the said breech
block in which the striker for exploding the cartridge works with its spiral
spring, when such is employed (although I may arrange it so as to be actuated
by any other suitable form and arrangement of spring), and on the back or tail
end, on its underside, I form a shoulder or groove for operating the extractor,
"

page_text: •
which removes the exploded cartridge by the act of raising the moveable breech
block, and by the saine motion draws back the striker, compressing the spring,
and leaving the striker ready for work on closing down the breech block and
pulling the trigger. The groove or shoulder at the back or tail end of the breechi
block when raising the saine comes into contact with the end of the slider working
the extractor, pushes it forward, and causes it to pull out the exploded cartridge.
The striker is mounted on a different centre or joint to that of the breech block,
whereby on raising the former the spring is compressed and the striker brought
into the proper state for causing the discharge. The breech block is so arranged
that on partially closing it the safety locking pin shoots into a notch on the
locking projection, retaining the breech block in such a position that the striker
is kept out of line with the cap or exploding arrangement in the cartridge, so
that if it moved it could not come in contact therewith, whilst by a little pressure
on the breech block it closes to the firing position and brings the striker in
line with the cap, the safety pin shooting into another notch or opening, and
safely locking the breech block during the act of firing; on pressing in or otherwise
removing the safety pin, it sets the breech block free and allows it to be raised
for reloading.
By my arrangement of locking projection or projections and moveable breech
block, I am enabled to get the locking part or projection nearer to the ends of the
barrels, and so avoid the space and length of leverage which exist in some
arrangements, whereby the damaging strain caused by the explosion is removed
and greater tightness and durability secured.