AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCK-FAST BREECH-LOADING FIRE- ARMS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Mackie, of No. 59, Saint James' Street,
in the City of Westminster, in the Employ of James Dalziel
Dougall, of the same Place, Gun Maker, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCK-FAST BREECH-LOADING FIRE-
ARMS."
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said James Mackie at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and
Declaration, on the 15th October 1869, pursuant to the 9th Section
of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MACKIE, of No. 59, Saint James' Street, in the City of Westminster, in
the Employ of James Dalziel Dougall, of the same Place, Gun Maker,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCK-PAST BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," and have
petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and have made
solemn Declaration that I am the first and true Inventor thereof.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Mackie, do hereby declare
that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and seal,
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement :-
The Invention is an improvement upon James Dalziel Dougall's
Invention of "Improvements in Breech-loading Fire-arms," for which
Letters Patent were granted to him on the Seventh day of May One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, No. 1128, which breech-loading fire-
arms are known by the name of the "lock-fast" guns. It is applicable
either to single or double-barrelled guns, but it will be sufficient to
describe its application to a double-barrelled lock-fast fowling piece.
In making my improved lock-fast gun I form what is called the
action of the gun (Fig. 4) so that when the breech is closed and the gun
ready for firing the breech end of the barrels (a, Figs. 1, 2, and 3) being
close up to the false breech (6) and firmly held there by the eccentric
head (c) of the lever (c, d,) as herein-after described. The hook (e)
which corresponds with the hook of Dougall's lock-fast gun and which
is at the front end of the lump (e, e,) instead of resting against the hinge
pin (f), as in the lock-fast, is at a little distance behind it. The cavity
in the lump (g, Fig. 2) in which the head of the lever works closes down
upon a solid piece (61) left in the action of the gun, and so arranged
that the solid piece (6 1) and the eccentric head (c) of the lever together
exactly fit and fill the cavity. By this arrangement the hinge pin (f)
is entirely relieved from the shock produced by the discharge of the gun,
which is received by and distributed over the whole of the remaining
portion of the action of the gun. I also form, as is done in the lock-
fast gun, a holding lug (e 2) on the breech end of the lump corresponding
with a slot (, Fig. 3) in the action of the gun, but in my gun as the
barrels are shut down the internal face of the cavity in the lump
(i, Fig. 2) comes down upon the eccentric head of the lever (c, Fig. 2,)
so arranged that a slight longitudinal motion is thus given to the barrels
towards the false breech, causing the holding lug (62) to enter the
slot (h), and thus holding the breech end of the barrel in its place until
it is firmly fixed there by the action of the lever in the usual way. The
action of the barrel in giving this preliminary catch may be assisted by
a small spring (j) suitably placed so as to press the lever in the direction
of the position it occupies when the gun is ready for firing. I prefer

page_text: making the whole of the lump of one piece of metal, but it may be
made of two or even more pieces. The breech end of the barrels may be
prevented from rising up by any suitable arrangement of projections and
recesses corresponding accurately with each other upon the breech end
of the barrel and lump on the one hand and on the action on the other.
When the lever is moved forward for the purpose of opening the barrel
its eccentric head acts upon a sliding bolt (k, Fig. 2) passing through
the solid piece of the action above referred to (61), and pressing against
the back part of that portion of the lump which forms the hook (e), thus
forcing it with the barrels forward till the hook (e) comes upon the
hinge pin (f) and the barrels are moved sufficiently forward to be
clear from the false breech, so that the breech end of the barrels (a) can
rise and the breech be opened in the usual way. As soon as the lever is
released from the hand pressure the spring before mentioned (j) causes
the lever (d) to move towards the position it occupies when the breech
is closed (Figs. 1 and 3), and thus facilitates the process of closing the.
breech after loading. I also make the pin hole that goes through
the head of the lever and upon which it turns of an elliptic form,
so that when the breech is closed the pin (1) is relieved from all

page_text: small spring to begin its work of bringing the barrels home to the face
of the action, so that the tendency of the weight of the fore part of the
barrels to open the breech is overcome, and the barrels remain in their
place until and while the lever is being brought to bear on them by the
hand to force and then to hold them home, the same motion throwing
the hook and the hinge pin out of gear, and into the position they
occupy while the gun is fired.
Fourth. The arrangement above described by which the pin of the
lever working in an elliptic socket is when the breech is closed relieved
from strain.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Mackie, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.