IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Tranter, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 17th October 1862, and dated the 19th July 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Tranter at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th July 1862:
I, WILLIAM TRANTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows: —
My Invention consists in the first place in the use of a stop or holder for
the revolving chamber in the form of a spring lever with a booked end
adapted to be acted upon by a tooth or projection on the front of the tumbler
or hammer when the latter is raised previous to firing, thereby withdrawing
the stock and liberating the chamber, the spring of the lever forcing forward
the usual stud and locking the chamber when the tooth or projection on the
tumbler or the hammer has passed out of the hooked end of the lever.
My Invention consists' in the second place in the use of a bridle or cover
for the works of a revolver which may be removed with facility so as to admit
of the works being examined as required. For this purpose the axletree pin

page_text: on which the hammer moves is screwed fast in the body by a screw formed
on it close to the head of the said pin. The axletree pin is also screwed at
the end for the bridle or cover to be screwed on it. The bridle or cover is
milled at the upper part so as, to enable it to be screwed and unscrewed as
required.
My Invention consists in the third place in the use of a centre rod for the
chamber to revolve on, with a spring or spring lever acting in a slot or cavity
in the rod, which spring on being compressed into the cavity allows the rod
to be withdrawn from the body in order to take out the chamber when
required.
My Invention consists in the fourth place in adapting and applying to
ramrods a lubricating brush or clastic fabric or substance capable of holding
lubricating material for the purpose of lubricating the inside of the rifled
barrel each time it is loaded.
And my Invention consists in the last place in forming the grooves of riflo
barrels in the shape of a hyperbolic curve for the purpose of getting rid of
angles in the cross section so as to admit of the lubricating rod cleaning the
barrel or softening the deposit therein with facility.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said William Tranter in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
January 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TRANTER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, 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, givo and grant unto
me, the said William Tranter, Her special license that I, the said William
Tranter, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Tranter, my executors, administrators, or 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Tranter, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly 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 mouths next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Tranter, do hereby declaro
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Fire-arms," consists in the first place
in the use of a stop or holder for the revolving chamber in the form of a spring
lever with a hooked end adapted to be acted upon by a tooth or projection
on the front of the tumbler or hammer, when the latter is raised previous
to firing, thereby withdrawing the stop and liberating the chamber, the
spring of the lever forcing forward the usual stud, and locking the chamber
when the tooth or projection on the tumbler or the hammer has passed out of
the hooked end of the lever. The said spring lever works on a pivot fixed
in the frame and is composed of two arms, one on each side of the pivot, ono
of which arms has a spring, and carries the usual stud for holding the
revolving chamber by passing into one of its notches or cavities, and the
other has a hooked end, formed with an inclined face so as to allow the tooth
or projection on the tumbler or on the hammer (which tooth or projection
has a correspondingly inclined surface) to pass over it, when the hammer is
projected on to the nipple, but the bottom of the said hooked end projects
slightly from the face of the lever, thereby forming a catch for the said tooth
or projection. By this arrangement, when the hammer is raised, the tooth
or projection is brought under the projecting part of the hooked end of the
lever, and raises such end, by which the other end of the lever on the opposite
side of its pivot is depressed, and the stud thereon withdrawn from the notch
or cavity. of the revolving chamber, the spring of the lover carrying the stud
forward again into the notch or cavity when the hooked end of the lever is
liberated.
My Invention consists in the second place in the use of a bridle or cover
for the works of a revolver, which may be removed with facility so as to admit
of the works being examined as required. For this purpose the axletree
pin on which the hammer moves is screwed fast in the body by a screw formed
on it close to the head of the said pin. The axletree pin is also screwed at
the end for the bridle or cover to be screwed on it. The bridle or cover is

page_text: milled at the upper part so as to enable it to be screwed or unscrewed as,
required. The axletree pin is formed of increased diameter at the end
where it is screwed into the frame, such end terminating in a screw head; it
is then plain (or without a screw thread) in the central part on which the
hammer works, and there is a screw thread on the other end in order to admit
of the bridle or cover being screwed on it in such a manner
close up the hole in the side of the frame, and cover the works, the
milled edge of the bridle or cover alone projecting from the outer surface of
the frame.
as to
My Invention consists in the third place in the use of a centre rod for the
chamber to revolve on, with a spring or spring lever acting in a slot or cavity
in the rod, which spring on being compressed into the cavity allows the
rod to be withdrawn from the body, in order to take out the chamber when
required. There is also a slot or cavity in the frame into which the spring of the
rod passes, whereby the rod is held firmly in its position.
My Invention consists in the fourth place in adapting and applying to ramrods
a lubricating brush or elastic fabric or substance capable of holding lubricating
material for the purpose of lubricating the inside of the rifled barrel each time
it is loaded.
The object of this application of a lubricating material is to soften the
deposit from the previous discharge each time the gun is loaded, thereby
preventing an impediment to the passage of tho succeeding projectile up the
barrel. The lubricating fabric or substance may consist of rings of felt, which
may be put on the end of the rod and secured by a screw, but I do not confine
myself to this mode of applying the same.
And
my
Invention consists in the last place in forming the grooves of
rifle barrels in the shape of a hyperbolic curve, for the purpose of getting rid
of angles in the cross section so as to admit of the lubricating rod cleaning the
barrel or softening the deposit therein with facility.
Hitherto the said grooves have been made of various forms in the cross
section, but under my Invention they are made of the form of a hyperbolic
curve, which may be varied in its size and proportions as required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what. I claim as of
my Invention is,—
First, the spring lever stop for the revolving chamber acted upon by a
rojection on the tumbler or the hammer as hercin-before described.
Secondly, the bridle or cover for the works of a revolver as berein-before
described.

page_text: Thirdly, the mode of holding the centre rod of the revolving chamber
herein-before described.
Fourthly, the application to ramrods of a lubricating brush or substance
for the purpose herein-before described.
And lastly, the rifling of the barrels of fire-arms with grooves in the form
of a hyperbolic curve in the cross section.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Tranter, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
50, Chancery Lane,.
Patent Agent.
WILLIAM TRANTER. (L.s.)