IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred William Ramscar and
Frederic Warner Wilson at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd March 1868.
We, ALFRED WILLIAM RAMSCAR, of Gray's Inn Road, Gunsmith, and
FREDERIC WARNER WILSON, of Edgeware Road, both in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES," to be as
follows:-
The first part of our Invention relates to improvements in breech-
loading fire-arms. We make the breech end of the barrel open at the
rear for the insertion of the cartridge, and close it by means of a
quadrant-shaped plate pivoted below the breech and working trans-
versely in a recess made therein at one side. In order to load the gun
the plate is drawn outwards to one side of the gun by partially rotating
it on its axis by means of a thumb piece with which it is provided in
convenient position to be acted on by the hand, when the barrel will be
opened at the rear and the cartridge may then be inserted. The
quadrant plate is then pressed backwards so as to enclose the cartridge
and close the rear end of the barrel, a projection on said plate taking

page_text: into a slot made in the opposite side of the breech. A catch is
further provided on this plate engaging with a recess in the breech so
as to hold it in place when shut. At the lower part of the quadrant
plate is pivoted an arm the end of which is wedge-shaped and works
in a slot in the opposite side of the breech to that of the plate. Upon
pulling the plate outwards as before mentioned for the purpose of
opening the breech the wedge-shaped nose or end of the arm is projected
from the side of the breech and engages with an inclined slot formed
in the under side of the hammer, the effect of which is to lower it to
half-cock (the hammer being cocked by motion in a downward
direction). The gun being loaded the breech is closed by returning
the plate to its position as above described, which withdraws the
projecting wedge and permits of the hammer being lowered to full-cock
by hand. The gun may then be discharged in the usual way provided
the breech be completely closed, otherwise the wedge-shaped nose over
which the hammer passes in cocking would project from the side
of the breech and prevent the rise of the hammer for the discharge of
the cartridge.
The second part of our Invention relates to the cartridges for use
with the improved breech-loading fire-arms above described. The
cartridges resemble what are known as pin cartridges, but the pin is
replaced by a tube of similar size closed at the outer end and com-
municating at the other with the charge of the cartridge. This tube
contains the fulminate by which the charge is ignited, the ordinary cap
within the cartridge being dispensed with. The cartridge is introduced
at the open end of the barrel, as before mentioned, the tubular pin being
received in the slot made in the side of the breech for its reception
so as to slightly project. In this manner the hammer when rising
strikes the pin or tube, whereby it is compressed against a small anvil
or projection formed on the breech to produce the explosion of the
fulminate contained in the tube and so effect the discharge of the
cartridge.