IMPROVEMENTS IN BREACH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Lang, of Cockspur Street, Charing Cross,
in the City of Westminster, Gun Maker, for the Invention of
$5
MDRAUTMENTS IN ROMAGE TOADINA DYDD ing "
85 IMPROVEMENTO TV ROBAGH LOADING TIRE ARE.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Lang at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th March 1870.
I, JAMES LANG, of Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, in the City of
Westminster, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREACH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to that class of breach-loading fire-arms in
which the breech is opened for the reception of the cartridge by causing
the breech end of the barrels to tilt or turn up on a pin. When the
breech in this class of arms is closed by bringing the breech end against
a breech block it has usually been secured either by a locking spring
bolt taking into a recess at the back of a block fixed to the under side

page_text: of the barrel, or by means of a rotating double-locking bolt provided
with projecting pieces, which when the bolt is turned round by a lever
will be brought over the projecting parts of a fixed block on the under
side of the barrels. It will be understood that in the first of thesc
cases the barrel or barrels are held down by a single locking spring
bolt and in the second by a double-locking bolt, but it has been found
by experience that neither of these devices alone is sufficiently strong
or secure.
The object of the present Invention is to increase the strength and
security of these parts by having a treble locking arrangement and at
the same time so combining and arranging the parts that when the
breech is closed by bringing down the barrels into their place all the
locking bolts will snap into their locking position. To this end the
lump or block fixed on the under side of the barrels is made with a
notch at the back to receive a snap spring bolt, and a recess is made in
the middle of the lump and provided with two notches to receive the
double-locking rotating bolt. To the snapping bolt at the rear is
adapted a pushing bar, the outer end of which bears against one side of
the rotating double-locking bolt for the purpose of pushing it round
when the rear locking bolt is pushed forward by its lever. A second
rod or bar is actuated by a cam worked by the same lever and bears
against the opposite side of the rotating double-locking bar and pushes it
in the opposite direction. A spring is adapted in any convenient manner
to the rear locking bolt for the purpose of throwing the bolts in the
proper direction when the lever is turned. By combining and arranging
the locking bolts in this manner a treble-locking and a self-acting snap
action on closing are combined in the simplest manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Lang in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
LANG, of Cockspur Street, Charing Cross, in the City of Westminster,
Gun Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the year of

page_text: our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-third
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Lang Her special licence that I, the
said James Lang, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Lang, 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 James
Lang, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Lang, do hereby declare
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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) :-
My Invention relates to that class of breech-loading fire-arms in
which the breech is opened for the reception of the cartridge by causing
the breech end of the barrels to tilt or turn up on a pin. When the
breech in this class of arms is closed by bringing the breech end against
a breech block it has usually been secured either by a locking spring
bolt taking into a recess at the back of a block fixed to the under side
of the barrel, or by means of a rotating double-locking bolt provided
with projecting pieces, which when the bolt is turned round by a lever
mounted on its spindle will be brought over the projecting parts of a
fixed block on the under side of the barrels. It will be understood that
in the first of these cases the barrel or barrels are held down by a single
locking spring bolt and in the second by a double-locking bolt, but it
has been found by experience that neither of these devices alone is
sufficiently strong or secure.

page_text: The object of the present Invention is to increase the strength and
security of these parts by having a treble-locking arrangement and at
the same time so combining and arranging the parts that when the
breech is closed by bringing down the barrels into their place all the
locking bolts will snap into their locking position.
In the accompanying Drawings the several Figures in Sheet I.
represent one arrangement of parts for effecting the object of my
Invention.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of a breech-loading gun
constructed according to my Invention. In this Figure the breech is
represented as closed. Fig. 2 is another longitudinal section repre-
senting the breech open. Figures 3, 4, and 5 represent some of the
parts detached. The lump or block a fixed on the under side of the
barrels is made with a notch 1, Fig. 2, at the back to receive a snap
spring bolt b, shewn detached in plan at Fig. 3, and in side elevation
at Fig. 4. Fig. 5 is a view of the under side of this bolt. A recess 2,
Fig. 2, is made in the middle of the lump a and is provided with
two notches, as shewn in the Figure, to receive the double-locking
rotating bolt c. To the snapping bolt b at the rear is adapted a pushing
bar 6', the outer end of which bears against a notch at one side of the
rotating double-locking bolt c for the purpose of pushing this rotating
bolt round and locking the breech. The rear locking bolt b is pushed
forward by a lever d on the lower end of the vertical spindle e, on the
upper end of which is keyed a boss or hub with a thumb lever f,
whereby the spindle and its levers are rotated when it is required to
unlock the breech of the gun. A second rod or bar g, Figures 3, 4,
and 5, is actuated by another short lever on the lower end of the
vertical spindle e, and is therefore, of course, worked by the same thumb
lever. This rod g bears against the opposite side of the rotating
double locking bolt c and pushes it in the opposite direction to the lever
d and bar b¹, and therefore serves to unlock the breech. A spring h
is adapted to act against the boss f¹ of the thumb lever f, and being
mounted on the upper end of the spindle e acts on the rear end of
the locking bolt 6 for the purpose of throwing the two bolts b and c
simultaneously in the proper direction. By combining and arranging
the locking bolts in this manner a treble-locking and a self-acting snap
action on closing are combined and made to act simultaneously.

page_text: In order to unlock and open the breech the thumb leverf is pushed
round so as to bring the two notches 3, 3, Fig. 3 (in the rotating bolt c)
opposite to or parallel with the lump or block ạ. This will admit of
the lump or block a being lifted out of the catches of the rotating
bolt c.
At the same time the rotation of the spindle e will have drawn
back the locking bolt b, and the treble locking will be released, so that
the breech may be thrown up, as shewn in Fig. 2. On closing the
breech the tail 4, Fig. 2, of the lump or block a will pass down through
the notch or opening 5 of the locking bolt b, and immediately the
block a is brought into its place the rotating bolt c (being released
from the side pressure of the block a) will be caused (by the spring h
acting on the pushing bar 6¹) to fly round and cause the locking pieces
of the bolt c to enter the two notches of the block a and lock it. At
the same time the bolt 6 will advance and the part 5 will take into
the back notch 1 of the block a and thus form a treble locking. The
notch 1 at the rear of the lump a may sometimes be dispensed with but
all the other parts will remain. The double-locking rotating bolt e will
be worked by the thumb lever f at the top of the breech as before and
will form a very convenient arrangement of snap gun.
In this
Fig. 6, Sheet II., is a sectional elevation of a gun shewing a modi-
fication of the treble-locking arrangement above described.
instance the thumb lever f for unlocking the breech is adapted to the
spindle of the rotating bolt c instead of to the spindle e, shewn in the
Figures in Sheet I. Upon turning the thumb lever f and the rotating
bolt c the latter will push back the rod 6¹ of the locking bolt 6, Fig. 7,
and thus release the treble locking of the lump or block a, precisely as
in the former instance. A spring is adapted to the rear end of the
locking bolt b for the purpose of keeping the bolts b and c in connection,
so that when (on closing the breech) the rotating bolt c is released from
the side pressure of the block or lump a the spring by acting on the
bolt will, through the intervention of the rod 6', Fig. 7, cause the
rotating bolt c to fly round and thus produce the treble locking, as in
the former instance.
Having now described my Invention of improvements in breech-
3 loading fire-arms, and having explained the manner of carrying the
same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, securing or locking the breech by a treble-locking
arrangement, as hercin shewn and described.

page_text: I also claim, actuating the rotating bolt c by means of a lever
detached from or unconnected with the spindle of the rotating bolt,
whether such arrangement be used for a treble-locking gun or merely as
a double-locking snap gun.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Lang, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eighth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.