IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Smith, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING
FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE."
Sealed the 11th April 1860, and dated the 11th October 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Smith at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
October 1859.
I, JOHN SMITH, of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
I make a solid breech piece to stand any required pressure, which, when
turned up I slide on a twitch hoop or hoops with a wing set screw, for the
purpose of allowing the said slide twitch hoop or hoops to expand and contract
as necessary. I make the breech a little larger than the bore of the rifled
barrel, to enable me to use a larger charge of powder than I otherwise could
do, and I make the ball also a little larger than the bore of the rifle, by which
it will take a keener grip on the fluting of the rifle. The cartridge will not
require puncturing, but merely the end biting off to let in the powder, and the
ball will only require pressing into the breech piece with a slight pressure of
the finger, the breech piece being then turned up, and the twitch sliding hoop
drawn up so as to be partly on the breech piece and partly on the barrel, and
the twitch hoop screwed up or tightened with the wing set screw, it will be
perfectly air-tight and free from leakage.
It is evident that my said improvements are applicable to muskets of every
description, fowling pieces, whether single or double barrel, pistols, revolvers,
[Price 8d1

page_text: cannon or guns, and fire-arms of every description, and will render them
stronger, less liable to danger from the discharge or charging with the
bayonet, will require less time in loading. and will be less liable to get out
of repair than any gun hitherto used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Smith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
April 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN SMITH,
of Oldham, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Smith, Her special licence that I, the said John Smith, my
executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Smith, 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 AND ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Smith, 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 months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Smith, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
I employ a solid breech piece and sliding twitch hoop or tube that will bear
any pressure and hardship required. The breech piece is closed at one end,
and part of the exterior circumference of the other end is shaped or turned to
correspond with the outside of the barrel at that place, the joint being kept
tight and the barrel and breech piece held firmly together by sliding over and
afterwards fastening the twitch hoop or tube, so that it is partly over the

page_text: breech piece and partly over the barrel, thus uniting them as if of one piece,
and preventing them getting out of the straight line; the breech piece is
hinged to the segment of a socket forming part of the back iron or solid breech
head connected to the stock. I modify the arrangement of the twitc by
forming a screwed pin on the solid breech head, and fitting upon it a screwed
twitch tube connected to or forming part of the barrel under the bore,so that
the end of the barrel can be twitched against the solid breech head and held
bya catch when the piece is to be fired, and also untwitched and the boreof the
barrel exposed when the piece is to be loaded. Or this arrangement may be
reversed by placing the twitch tube on the back iron and the screwed pin on
the barrel. I also form upon the solid breech head a twitch tube, having an
internal screw or thread of any desired pitch, and fit to it a corresponding
external thread cut upon the breech end of the barrel which is enlarged for
the purpose, so that the barrel can be twitched close to the breech head or
back iron, and also untwitched or unscrewed, in order to enable the bore to
correspond with a hole in the back iron, for the purpose of introducing the
charge. This arrangement mayalso be reversed by placing the screwed twitch
tube on the barrel and the exterior screw on the back iron.
These improvements will be clearly understood by referring to the figures
and letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings.
In Figs. 1 and 2 I represent a fire-arm having a breech piece hinged to the
back iron, and a twitch hoop for holding the barrel and breech piece firmly
together. The back iron or solid breech head is shewn at , between which
and the barrel is a seginental socket b, to which is jointed or hinged the breech
piece c,which is closed at the back, with the exception of the touch hole. The
said breechpieceandsocket are turned down as at e,to correspond in diameter
with that end of the barrel f, so that a twitch hoop or tube g may be passed
over the joint h, and keep the bore of the barrel and the hole in the breech
perfectly in a straight line, the twitch hoop being afterwards held fast by the
screw i, which is turned or moved by the handle or lever k. The twitch hoop
may be made of any kind of metal, with the interior diameter either parallel
or slightly conical and also hinged either on the right or left side of thesocket.
I can also use the twitch hoop in two halves in a conical form, and if the end
of the barrel is solid and a slot cut in its breech eud in order to admit the
charging, I can draw the hoop over it or have one-half of the hoop to fall
down and cover a plug fitted into the breech piece, for the purpose of leaving
the barrel uniform in its bore.
In Figs. 3 and 4 I represent one of my improved fire-arms, having on the
back iron or solid breech piece a screw pin or stud which screws in a twitch

page_text: hoop in the barrel below the bore. The screw pin or stud is shewn at n on
the back iron o, which with the top and bottom straps p and q are all of one
piece of metal; the screw fits into the thread r of the twitch hoop formed in
a boss s on the end of the barrel t, so that by untwitching or loosening the
twitch hoop and screw the barrel will be disjointed from the back iron, and
the bore of the barrel will be prepared to receive the charge, and then by
twitching or forcing the two together air-tight, and afterwards fastening
with a catch, the piece will be ready for firing.
In Figs. 5 and 6 I represent a modification of the fire arm just described.
The screw pin and twitch tube intowhich it is screwed is the same as in Figs.3
and 4, but instead of introducing a charge into the end of the barrel it is
placed in a breech hole t¹, in the back iron or solid breech head u, so that
when the two parts are untwitched, they shall be slightly separate from each
other, and expose the breech hole, and when twitched up tight after charging,
they shall be perfectly in line with each other, ready for firing.
In Figs. 7, 8, and 9, I represent another modification of my improved fire-
arms, in which the twitch hoop forms part of the back iron or solid breech
head; the interior of the hoop being formed with a thread or screw, into
which is fitted an external screwcut on the end of the barrel, whichisenlarged
and turned circular for the purpose; the end of the bore of the barrel at w is
the part into which the charge is placed, and at a there is a hollow and hole
in the back iron,as shewn in section at Figs. 7 and 8, so that if the barrel be
turned half round, as shewn by the dotted lines, its bore shall exactly corre-
spond with the hole x, through which the charge is passed into the bore of the
barrel, and in order to keep the parts in their proper respective positions when
the piece is fired I employ a pin z, which locks itself into the back iron or
breech head, and is held up to its work by the spring a¹. Connected to the
pin z is a ring b¹, which is held forward with the finger, whilst the butt part
is being reversed, preparatory to charging.
For preparing to charge, let us consider the barrel and stock with it shall
be in the position shewn by the dotted lines, the butt part of the stock with the
back iron, twitch hoop, lock, and trigger bei g reversed, so that there will be
a clear passage for the charge to enter to its place in the breech end of the
barrel, after which the parts are returned to their original position and held
firmly by the pin and spring, when the piece is then ready for firing.
In Fig. 10 I shew an arrangement of washer waddings, which can be used
as a plug, air-tight against exploded gunpowder, in my improved breech-
loading fire-arms and cannon, c¹ and d¹ being the washer waddings, made
of cork or other suitable material,

page_text: Thus, in the annexed Drawings I have shewn a few of the modifications of
my twitch hoop or tube, which it is evident can be varied to a great extent, it
being understood that my improvements can be applied to all kinds of fire-
arms and cannon, whether their barrels are plain or rifled. I make the bore
of the breech either the same size or a little larger than the bore of the rifled
barrel; the latter mode enables the fire-arm to be fired with a heavier charge
of powder than usual, without forcing the ball out of its track or running
grooves, or breaking the thread of the ball which has been formed by the
fluting of the barrel, for, as the ball is also a little larger than the bore of the
barrel, it will have a keener grip in the fluting of the rifle than if it was
rammed in.
My improvements also admit of the bore of the breech piece being rifled in
deep grooves in a spiral form whilst the barrel is bored plain to the size of the
bottom part of the grooving of the breech piece; in this case, the cartridge
will have to be pressed mechanically to fit the breech piece, and thus a spiral
motion will be obtained, although the shot will pass through a plain round-
bored barrel and answer well for fowlers, as they can procure a spiral motion
with pellet shot, thereby increasing the range of shooting considerably.
By these improvements I am also enabled to employ cast-iron shot and shell.
without any coating of a softer metal, the missile simply requiring to be
mechanically cast and passed through a test gauge, so that it may fit the
breech piece of the cannon or fire-arm; in this case the grooved part of the
breech piece may be made of the best cast steel, and the barrels may be a plain
round bore.
It will be seen that my peculiar system of twitch hoops, or twitch stocks or
barrels, enables me to secure the barrel and breech piece of any shape and
form in a straight line with each other,, with or by the principle of expansion
and contraction.
It will also be clearly seen that the same sort of cartridges may be used that
the army are now making, use of in the ramrod rifles; this will effect a great
saving over any other breech loader, as they require an express cartridge of
more expence than the original, or that which my breech loader will require.
Another great advantage over any other is, it will be the same to handle and
work as the army musket in every respect, only it can be charged so much
sconer, and with so little trouble, and whatever the position the man might be
in who works it, will be charged with ease. A soldier can make a charge with
fixed bayonet just as effectually as if fixed on an army ramrod musket. Another
advantage will be seen, that it can be loaded with fixed bayonet just as easy
and as soon as if the bayonet was not fixed; an advantage that the ramrod

page_text: fire-arm does not allow. My breech loader does not add length to the barrel
like most other breech loaders, and it completely protects the man who fires
it by being solid in the part that contains the charge, all other breech loaders
are corked or plugged, or otherwise plated at the forepart of the barrel, thereby
forming a loose joint, which evil is presented towards the person who fires it,
and as every barrel expands while in the act of being discharged, in such the
leakage must increase at every shot, the danger must be apparent to any one.
All these impediments and dangers will be avoided in my breech loader. Of
the principle of the expansion and contraction I most especially draw attention
to the part of the breech piece and barrel, whereby I connect them by a twitch
hoop in any form which accommodates itself to the breech and barrel in any
state of temperature; this said hoop is made and connected in such a manner
that it will slacken its grip when the breech is required to be open for charging,
and tighten its grip when it is prepared for firing. I can fix this said hoop in
a great number of ways and forms, but the principle will be the same.
Having thus fully described the nature and particulars of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be dis-
tinctly understood that I claim as my Invention, and which to the best of my
knowledge and belief has not been hitherto used within the realm, in the manu-
facture of breech-loading fire-arms and cannon, the construction and employ-
ment of a twitch hoop or twitch tube, so that the barrel can be separated from
the back iron or breech head when the hoop or tube is untwitched; and also
that the barrel can be closed air-tight against the back iron or breech head
when the hoop or tube is twitched up, the break off being in a straight line, as
such improvements are herein described and illustrated in the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Smith, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Tenth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-
named John Smith, in the presence of
E. J. HUGHES, Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOHN SMITH. (L.s.)