IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR USE WITH SUCH ARMS
Year: 1853

page_text: Sealed the 20th February 1854, and dated the 19th November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Moses Poole at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th November 1853.
I, MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR USE
WITH SUCH ARMS," to be as follows:-
The rear end of the barrel of any ordinary fire-arm, instead of
having a fixed breech pin as now usual, opens into a long chamber in.
the metal stock of the piece on the line of the barrel, which chamber

page_text: VVitnin this
opens vertically through the upper part of the stock.
chamber is a breech pin fitted with slides, taking-grooves in the sides of
the chamber, so that it can be slid backwards and forwards in the
chamber, either opening, or closing the rear end of the barrel, and the
breech pin has a cone with a hole opening through it into the barrel,
on which cone a percussion cap is exploded to discharge the piece by
means of any hammer or cock, as now i
ow usual. This breech pin is moved,
when desired, and retained against the explosion of the charge by means
of a lever passing through a slot or mortice in the stock, at which point
it is secured by a centre pin on which it swings. The lower end of
the lever is formed of a convenient shape for moving by hand, and the
upper part forms a-blocking piece, which; when the breech pin is shoved
forward against the rear end of the barrel, comes down behind it, and
resists the recoil of the explosion in a straight line on to the centre pin
on which the lever moves, and on to the hub of said lever surrounding
the centre pin. A metallic link working in a mortice in both the breech
pin and the upper end of the lever connects these parts, and on the lever
being brought down the link shoves the breech pin into place, and the
hole in one end of this link being elongated, and the ends of the lever and
breech pin being bevilled, as the lever is forced down into the stock
the breech pin is slid home, relieving the joints of the link from the
recoil of the explosion: When the breech pin is withdrawn a chamber
is left in front thereof open to the barrel, into which any proper cartridge
is placed; and my cartridge is peculiarly adapted to this breech-loading
gun, and consists of a case of paper inclosing the powder, to one end
of which a ball, is attached, or shot or slugs may occupy the place of
the ball; at the rear end the cartridge is provided with and attached
to a short cylinder of wood or other substance that has a groove around
its curved surface, within which groove any proper fibrous substance is
wound; the explosion being in front of this cylinder, it is left in the
barrel, and forms a wad and swab for the cartridge placed behind -it;
entirely cleaning out the barrel as it is driven through by-the-suc-
ceeling explosion.
L

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Moses Poole in the Great Seal Patent Office on
"the 3rd May 1854.
:
... 1
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE. PRESENTS, SHALL COME, I,
MOSES POOLE, of Avenue Road, Regent's Park, in, the County of
Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by, Her
Letters Patent, bearing, date the Nineteenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Moses Poole,; Her-special
licence that I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Moses Poole, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 IN CARTRIDGES FOR USE WITH SUCH ARMS," a
communication from William Walker Marston, of New York, upon
the condition. (amongst others) that I, the said Moses Poole, 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 Moses Poole, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly. described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof (that is to say):
J
The nature of the said Invention consists in means for moving and
securing the breech pin against the explosion of the cartridge, at the
same time furnishing facilities for placing the cartridge into the chamber
ready to be forced into the gun, the explosion, being resisted in the line

page_text: of the barrel by parts that occupy the chamber or body, without mate-
rially changing the exterior form of this part of the gun from the shape
now usual. The cartridge is also so fitted that in use it will keep the
barrel of the fire-arm free from soilage, forcing out all the residue or
dirt from each explosion by a peculiarly formed base to the cartridge,
which forms the wad for the next cartridge, supplied behind it by means
of the moveable breech.
In the accompanying Drawing Figure 1 is a plan; Figure 2 is a
'vertical section; and Figure 3; a cross section near the lock of this
breech-loading gun; and Figures 3 and 4, are sections of a shot and
ball cartridge. The like marks of reference designate the same parts
in all the Figures. A, is the stock or handle of the gun; B, the barrel
of any desired size or character. The barrel and stock are connected
by the body a, and straps. b, is the lock plate containing the parts of the
lock, which plate is secured by screws 1, 1; c, is the cock or hammer.
These parts so far may be of any usual character or size, and the other
parts in which this Invention consists should be proportioned to the
size of the piece; d, is the trigger guard, and 2, the trigger, as usual.
The barrel B, is connected to the body a, as shewn in Figure 2, the
rear end opening into a chamber formed in the body a, inside of the
lock plate. This chamber has grooves 3, forming slides for the loading
slide or breech pin e, which has a nipple 4 communicating with the
cartridge when in the barrel by a hole in the centre of the stud 10,
formed on the end of the breech pin, to enter within and fit tight to
the bore of the barrel. To actuate this breech pin I use a lever set
on a fulcrum pin 5, around which pin the lever is formed partially
cylindrically, the lower part g of which lever is made, as shewn, to be
actuated by the hand; the upper part f of this is formed as a blocking
piece, the forward end being curved from the centre pin 5, and both
the parts of the lever and the breech pin e are slotted to receive a
link 6, connected at the rear end by a pin 7 to the lever f, and at the
forward end this link is provided with an elongated hole 8, receiving a
pin 9 in the slide e.
The operation is as follows:-The lever g being turned into the
position shewn by dotted lines in Figure 2, the part f is elevated, and

page_text: the link 6 pulls the slide breech pin e back, leaving a recess or
chamber in the front thereof between that and the open rear end of
the barrel; into this chamber the breech-loading cartridge is dropped,
and on turning the lever back towards the stock the part f is made
to descend, and the link 6 forces the breech pin or slide e forward,
entering and forcing the cartridge into the barrel. In Figure 2 it will
be seen that the lower edge of the blocking piece f, and the rear upper
edge of the breech pin e, are slightly bevelled; the length of the link 6
is such that the ends of the breech pin and blocking piece come toge-
ther before the breech pin is fully forced into its place; these inclined
edges coming together, the blocking piece forces the breech pin firmly
home, and in so doing the pin 9 is slid forward in the slot 8, entirely
relieving the link 6 and joints from any strain by the explosion, and it
will be seen that the end of the blocking piece being curved from the
fulcrum 5 enters partially below the loading slide, giving this a slight
tendency to over-ride the blocking piece by the force of the explosion.
But this piece f cannot go down for the bottom of the chamber, neither
can the breech pin rise, as it is guided and retained in the grooves 3,
consequently the recoil is taken in almost a straight line on to the
pin 5, and curved bearings around it. If the blocking piece ƒ be made
with a projection or thumb-piece on its upper side, the lever g may be
dispensed with, although I do not recommend the same. It will be
evident that by making the breech pin wider, and providing it with two
circular plugs 10, this breech-loading apparatus may be used with a
double barelled gun with great ease and simplicity; and I am not
aware of any other breech gun that can be fitted with two barrels
without great weight and complexity of parts.
The cartridge which I use is formed, as shewn in Figure 5, of a thin
cylinder i, of paper or other substance, at one end of which is a ball or
slug k, at the other the cylindrical base his attached, which base has
a hole 12 to pass the flash from any suitable detonating cap to the
powder which is within the cylinder i, as at 1; a thin piece of gauze,
'paper, or similar substance that will be burned by the flash of the cap
being inserted to prevent the powder running out at the hole 12. 11,
is a groove formed around the curved surface of the base h, in which

page_text: string or any suitable fibrous substance is wound, which may be greased
if desired. The cartridge, Figure 4, is provided with a similar base,
but in this Figure the base is shewn as applied with a shot cartridge m,
being the cylinder containing powder at n; 18, is a diaphragm sepa-
rating the powder from the shot o, which are secured in place by a
plug p. This same form of cartridge, if made sufficiently large, might
contain canister shot for use with large sized guns and cannons. On one
of these cartridges being exploded within the breech-loading gun the
base his left behind, and by its elastic fibrous packing prevents the
escape of fire around-the breech, pin, and on another cartridge being
entered: behind and forced into the barrel this forms a wad, and in its
passage through the barrel at the explosion of the cartridge this base
carries out all the soilage caused by the explosion of the cartridge to
which it was attached, thereby preventing more than the soilage of one
explosion from remaining in the barrel; and the base is of sufficient
length, compared with its diameter, not to turn or stick in the barrel,
and may
be formed of wood, paper, or any suitable substance with the
fibrous winding around it, as before noticed. I am aware that various
means have been devised to support the breech pin against the recoil of
the explosion, but I am not aware that the blocking piece f has ever
been used connected by a link to the breech pin to slide the same, by
which arrangement the blocking piece taking the rear end of the breech
pin on the line of the barrel relieves the joints of the connecting links;
a chamber at the
and I am not aware that any breech pin, sliding in
rear of the barrel, has been fitted with a nipple thereon as shewn.
Therefore what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First, I claim attaching the cone or nipple for the percussion cap to
the upper part of the breech pin fitted to slide in the line of the axis of
the barrel, as described and shewn....
Second, I claim the means herein shewn for sustaining the breech
pin e against the recoil of the explosion by the use of the blocking
piece f, set on the centre 5, and moving in a chamber opening to the
top of the stock, as specified, when said breech pin e, and blocking
piece. fare connected by means of a link 6' to slide the breech pin, said
link being fitted with an elongated hole at the joint for the purposes
specified.

page_text: Third, I claim a fibrous packing to the base of breech-loading car-
tridges, formed by winding suitable fibrous material into a groove in
said base, as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Moses Poole, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
CHRISTOPHER WOOLLACOTT,
4, Compton Street East,
Brunswick Square.
MOSES POOLE. (L.S.)