IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Edmund Green and John
Green at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 25th February 1860.
We, CHARLES EDMUND GREEN, of 13, Blandford Street, Portman Square,
and JOIN GREEN, of Charlotte Street, Portland Place, in the Parish of Saint
Marylebone, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention relates to improvements in that description of fire-arms known
as "breech-loading," and consists of an arrangement of parts by which the same
security to the shooter is obtained as though a solid breech, together with
increased celerity in loading.
I cut a groove or channel in the stock from its lip downward to a level with
the bottom of the barrel and in a line with the breech large enough to allow
the parts herein-after described to be moved to and from the breech, and at
right angles to this on the right side of the stock a slot is cut to admit a small
lever or handle which gives motion to the breeching parts.
The breeching parts consist of a conical or other shaped plug for closing the
breech, having attached to it behind what I denominate a circular compound
or double-acting wedge, which latter works against two metallic inclined.
shoulders let into the stock, one on each side, and when these are brought into
action together (operating like a male and female screw), they force the plug
into the breech or end of the barrel ground or bored to receive it, or withdraw

page_text: it. These two pieces, namely, the plug and wedge, are fixed on a spindle or
sliding bars extending along the channel in the stock) that is kept in its
proper working position by passing through eyes or guides let into the stock,
and to this spindle or bars is fixed the small lever or handle that actuates the
whole.
To make the action of this Invention intelligible, I will suppose that the
rifle has just been discharged, and that it is to be reloaded. Raise the small
lever or handle with the forefinger and thumb from its horizontal position in
the slot until it stands vertically; this turns the spindle or bars through a
space equal to one-fourth part of a circle, and in so doing withdraws the wedge
from the inclined shoulders, and with it the plug from the breech; then
pull the small lever towards the shoulder or butt end of the stock, and the
plug and wedge will be drawn back a sufficient distance to admit of the
introduction, of a fresh cartridge or other charges, which being placed in the
barrel, reverse all the movements just described, and the breeching will be
fully accomplished.
The peculiarity of the "plug," by which, in point of security, the advantage
of a solid breech is obtained, will be readily understood from the following
description :--
The shoulder of the plug outside the breech is rather larger than the
external diameter of the breech, and has an annular groove inserted in it adjusted
nicely to the thickness of the barrel, so that when they are brought in close
contact one within the other, a butt joint is formed by the end of the breech
against the plain surface at the bottom of the annular groove, and the joint so
formed is further protected by the exterior surface of the extreme end of the
barrel being covered by the overlapping of the annular groove, so that, should any
accidental escape take place at the breech during explosion, it would be directed
in the line of fire, instead of, as in other breech-loaders, into the face of the
shooter. The groove or channel in the stock is covered by a plate of metal
that slides to and fro with the breeching parts for protecting them from wet.