A NEW SAFETY SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING AN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jozé Luis, Patent Agent, of No. 1B, Welbeck
St., Cavendish Sqr, London, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of "A NEW SAFETY SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING AN ACCIDENTAL
DISCHARGE IN FIRE-ARMS."-A communication.
Sealed the 11th February 1859, and dated the 18th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jozé Luis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th August
.1858:
I, Jozé Luis, Patent Agent, of No. 1, Welbeck St., Cavendish Sqr.
London, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW SAFETY SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING AN ACCIDENTAL DIS-
CHARGE IN FIRE-ARMS," (a communication to me from a foreigner residing
abroad,) to be as follows:-.
The arrangement is represented by the Drawings, Figs. 1, 2, 3. The
stop bar i is pushed or drawn by the rod d, and a spring blade r fixed by a
screw v, is so arranged as to be acted on by the pressure of the lever m. It
will be seen by the Drawings, that this lever is placed in a cavity arranged at
the butt end of the gun, and that over this lever, which is slightly curved, is
placed a plate of steel g, held in the interior of the cavity by nuts placed at
each extremity. The pressure does not take place directly on the lever m,
but is transmitted to it by the plate g wherever this may be pressed. The

page_text: stop bar i is a flat rod, and receives at one extremity the hook of the rod d.
Now, under the trigger guard, a spring his placed, and by means of a button q
this spring, which although fixed outside, is attached to the inner piece i,
where a narrow opening n is made, into which it slips (see Fig. 2). In order
to put the spring h in its place, before screwing in the two screws to the trigger
guard, it is presented perpendicular in direction of the piece i, the button is
made to penetrate in the opening arranged in the guard in front of the
opening n, then making it describe a quarter of a circle, the button is fixed
without being able to come out, and there only remains to screw the spring to
the trigger guard; this done, the action which the springh has on the stop
bar i may thus be described :-When left, the spring presses from the trigger
guard and raises with it the end of the piece i, it follows that the hook of the
rod d will not ketch the piece i, in which case all the pressure used on the
plate g would only cause the rod d to slide above the piece i without being
able to put it in motion, consequently the triggers would not be disengaged.
On the contrary, if the hand presses the spring h, the rod i would be pushed
by the button q, when it will at once be in communication with the hook of
the rod d, when on pressing the plate g the triggers will be disengaged.
This system is very safe, for if the loaded gun be placed on the ground and
the spring accidentally touched, the gun would be unable to go off, as
the rod would have slid on without drawing with it the bar i; thus the
mechanism is so combined that the gun would only go off by first pressing with
the right hand the spring h, then putting the gun to the shoulder, causing a
pressure on the plate 9 (which in turn communicates it to the rod d), and in
this case the triggers are free and the gun can go off. If these two move-
ments are not accomplished in the order just indicated, and which is the
natural order of firing, it is impossible for the gun to go off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jozé Luis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th
February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOZÉ
Luis, Patent Agent, of No. 1B, Welbeck Street, Cavendish Square, London,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her.

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jozé Luis, Her special licence that I, the said Jozé Luis, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jozé Luis,
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 "A NEW SAFETY SYSTEM FOR PREVENTING
AN ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE IN FIRE-ARMS," a communication, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Jozé Luis, 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 Inven-
tion, 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 Jozé Luis, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say:--
The arrangement is represented by the Drawings, Figs. 1, 2, 3. The stop
bar is pushed or drawn by the rod. d, and a spring, blade r fixed by a
screw v, is so arranged as to be acted on by the pressure of the lever m. It
will be seen by the Drawing that this lever is placed in a cavity arranged at
the butt end of the gun, and that over this lever, which is slightly curved,
a plate of steel g is placed, held in the interior of the cavity by nuts.
placed at each extremity. The pressure does not take place directly on the
lever m, but is transmitted to it by the plate g wherever this may be pressed.
The stop bar i is flat, and receives at one extremity the hook of the rod d.
Then, under the trigger guard, a spring his placed, and by means of a
button q, this spring, which although fixed outside, is attached to the inner
piece i, where a narrow opening n is made, into which it slips, (see Fig. 2.)
In order to put the spring hin its place, before screwing in the two screws
to the trigger guard, it is presented perpendicular in direction to the piece i,
the button is made to penetrate, in the opening arranged in the guard in front
of the opening n, then making it describe a quarter of a circle the button is
fixed without being able to come out, and then only remains to screw the
spring to the trigger guard. This done, the action which the spring h has on
the stop bar i may thus be described. When left to itself, the spring presses
from the trigger guard, raises with it the end of the piece i, it follows that the

page_text: hook of the rod d will not ketch in the piece i, in which case all the pressure
used on the plate g would only cause the rod d to slide above the piece i
without being able to put it in motion, consequently the trigger would not be
disengaged. On the contrary, if the hand presses the spring h, the rod i will
be pushed by the button 7, when it will at once be in communication with
the hook of the rod d, when on pressing the plate g, the triggers will be
disengaged.
This system is therefore extremely safe, for if the loaded gun be placed
on the ground, and the spring h accidentally touched, the gun would be
unable to go off, as the rod d would have slid on without drawing with it the
bar i; thus, the mechanism is so combined that the gun would only go off by
first pressing with the right hand the spring h, then putting the gun to the
should, causing a pressure on the plate g (which, in turn, communicates it to
the rod d,) then the triggers are free, and the gun can go off. If these two
movements are not accomplished in the order just indicated, and which is the
natural order of firing, it is impossible for the gun to go off.
What the Inventor desires to secure is, therefore, the safety system for pre-
venting an accidental discharge in fire-arm above described, and of which he
is the Inventor.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jozé Luis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.