Iм- PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH- LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Walter Sandell Mappin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th
January 1867.
I, WALTER SANDELL MAPPIN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, of the arrangement or combination herein-
after described of the parts of breech-loading fire-arms in which the breech is
opened for loading and closed for discharge by means of a block hinged to
the end of the barrel.
In constructing a breech-loading gun according to my Invention I fix to
the breech of the barrel a shoe or breech chamber, the right-hand side of
which is considerably lower than the left-hand side. The hinged block
moving in a vertical plane shuts down into the said shoe, and closes the breech
behind the cartridge. The face of the rear end of the shoe, against which
the free end of the block shuts, has a projection upon it nearly as wide as the
said block, and the free end of the block is formed of a corresponding figure to
shut against the said projection. The end of the barrel has a conical seat,

page_text: and the joint end of the block has a conical ring screwed upon it, which when
the block is shut down accurately fits upon the conical seat, and on the
discharge of the gun effectually prevents the escape of gas. The said conical
or gas ring can be replaced when worn by a new one. The gun is discharged
by an oblique pin or striker in the block; its outer end being struck by the
hammer, and its inner end thereby made to strike and ignite the self-ignition
cartridge in the barrel, and thus discharge the gun. When shut down the
block is held in its place by a snap bolt in the rear of the shoe taking into a
shallow depression in the free end of the said block. The said block on the
discharge of the gun is securely fastened down by means of a bolt connected
to the tumbler of the gun, which on the discharge of the gun is projected
through the rear end of the shoe, and made to enter an opening or recess in
the block; by this arrangement the gun cannot be discharged unless the block
is properly shut down. A gun constructed according to my Invention is
especially fitted to discharge paper cartridges or cartridges in which all the
matter composing them is projected from the barrel on discharge.
In order to fit the gun to discharge cartridges having metallic or rigid cases
which require to be extracted after discharge I connect to the joint of the
closing block a cartridge case extractor constructed in the following manner:-
The said cartridge case extractor consists of a horse-shoe formed plate, the
semicircular part of which is of somewhat less diameter than the bore of the
cartridge chamber. The inner edges of the arms of this extractor are parallel,
and one of the said arms is of such a length that when the extractor is fitted
to the gun the end of the said arm reaches to the bottom of the shoe. The
extractor has a knuckle or eye on either side at its top, by means of which it
is jointed to the pin on which the block turns. The said knuckles or eyes
have shoulders, against which the block bears when the block is raised for
recharging the gun. When the cartridge is put into the barrel its rim bears
upon the semicircular part of the extractor, and when after discharge the
block is raised it presses against the shoulders described, and causes the
extractor to turn upon its joint and rise, assuming an oblique position in the
shoe. In its motion the extractor withdraws the case of the exploded cartridge
from the barrel, and by the length of its arms withdraws it so far from the
barrel that by inclining the gun it will fall from the shoe.
My Invention consists, secondly, in making the metal cases of cartridges
for breech-loading fire-arms in the following manner :-I make the said cases
from two strips of thin sheet metal, the said strips being made to cross each
other at their middle. By means of a press and press tools I raise the said

page_text: strips into a tube, in which the projectile and powder are placed, the open end
being closed by a metal cap of the ordinary kind. On discharge the case is
carried out of the barrel with the projectile, and the case opens and separates
from the said projectile, the closing cap only being left in the barrel. Instead
of two strips of metal a thin cruciform plate of metal may be employed.