New or Improved Mode and Means for Connecting the Barrels of Sporting and other Multiple Barrelled Guns.
Year: 1896

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Mode and Means for Connecting the Barrels of
Sporting and other Multiple Barrelled Guns.
I, AUGUST REICHWALD of 9 New Broad Street in the City of London, Steel,
Iron, Metal, and Mineral Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(a communication to me from abroad by the Firm of Fried. Krupp of Essen in the
Empire of Germany, Cast Steel Manufacturers) and in what manner the same is
to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to a gun having more than one barrel or a plurality of
barrels (and hereinafter termed, "multiple-barrelled "guns) and in which there is
no brazing whatever in connection with the said barrels.
It is a well known fact that the brazing together of the barrels of multiple-
barrelled guns has the result in most cases, of damaging the steel of which the
barrels are made; also that the brazing on of the various fittings or furniture such
as the front and back sights, has always an injurious effect upon the steel of the
barrels.
Besides this, a further defect or disadvantage has been noticed in the case of
multiple-barrelled guns, the barrels of which have been brazed together, namely,
that a single barrel cannot expand and contract independently of its adjacent or
fellow barrels, so that therefore when one barrel of a multiple-barrelled gun has
been fired off several times in succession, and has thereby become highly heated on
one side, this eaid barrel expands and acts to cause curvature of its fellow barrels
situated adjacent to it, and this one-sided expansion gives rise to a stress or
strain in the metal which reduces the strength of the latter. These are draw-
backs which are very annoying when they take place, as in double-barrelled rifles
for instance.
Now these defects or disadvantages have led to an attempt to construct a
multiple-barrelled gun, the barrels of which are not subjected to any brazing process
whatever, and in which the barrels are capable of expanding and contracting each
independently of the others.
The barrels are adapted to be connected with the powder chamber or cartridge
chamber independently of one another and in such a manner that each and any of
the said barrels, even when employed for firing several shots in succession, is
capable of expanding according to the heating effect thereon, and of subsequently
contracting again, without having any injurious effect upon its adjacent barrel.
Finally a multiple-barrelled gun constructed without brazing, permits of the
employment of a mode of construction which shall allow of easy removal and
replacing of any single barrel.
The accompanying drawings illustrate several modifications of double-barrelled
guns, constructed in accordance with this invention and which differ only slightly
from each other. It will however be understood that this method of construction
is equally applicable to double-barrelled guns of which one barrel is rifled, and the
other barrel is a smooth bore, also to double-barrelled rifles, treble-barrelled
guns &c.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1, and Fig. 15, Sheet 2, respectively, show a longitudinal section
through the barrel of two forms of double barrelled gun.
Fig. 2, Sheet 1, and Fig. 16, Sheet 2, a front view of the mouth of the
barrels

page_text: Fig. 4, Sheet 1, and Fig. 20, Sheet 2 a rear view
Fig. 5, Sheet 1, and Fig. 18 Sheet 2, a cross section
Fig. 6, Sheet 1, and Fig. 21, Sheet 2, a longitudinal section obliquely through
the axis of the one barrel and showing a fixing screw hereafter mentioned,
Fig. 7, Sheet 1, and Fig. 17; Sheet 2; a vertical longitudinal section through the
middle of the powder chamber,
Fig. 8, Sheet 1, and Fig. 22 Sheet 2, a longitudinal view of the latter
Fig. 9, Sheet 1, and Fig. 23, Sheet 2, its rear view:
Fig. 10, Sheet 1, and Fig. 24, Sheet 2, an inverted plan,
Fig. 11, Sheet 1, and Fig. 25, Sheet 2, a front view of the fore-part,
Moreover, Eig. 12, Sheet 1, and Fig. 26 Sheet 2, a rear view of the cartridge
case extractor,
Fig. 13, Sheet 1, and Fig. 27, Sheet 2; a plan, and
Fig. 14, Sheet 1, and Fig. 28, Sheet 2, a side view of the extractor.
Fig. 29, Sheet 3, is an inverted plan view of another arrangement of the
invention,
Fig. 30 a rear end view of the parts,.
Fig. 31 a horizontal section of the barrels,..
Fig. 32 a transverse section on the line X.Y. of Fig. 31,..
Fig. 33. a rearend view of the barrels,and....
Fig. 34 is a rear view showing a fixing of the barrels.,
As shewn with particular reference to Sheet 1. each gun. barrel is inserted
from the rear, through a forwardly slightly contracted conical bore b, of the
front part or neck c, of the powder-chamber,. or cartridge chamber, and is
fitted with its correspondingly conically, turned, rear: end:d, accurately in the
bore b.
On the underside of the rear end..d. the, barrel is provided with a .projecting
nose e, which forms one piece therewith, and; which slides..forward, when: inserted,
through a longitudinal slot f in the neck c.of the powder chamber...
A forward enlargement or widened portion g.of the slot f, of exactly the same
length as the nose e, allows of the entrance of the latter, when the barrel is suitably
rotated, and it then serves to effectually, prevent any forward.or: backward, shifting
of the barrel on being fired.
In order to prevent accidental rotation of the barrel; and,. also, the nose e.from
moving out of the wide portion g of the slot, a.screw stud his screwed, parallel to
the barrel, into the neck.c of the, powder-chamber, from the rearr of said, neck.
The said screw stud h engages by the cylindrical surface ofits, head, into corre
spondingly cylindrical small recesses i, bored, one in theirear end.d of each of the
two barrels...
A further safety device is provided by an arrangement for preventing the screw.k
from becoming. loose or slacking back. The said screw is prevented from:rotating,
by means of the cylindrical shank, of the cartridge-case extractor m; said- shank.
being arranged to slide in a longitudinal. hole ck, in the cneck. c, of the powder-
chamber; and to engage with the aforesaid. screwah, by means of a roundedi recess.n
in its head.
The construction of another arrangement of a double-barrelled: gun shown on.
Sheet 2:differs from the parts already described with reference to Sheet 1, ouly, in
that in the latter case an outer. casing tubeso,encloses the two barrels, protects them,
and serves to support and hold them at the muzzles, whilst in: the other construction
shown on Sheet 2; the said casing tube is omitted; and..the muzzles of the barrels
are held by a double ring p which carries the front sight, and which allows the
barrels to expand and contract independently of each other.. In: the other portion
of their length the barrels may.be quite free and unsupported, or they may however
be provided in the middle of their length with a second double ring 9, Sheet 2, for.
attachment to a carrying belt or strap.

page_text: It is obvious that the two double rings may be connected together and also with
the neck of the powder chamber by means of a bar or rod r..
In the construction described with reference to Sheets 1 and 2 the barrels are
secured in the neck of the powder chamber or cartridge chamber, against
longitudinal movement, by means of the nose e which. is situated on the rear end
of the barrels and which after having been inserted in a longitudinal slot in the
nock of the powder-chamber, is caused by a rotary movement of the barrels to enter
into a lateral widening or enlarged portion of the said slot. By its position in said
lateral enlargement of the slot, the nose prevents the barrels from shifting in a
longitudinal direction.
Now in some cases according to this invention, instead of providing an extension
or nose e, the barrels are secured against longitudinal movement as shown by
Sheet 3 of the drawings by being each provided at their rear end with a projecting
border a with which they bear against the rear end of the neck of the powder
chamber c.
This border a thus prevents the barrel from shifting in a forward direction in the
neck of the powder chamber. Shifting in the rearward direction is prevented by
means of a nose o which strikes or bears against the rod p fixed to the neck of the
powder chamber. The height of the nose o is made such that the nose can pass
through the bore of the neck of the powder chamber and by rotating the barrel,
the nose moves behind the rod p.
As the barrels are situated quite close up against each other, their borders n
intersect one another; one border is therefore formed with a recess or cut-away
part, so that the other barrel can rotate with its border in said recess. See
Sheet 3, Fig. 30.
For the purpose of securing the barrels against rotating, there is provided a
screw h, similar to that described with reference to Sheets 1 and 2. This screw
however need not engage in recesses in both barrels (Fig. 30), but it is sufficient,
as shown in Fig. 34, to arrange the screw so as to engage in a recess in the barrel
which is provided with a full or complete border. If this barrel is secured against
rotation, then the other barrel will likewise be secured against rotation. But the
screw may however, also be arranged, in such a manner as to engage in recesses in
both barrels (Fig. 30), the same as is described in the previous arrangement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is as follows-
1. Connecting the barrels of sporting and other multiple-barrelled guns, with
the neck or front portion of the powder-chamber or cartridge-chamber in such a
manner that the barrels are inserted from the rear into the forwardly-tapering or
contracted bores in the said neck or front portion and are secured against shifting
in a forward or backward direction, by means of a bayonet joint, pin or stud and
slot connection, whilst slacking or loosening of the bayonet joint is prevented
by a screw, which engages with its head in recesses i, in the rear end of the
barrels, and is itself locked or secured by meaus of the rod of the cartridge
extractor, which slides in a recess in the head of the screw, substantially as
set forth.
2. The modification of the mode of connecting the barrels of sporting and other
multiple-barrelled guns with the neck of the powder-chamber, consisting in
substituting for the bayonet joint, for the purpose of securing the barrels against
shifting forwards in the neck of the powder-chamber, a projecting border n situated
on the rear end of the barrels, and for the purpose of securing the barrels against
shifting rearwardly, a nose o which is also situated on the barrels and which is
caused by rotation of the barrels to strike or bear against the rod p provided on
the neck of the powder chamber and substantially as set forth.
3. In the mode of connection specified in Claim 2, the arrangement whereby the
projecting border of one barrel engages in a recess in the border of the other barrel,

page_text: and serves to prevent the latter from rotating in the neck of the powder chamber,
whilst the barrel that has a complete or full border is secured by means of
a screw which engages with its head in a recess in the said barrel, substantially as
:set forth.
Dated this 26th day of March 1896.
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.