IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Edgar Brooks at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th August
1866.
I, EDGAR BROOKS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING
FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Improvements in breech-loading fire-arms relate principally to breech-
loading fire-arms in which the breech of the barrels is opened by the turning
aside of the barrels on an axis parallel with the axes of the barrels, but
is also in part applicable to breech-loading fire-arms of the kind called drop-
down or snap guns.
My improvements in breech-loading fire-arms are as follows:-I make
the front end of the axis upon which the barrels turn aside of smaller
diameter than the hinder and screwed part of the said axis; I also cause the
said axis to project through the lump on the under side of the barrels, the
said projecting part being made angular. A spring on the under side of
the rib between the barrels bears against the said angular part and holds.the
barrels with a slight degree of force when they are turned either into their
closed or open position. To the under side of the body of the gun, and

page_text: below the axis on which the barrels turn, is a projecting piece or bracket
against which a corresponding piece on the lump connected with the barrels
works and bears. By these two parts a bearing or support beneath the axis
is provided whereby the breech ends of the barrels are kept firmly to their
bearing against the face of the break off. The lump on the under side of
the barrels screws on to the axis in the usual manner; or portions of the screw
threads both in the lump and on the axis may be cut away so that by presenting
the Jump to the axis in a particular position it may be passed by a sliding
motion on to the said axis, after which by a rotatory motion the screw threads
of the axis and lump respectively may be made to engage with one another.
A groove is made across the upper part of the fore end of the axis, in which a
pin passed through the lump engages and prevents the unscrewing of the
barrels from the axis, excepting on the withdrawal of the said pin. When
the barrels are in proper position for discharge they are fixed by means of a
spring lever on the upper side of the trigger guard, the end of which passing
through a slot in the projecting piece or bracket described on the body of the
gun takes into a depression in the bracket on the lump. By pressing the
spring lever upwards the barrels are liberated and may be turned aside for
charging; or the barrels may be fixed by a slide on the tang of the break off,
which slide carries a vertical bar having two horizontal pins, the upper one
taking into a hole in the upper rib and the other into a shallow depression in
the lower rib. The slide is urged forward by a spring, and as the barrels are
brought into position for firing the slide and pins are pushed back by the
breech end of the barrels acting on the lower pin, and when the barrels are
brought into position for firing the two pins spring into the holes described
and fix the barrels. The barrels may be liberated by pressing a thumb plate
on the slide.
The brackets on the under side of the body and barrels may be applied
to drop-down guns. In this case the bracket on the barrels is made
narrow, and works through a slot in the body of the gun. The surfaces of the
two brackets are made of a curve struck from the centre on which the barrels
turn. Both the methods of fastening the barrels during discharge herein-before
described may be applied to drop-down guns.
My improvements in cartridges for breech-loading fire-arms are as follows:-
I enclose the shot in a small bag or envelope made of paper, linen, or other
fabric, which by treatment with nitric acid has been made combustible and
similar in its nature to gun cotton. After placing the powder in the cartridge
case I insert a wad perforated in its middle, and then introduce the bag or
envelope containing the shot, the cartridge being finished in the ordinary

page_text: manner. On discharge the fire of the gunpowder is communicated through the
bole in the wad to the combustible bag or envelope containing the shot, which
burns away rapidly, but not until the shot has been projected to a considerable
distance. By this means the spreading of the shot is diminished, and more
accurate firing obtained.