Ar HARRY ITT STATUTELY TO TUTTET AR STY D CREECH-202 SAPANG ANDAREE
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rock Cooper, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of "Ar
HARRY ITT STATUTELY TO TUTTET AR STY
D
CREECH-202
SAPANG ANDAREE
4
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Rock Cooper
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th February 1868.
I, JOSEPH ROCK COOPER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,'
to be as follows:-
In loading breech-loading fire-arms it is necessary to hold the
fire-arm in such a position that the muzzle end of the barrel is not
much higher than the breech end or there is danger that the cartridge
will fall from the barrel into the breech chamber or shoe, and be
thereby injured or accidentally discharged on the closing of the breech.
The object of my Invention is to prevent the falling of the cartridge

page_text: from the barrel into the brecch chamber or shoe in whatever position
the gun may be held.
My said Invention consists in applying to breech-loading fire-arms
a spring or spring arm having at its free end a stud, the head of
which stud is bevilled or rounded. The said spring or spring arm is
situated by preference under the breech chamber or shoe of the gun,
and the stud carried by the said spring or spring arm projects through
the bottom of the chamber or shoe, and when the breech block of
the gun is raised the said stud springs in front of the recess which
the rim of the cartridge occupies when placed in the barrel. In intro-
ducing a cartridge into the barrel the spring stud is pressed down
by the rim of the cartridge, and when the cartridge has been placed
in the barrel the said spring stud springs behind the said rim of the
cartridge or presses on the edge of the cartridge and holds it securely
in its place before the breech block is shut down. When the breech
block is shut down the spring stud is made to lie flush with the
bottom of the breech chamber or shoe. On withdrawing the case of
the exploded cartridge from the barrel by the extractor the rim of
the cartridge case readily passes over the bevilled top of the said
stud. By means of the spring stud described the gun can be loaded
with the barrel in a vertical or inclined position; that is, with the
muzzle end of the gun situated higher than the breech end of the gun.
My Invention is applicable to breech-loading fire-arms in which the
breech is closed by a block hinged to the breech chamber as well
as to other kinds of breech-loading fire-arms.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Rock Cooper in the Great Scal Patent
Office on the 12th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ROCK COOPER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of February, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in
the thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and

page_text: successors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Rock Cooper,
Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Rock Cooper, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
upon the condition (amongst others), that I, the said Joseph Rock
Cooper, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Joseph Rock Cooper, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In loading breech-loading fire-arms it is necessary to hold the
fire-arm in such a position that the muzzle end of the barrel is not
much higher than the breech end or there is danger that the cartridge
will fall from the barrel into the breech chamber or shoe, and be
thereby injured or accidentally discharged on the closing of the breech.
The object of my Invention is to prevent the falling of the cartridge
from the barrel into the breech chamber or shoe in whatever position
the gun may be held.
My said Invention consists in applying to breech-loading fire-arms
a spring or spring arm having at its free end a stud, the head of
which stud is bevilled or rounded. The said spring or spring arm is
situated by preference under the breech chamber or shoe of the gun,
and the stud carried by the said spring or spring arm projects through
the bottom of the chamber or shoe, and when the breech block of
the gun is raised the said stud springs in front of the recess which
the rim of the cartridge occupies when placed in the barrel. In intro-
ducing a cartridge into the barrel the spring stud is pressed down
by the rim of the cartridge, and when the cartridge has been placed

page_text: in the barrel the said spring stud springs behind the said rim of the
cartridge or presses on the edge of the cartridge, and holds it securely
in its place before the breech block is shut down. When the breech
block is shut down the spring stud is made to lic flush with the
bottom of the brecch chamber or shoe. On withdrawing the case
of the exploded cartridge from the barrel by the extractor the rim of
the cartridge case readily passes over the bevilled top of the said stud.
By means of the spring or spring arm described the gun can be loaded
with the barrel in a vertical or inclined position, that is, with the
muzzle end of the gun situated higher than the breech end of the gun.
My Invention is applicable to breech-loading fire-arms in which the
breach is closed by a block hinged to the brecch chamber, as well as
to other kinds of breech-loading fire-arms.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawing, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section a breech-loading
gun to which my Invention is applied, the said gun being of the
kind described and represented in the Specification of Letters Patent
granted to me bearing date the 12th day of September 1867, No. 2587;
Figure 2 represents a transverse vertical section of the same, with the
breech block open; and Figure 3 represents in side elevation and plan
separately the spring or spring arm constituting my present Invention.
« is the breech block, hinged to the side of the breech chamber or
shoe b; and c is the barrel of the gun; d, is the hammer for dis-
charging the gun; and e is the lever by which the said hammer is
brought to full-cock, and by which the breech block a is held down
during fire; f is the main spring of the hammer; and g is the spring
for raising the lever e; is the spring or spring arm, having a stud h³ at
its free end for holding the cartridge i in the barrel c. The said spring
or spring arm h, h, is situated under the breech chamber or shoe b
of the gun, its stud 2 projecting through a hole in the bottom of
the said chamber or shoe, as represented in the Drawing. The said
spring or spring arm his fixed in the recess at the bottom of the
breech chamber by the main spring f bearing on the end of the said
spring arm in the manner represented in Figure 1. When the
block a is raised from the breech chamber for the purpose of in-
troducing a cartridge into the barrel c the stud 2 of the spring arm h

page_text: In
springs into a recess at at the brecch end of the barrel, in which
the rim of the cartridge i enters when placed in the barrel.
introducing the cartridge into the barrel c the spring stud h² is
pressed down by the rim , and when the cartridge occupies its
proper place in the barrel the bevilled top of the said spring stud h³
presses on the edge of the said rim, and holds the cartridge securely
in the barrel, the face of the said stud lying flush or nearly flush
with the bottom of the breech chamber or shoe, as represented in
Figure 1. When the cartridge has been introduced into the barrel and
held therein by the spring arm in the manner described and illustrated,
the breech block a may be shut down preparatory to the discharge
of the gun, and there is no danger that the cartridge will fall from the
barrel into the breech chamber, and be injured or accidentally dis
charged by the shutting down of the said breech block. The said spring
arm also enables the cartridge to be introduced into the barrel when
the muzzle end is higher than the breech end without risk of the
cartridge falling back into the breech chamber or shoe. On with-
drawing the case of the exploded cartridge from the barrel by the
extractor in the side of the breech chamber b the rim of the case
readily passes over the bevilled top of the stud 2 of the spring
arm h.
Instead of making the stud of the spring arm press on the edge
of the rim of the cartridge for the purpose of holding the cartridge
in the barrel, the said stud may be so placed as to spring behind
the rim of the cartridge when the latter is placed in the said barrel.
Although I prefer to fix the spring arm h, h³, under the bottom of
the breech chamber or shoe of the gun, as illustrated in the Drawing,
yet I do not limit myself to the particular position of the said spring
arm, as its position in the gun may be varied; for example, the said
spring arm may be placed in the side of the breech chamber or shoe,
or at the breech end of the barrel with the same or nearly the same
effect. And although I have only described my Invention as applied*
to a gun the breech end of which is opened and closed by a hinged
block, yet my Invention is applicable to fire-arms generally.
=
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the

page_text: nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improve-
ment or improvements in breech-loading fire-arms herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, applying
to breech-loading fire-arms a spring or spring arm constructed and
operating substantially as described and illustrated for the purpose of
preventing the falling of the cartridge from the barrel into the breech
chamber or shoe in whatever position the fire-arm may be held.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
cight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH ROCK COOPER. (L.S.)