IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Peacock Savage, of Roxham, Downham,
Norfolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS."-
Sealed the 22nd August 1862, and dated the 26th February 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Peacock Savage
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 26th February 1862.
I, WILLIAM PEACOCK SAVAGE, of Roxham, Downham, Norfolk, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-arms, whereby
liability to accident in the use of such arms is greatly lessened. For this
purpose I apply immediately behind the trigger guard in the small of the butt
where it is grasped in firing, a lever, mounted on a centre, kept in position by
a spring, which tends constantly to project it out a short distance from the
stock, so that the hand in grasping the piece in the position of firing, may
move the end of the lever inwards; such levers have beretofore in some cases
been employed, and have been combined with instruments which embrace and
hold the sear arm, and so prevent the discharge of the piece, until by
depressing the lever, the instrument is moved and the sear arm released.
Now, according to my Invention, I cause the lever to act on a stud pin or
instrument of metal, which stands up in front of the half bent of the tumbler,
in such a position that were the tumbler released from the sear it would be
immediately caught by the said stud pin or instrument.
When the piece is

page_text: grasped for firing, the movement so produced in the lever withdraws the stud
pin or instrument. The stud pin or instrument in place of catching the half
bent of the tumbler may be made to catch in a notch in a metal disc fixed on
the tumbler axle either inside or outside the lock plate; or the pin or instru-
ment may be made double, so as to catch both the tumbler and a disc fixed on
the tumbler axle, I also employ (in addition to the arrangement above
described, or otherwise,) in order to prevent the accidental discharge of fire-
arms, a plate fitting more or less accurately the loop of the trigger guard; the
plate is mounted on a pin or pivot at one end of the said guard, and it is
furnished with a spring, which tends constantly to keep it up, so as to close the
loop in the guard; the plate has a ridge or projection upon it, which coming
behind the trigger prevents it from being pushed back so long as the plate is
in position. In firing the plate is at once displaced by the pressure of the
finger as it is inserted into the guard in the usual manner. In double-barrelled
arms the plate may have two ridges or projections upon it, one for each trigger,
or separate plates may be employed. A plate closing the trigger guard in this
manner may be employed to actuate locking apparatus, to prevent the fall of
the hammer until the plate is displaced. I prefer to employ for this purpose
a pin or instrument standing, as before explained, in front of the half bent of
the tumbler; this pin or instrument is fitted with a spring, which tends to
withdraw it, but until the plate is displaced by the finger or arm on the plate,
keeps the pin or projection in its place, so as to prevent the action of the
lock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said William Peacock Savage in the Great Seal Patent Office 2
on the 26th August 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM:
PEACOCK SAVAGE, of Roxham, Downham, Norfolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord 3
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Peacock Savage, Her special licence that I, the said William Peacock
Savage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Peacock Savage, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should 3
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times'

page_text: 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 "I-
PROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said William Peacock Savage, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 nionths next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Peacock Savage, 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:
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-arms, whereby
liability to accident in the use of such arms is greatly lessened. For this
purpose I apply immediately behind the trigger guard, in the small of the butt
-where it is grasped in firing, a lever, mounted on a centre, kept in position by
a spring, which tends constantly to project it out a short distance from the
stock, so that the hand in grasping the piece in the position of firing, may
move the end of the lever inwards; such levers have heretofore in some cases
been employed, and have been combined with instruments which embrace and
hold the sear arm, and so prevent the discharge of the piece, until by depressing
the lever, the instrument is moved and the sear arm released.
Now, according to my Invention, I cause the lever to act on a stud pin or
instrument of metal, which stands up in front of the half bent of the tumbler, in
such a position that were the tumbler released by the sear, it would be imme-
diately caught by the said stud pin or instrument. When the piece is grasped
for firing, the movement so produced in the lever withdraws the stud pin or
instrument. The stud pin or instrument in place of catching the half bent of
the tumbler may be made to catch in a notch in a metal disc fixed on the
tumbler axle, either inside or outside the lock plate; or the pin or instrument
may be made double, so as to catch both the tumbler and a disc fixed on. the
tumbler axle. I also employ (in addition to the arrangement above described,
or otherwise) in order to prevent the accidental discharge of fire-arms, a plate
fitting more or less accurately the loop of the trigger guard; the plate is
mounted on a pin or pivot at one end of the said guard, and it is furnished
with a spring, which tends constantly to keep it up, so.as to close the loop in
the guard. The plate has a ridge or projection upon it, which coming behind

page_text: the trigger, prevents it from being pushed back so long as the plate is in
position. In firing the plate is at once displaced by the pressure of the finger
as it is inserted into the guard, in the usual manner. In double-barrelled arms
the plate may have two ridges or projections upon it, one for each trigger, or
separate plates may be employed. A plate closing the trigger guard in this
manner may be employed to actuate locking apparatus to prevent the fall of
the hammer, until the plate is displaced. I prefer to employ for this purpose a
pin or instrument standing, as before explained, in front of the half bent of the
tumbler; this pin or instrument is fitted with a spring, which tends to with-
draw it, but until the plate is displaced by the finger, a lug or arm on the
plate keeps the pin or projection in its place, so as to prevent the action of
the lock.
And in order that my said Invention may be. most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side view of a portion of a double-barrelled fire-arm, con-
structed according to my Invention; Figures 2 and 3 shew the lock of tho
same in different positions.
In Figure 1, a is a lever, which is centred to the trigger guard at a' at its
rear end; it is constantly pressed outward from the stock by a spiral or other
spring b, but when the piece is grasped for firing this spring is overcome.
When the lever is thus moved its inner or small end, which is shewn by dotted
lines in the Figure (in double-barrelled arms the lever is forked), acts so as to
remove an instrument, which at other times, when the lock is at full cock,
stands up in front of the half bent of the lock; this instrument is clearly shown
at Figures 2 and 3, it is marked c, and is a lever turning on one of the bridle
pins of the lock, which in other respects is of an ordinary description. Whero
the locks are not of the construction shewn in the Drawing, a stud pin or
pillar can be used for the instrument to turn on. It will be seen on inspecting
the Figure 3, that if, when the lock is at full cock, the nose of the sear should
be accidentally thrown out of the full bent of the tumbler, the descent of the
tumbler and hammer will nevertheless be prevented by the half bent being
caught and retained by the end of the lever c; this, however, does not take
place when the piece is properly held to the shoulder for firing, for then the
lever a is pressed upon, and its end which enters a notch or recess in the
lever c, draws the said lever down, and carries its end out of the way of
the half bent of the tumbler. d is a guard, to prevent the lever a being

page_text: pressed upon when the piece is carried as it is ordinarily held when waiting for
a shot and before it is raised to the shoulder. It is evident that the lever a or
other similar projecting piece may be made to catch into a notch in a disc
mounted on the axis of the tumbler, and that this would answer the same end,
but nevertheless the arrangement shown is much preferred.
The Drawing, Fig. 1, shews the method in which it is preferred to apply
the safety arrangement to fire-arms already constructed. In making new
arms, I prefer to arrange them as is shewn at Fig. 4. Figure 1 also shows
the plates which I employ to lock the triggers and protect them from being
accidentally moved. e, e, are the plates; they are pin-jointed to the fore part
of the trigger guard, as is more clearly seen at Figure 5, which is an under
side view, partly in section, of the trigger guard and of one of the triggers and
its trigger plate. The plates e, e, are each pressed inwards by a spring e',
which keeps them constantly bearing against their respective triggers, except
when they are displaced by the finger being placed round the trigger for firing.
e², e², are projections on the plates e, which come behind the triggers and pre-
vent'them being pulled back until the plate has been displaced. The plates
above described for closing the trigger guard and locking the triggers, render
the piece much more safe when carried in a wood or through a hedge, for as
far as one side of the trigger guard is concerned, it entirely prevents sticks
and twiggs coming in contact with the triggers. As before mentioned the
plates e may be caused to actuate by their movement the projecting piece c,
which stands up in front of the half bent of the lock. A convenient way to
effect this is to connect the levers c, c, Figures 2 and 3, with light springs
which tend constantly to draw them downwards out of the way of the tumblers,
and to cause the ends of these springs to project downwards into the loop of
the trigger guard, so as to come against the stops e, when the plates e are in
position; the stops &² then serve to prevent the springs withdrawing the
levers c, but directly the plates are displaced they will be free to do so.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Peacock Savage, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
W. P. SAVAGE. (L.S.)