IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alfred Clayton and John Riley
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 24th March 1869.
We, ALFRED CLAYTON, of the Town and County of Southampton,
Gun Manufacturer, and JOHN RILEY, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates principally to breech-loading fire-arms of the.
kind called punt guns, employed in shooting wild fowl, our said
Invention however may be applied to other fire-arms.
We will describe our Invention with reference to punt guns.
Our Invention consists, firstly, of the following arrangement of the
parts whereby the ordinary lock mechanism of the said guns is dispensed
with. We connect the barrel of the gun with the body by means of
lumps, in which an axis or screw parallel to the axis of the barrel is
supported and works, the opening of the breech being effected by turning
aside the body from the barrel upon the said axis or screw. We fix
the nipple to receive the percussion cap on the side of the barrel, and
a long spring carrying at its free end the hammer is fixed at its other

page_text: end to the side of the barrel, the hammer on the free end of the spring
pressing on the nipple. A curved lever is jointed to the side of the
body, the lower end of the said lever constituting the trigger. The
other end of the lever supports the hammer and keeps it raised from the
nipple in position for discharge. In discharging the gun the trigger is
pressed, when the support is removed from under the hammer, which
falls upon the percussion cap on the nipple and discharges the gun. The
empty cartridge cases may be extracted by means of an extractor, con-
sisting of a rod sliding outside the barrel, its inner end being turned at
right angles and entering a recess in the edge of the breech end of the
barrel. The rim of the cartridge bears upon the end or hook of the
extractor and by sliding the rod or extractor by hand the empty cart-
ridge case is withdrawn from the breech end of the barrel. The lever
by which the gun is discharged is kept in its normal position by a
spring.
Our Invention consists, secondly, in opening and closing the breech
end of the gun by causing the body and stock to turn upon a joint
in a vertical plane after the manner of guns commonly called drop-
down guns. Near the breech end of the barrel we form a vertical slot
of a width fully equal to the bore of the barrel and crossing the said
bore, and on the body of the gun we fix a plate of a size and form
proper to fit accurately the said slot. When the body is raised the
plate enters the said slot and closes the breech, and the parts may
be fixed in position for firing by means of a pin or bolt passed through
the projecting top of the said plate. Or the said plate may be raised
and lowered by a screw or lever. In addition to the said plate we
employ a disc which has the figure of the metallic base of a cartridge.
This disc is put into the slot before the plate described is raised therein.
The raising of the plate presses the disc forwards and firmly closes
the breech. The said disc renders the use of a metallic base to the
cartridge unnecessary, and no extractor is required in using the said
cartridge. The said disc has a sight at top. The disc described may
be used with guns of various constructions, and guns with which it is
used may be loaded at the muzzle.