IMPROVEMENI IN GUNS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENI IN GUNS."-A communication from
abroad by William MºCord, of New York, in the United States of
Ainerica.
Sealed the 11th February 1862, and dated the 13th September 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newlon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th September 1861.
I,, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNS," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in guns consists in a certain novel con-
struction, arrangement, and movement of parts by which separate moveable
metallic cartridge chambers charged with powder and ball are successively
and at regular intervals dropped from a hopper opposite to and held tightly
These metallic
in contact with a gun barrel of corresponding calibre.
cartridge chambers are firmly secured in a substantial stock, and when
pressed up to the fixed barrel a tight joint is made by means of a ring of
india-rubber or leather, which is inserted in the end of the cartridge chamber.
After being fired, the cartridges are discharged from below while the necessary

page_text: preparations and movements are being made for the reception from the
hopper of the next loaded cartridge chamber in succession, so as to enable
a constant firing from the cartridge chambers through the barrel to take
place by the simple act of turning a crank. There is a sliding bottom to
the hopper in which the cartridge chambers are placed. This is opened and
closed at intervals by toothed gearing actuated by means of a winch handle
on the main shaft. When the sliding bottom is drawn back a cartridge
chamber descends from the hopper into a pair of reciprocating sliding jaws,
which are moved by a toothed rack and segment actuated by the main shaft,
and are thereby made to hold the cartridge chamber opposite to the barrel.
The cartridge chambers are forced tightly against the breech of the barrel
by means of breech cams on the main shaft, and the charge is exploded
by causing a spring hammer to strike a cap on the nipple at the rear of
the cartridge chamber. The requisite dwell for one of the sliding jaws is
produced by causing a crank to act in a rhomboidal shaped slot or bridle
piece at the back of one of the jaws. One of the moveable holding jaws
is made to reciprocate to and fro in n right line or nearly so to receive the
cartridge chamber. and the other moveable jaw is made to oscillate on a
centre so that when the cartridge has been fired it will by the oscillation of
the jaw be dropped out and allowed to fall down below. Instead of these
sliding oscillating or reciprocating jaws the metallic cartridge chambers
may be deposited in a rotating wheel provided with openings or recesses of
suitable shape to receive them. By this means the cartridge chambers may
be brought opposite the end of the fixed barrel, and after being fired will be
dropped out as the wheel rointes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Palent Office
on the 13th March 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Oflice for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said William

page_text: Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Edward Newton, 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
"Im.
PROVEMENTS IN GUNS," being a communication from abroad, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, 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 months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention of "Improvements in Guns" consists in a certain novel
construction, arrangement, and movement of parts by which separate moveable
metallic cartridge chambers charged with powder and ball are successively
and at regular intervals dropped from a hopper opposite to and held tightly
in contact with a gun barrel of corresponding calibre. These metallic
cartridge chambers are firmly secured in a substantial stock, and after being
fired they are discharged from below while the necessary preparations and
movements are being made for the reception from the hopper of the next
loaded cartridge chamber in succession. By this arrangement a constant
firing from the cartridge chambers through the barrel may take place by the
simple act of turning a crank.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a horizontal section of the
improved gun taken at the dotted line 1, 2. of Fig. 2 one of the separate
moveable cartridge chambers above mentioned being shewn as embraced
between reciprocating and oscillating jaws, whereby the chamber is held
opposite the gun barrel; Fig. 2 is a vertical transverse section of the same
taken at the dotted line 3. 4. of Fig. 1: Fig. 3 is a similar transverse section
shewing the reciprocating and oscillating jaws open and a cartridge chamber
in the act of descending therefrom; Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the
gun taken at the dotted line 5, 6. of Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a side view of one of
the metallic cartridge chambers; Fig. 6 is an end view of the same; Fig. 7

page_text: represents another form of hopper and channel for conducting the metallic
cartridges to the gun barrel; Fig. 8 represents a carrying wheel which
may be substituted in lieu of the moveable jaws, and is provided with grooves
in its periphery for receiving, conveying, and holding the cartridge chambers;
Fig. 9 represents another form of wheel intended for the same purpose.
Similar letters in the several Figures refer to corresponding parts.
The frame or stock A to which the gun barrel B is secured is formed in two
parts firmly secured together by screws, the upper part being in fact a cap
plate for holding the several moving parts in place. Within this stock is
secured the shaft C of an oscillating semi-cylindrical jaw C', the concavity
or inner periphery of which when elevated is on a line with the calibre of
the gun barrel, with which and a similar concavity in the end of a reciprocating
jaw piece D it corresponds. This latter jaw piece D is provided with
rectangular projections or tongues D' at its sides, which tongues fit and
slide in slots formed equally in the upper and lower portions of the stock
or frame at their junction. The jaw piece D near these tongues is provided
on either side with a pair of prong or fork pieces D, which extend horizontally
outward therefrom above and below a horizontal crank shaft E, which turns
in suitable boxes in the frame, and is arranged parallel with the gun barrel
and with its axis on the same horizontal plane as the centre of the barrel,
so as to enable it to act as a guide to the prong pieces in their reciprocating
movements. Between these two pairs of prong pieces D the jaw piece Dis
increased in thickness, and within this portion is formed a peculiarly shaped
opening slot or space D' in which the crank E' of the shaft E turns.
The peculiar form of this opening slot or space D somewhat resembles a
rhomboid, and the reason for giving it this form is to enable the reciprocating
jaw piece D to remain at rest a short time at each reciprocal throw, as will
be more fully described hereafter. On the rear end of the chunk shaft E
is secured a bevil cog wheel F which gears with a corresponding cog wheel G,
secured on a horizontal rotary transverse shaft H, whose axis is on the
same horizontal plane as the centre of the gun barrel. The shaft has
a hand crank at one end for giving it motion, and near its opposite end
is a protuberance or cog I, so situated in relation to a similar cog J
projecting from the periphery at the rear end of the shaft C of the oscillating
jaw C' as to enable it in its revolution to depress the cog J and tip or turn the
jaw Cinto the position represented in Fig. 3 of the Drawings, a space
being formed in the stock or frame A to admit of this movement. After
being thus tipped it is raised to its original position by a spiral spring K
on the end of the shaft C. Two bars L project tangentially from the lower

page_text: part of the semi-cylindrical jaw C₁ for the purpose of preventing the loaded
cartridge chambers from falling through when the jaw is raised, and these
bars L (when the reciprocating jaw D closes on the oscillating one C¹)
enter corresponding slots in the jaw piece D. A segment of a cog wheel. M
is secured to near the centre of the shaft C and gears with a cogged rack on
the lower surface of a horizontal sliding plate N for shutting off communication
with the hopper during the tipping movement of the oscillating jaw C'.
The detachable cartridge chambers 0 are made of a cylindrical form
with a nipple at one end and of a calibre corresponding with the calibre of
the gun barrel. At their nipple ends they are provided with caps P screwed
on their ends. These caps have small round openings in their centres,
through which pass small pins P having heads on their inside ends, which
are situated immediately opposite the ends of the nipples and rest in seats
provided for them on the inside of the caps P; these pins when struck by
the hammer Q explode the percussion caps on the nipples. and immediately
thereafter their heads are driven against the seats and thus prevent the
escape of any of the charge or force of either the cartridges or percussion
caps and cause the whole force of the latter to assist in giving motion to the
ball. The spring percussion hammer Q is secured at its lower end to the
rear surface of the stock or frame A, and is operated by means of a tooth R
on the periphery of the transverse shaft, and the cartridge chambers are
forced against the breech end of the barrel, at the same time of firing
by means of two cams S formed on the shaft H on either side of the
hammer tooth R. The cartridge chambers are placed in the hopper Z
above the sliding plate N or in the hopper Z, Fig. 7, whence they are
supplied in the one instance direct and in the other down the serpentine
channel to the gun singly, and fired and discharged therefrom in the following
manner: Supposing motion to be given to the shafts E. H. and the
reciprocating jaw piece D to be opened to its fullest extent, as represented
in Fig. 3. and the oscillating jaw C' to be raised to the position represented by
red lines in the same Figure, this would cause the sliding plate N to be
moved to the position represented in Figure 2 by the upward movement
of jaw C, and the consequent turning of the toothed segment M attached
thereto. In this movement the ridge U on the plate N will agitate the
cartridge chambers O in the hopper Z and cause one of them to descend
through the space next the end of the sliding plate N between the upper
edges of the jaws C, D, and this cartridge chamber will rest on the bars L
projecting from the lower edge of the oscillating jaw C. Upon continuing to
turn the shaits E, H, after the jaw D has been opened, the crank E' will

page_text: act on the straight portion of the space D³ and will not move it until after
it has made one quarter of a revolution past the segmental portion 2 of the
opening or space D' but will simply hold the jaw D open, thereby giving
the necessary time for the jaw C' to rise and the gate or slide N to open and
one of the cartridge chambers 0 to descend on to the bars L. On reaching
the position represented in Fig. 2 the movement of the crank E' closes the
jaw D, and embraces between it and the jaw the previously descended
cartridge chamber O, as represented in the Figure just mentioned. During
the next quarter of a revolution of the crank E' past the quarter segment
portion of the opening or space D' it will hold the jaw D against the
other jaw C' without moving it in the least, and will thereby give the cams S
time to force up the cartridge chamber 0 in contact with the gun barrel.
and hold it there until its contents are fired off by the cog or notch R coming
into contact with the notch 1, Fig. 4 of the hammer Q. and forcing it
back so that at its rebound it will explode the cap as before stated. The
next quarter of a revolution of the crank E' will again open the jaw D.
while at the same time the protuberance or cog I on the shaft H by operating
on the similar cog J on the oscillating jaw shaft C will depress the same to
the position represented in Figure 3, so as to throw off the cartridge chamber
therefrom, and at the same time move the gate or slide N to prevent the
descent of another chamber until the exploded one is thus thrown off. T
this manner the operations are continued in succession, a cartridge chamber
being fired at every revolution of the shafts E, II.
In the event of the carrier wheels represented in Figures 8 and 9 of the
Drawings being employed to convey and hold the cartridge chambers O
in lieu of the jaws C and D, the several parts before described will of course
be altered to correspond.
Fig. 10 represents a longitudinal section of a cartridge chamber of an
improved form. The variation from the combination already described
consists in dispensing with the screw on the cap P, Fig. 5. and substituting
therefor a vulcanized rubber ring B confined in a corresponding formed
groove in the cartridge chamber proper. The object in making this change
is to facilitate the attachment and detachment of the cap from the chamber
and to prevent the cap from becoming too tightly fixed on the said chamber.
Fig. 7 represents a substitute for the hopper Z already described. It consists
simply of a zig-zag or serpentine channel or passage way of sufficient capacity
only to admit of a single course of cartridge chambers O descending through
it, thereby preventing the chambers from choking at any point as they might
have a tendency to do in the hopper of the form shewn in Figures 1, 2, 3,

page_text: and 4. In case a larger calibre of cartridge chamber and gun barrel is
desired to be employed, or that a more perfect joint is required, between the
ends of the cartridge chambers and the gun barrel, a ring W of vulcanized
india-rubber or leather of the forin represented in the Drawings is inserted
in a corresponding circular cavity in the ends of each of the cartridge chambers
with a small curved portion projecting therefrom in such a manner as to
cause the projecting elastic portion of the ring to be pressed against the end
of the gun barrel with the necessary degree of tightness to insure a more
perfect joint that would otherwise be effected.
Having now described the Invention of "Improvements in Guns" which
has been communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid the mode herein set forth of
holding the cartridge chambers 0 opposite the gun barrel B while being
fired.
I also claim the use of the bars L. the toothed segment M. and slide N
for throwing off from the jaw C' the exploded cartridge chambers and
admitting loaded ones singly from the hopper or feeding wheel.
I also claim the mode herein set forth of actuating the reciprocating jaw
piece D by which the necessary stoppage is given to the jaw piece at the end
of every reciprocal throw of the same.
I further claim covering the nipple ends of the cartridge chambers with
a cap P. having a headed or valve pin P¹ working loosely in an opening
immediately opposite the percussion cap on the nipple, and for the purpose
set forth.
I also claim inserting in circular openings in the ends of the cartridge
chambers corresponding formed rings of vulcanized india rubber or other
elastic material whose forward portions project slightly therefrom in the
manner and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set by hand and seal, the Thirteenth day of March. in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)