IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Smith at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th September
1863. A communication from abroad by John Gregory, of Barreiro,
in the Kingdom of Portugal.
I, WILLIAM SMITH, of No. 19, Salisbury Street, Strand, Civil Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CONSTRUCTING BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE," a communication to me from
abroad by John Gregory, of Barreiro, in the Kingdom of Portugal, to be as
follows:-
This Invention consists in applying to the enlarged breech end of a gun, of
any suitable form, size, or description of bore, whether rifled or smooth, a
means of loading.or charging the gun through the breech, and of stopping
the chamber by means of a moveable vent piece or plug.
For converting muzzle-loading guns into breechi-loaders I bore through the
breech and form a chamber therein, and cut a screw thread around the exterior
of the breech. I form a steel or iron ring, band, or hoop, and screw the
interior thereof to suit the screwed breech; a hole or opening of sufficiently
large size is made therein through which may be drawn the vent piece when

page_text: the hole in the ring is brought opposite thereto. The breech is bored or an
opening is formed at right angles to the axis of the gun, and a vent piece of
corresponding shape is fitted thereinto, so as to pass beyond the chamber into
a recess, or a continuation of the transverse hole or opening and the vent piece
may have a projecting stud or a portion of a screw thread projecting there-
from and taking into a corresponding recess or groove or grooves, for the
purpose of more securely holding it in its place during the explosion of the
charge, or the vent piece may have several threads or portions of threads
thereon.
For the purpose of withdrawing the vent piece the ring is turned round
a portion of a circle until the opening therein comes opposite to the vent
piece, which may either be withdrawn horizontally from the side or
from above or below, and the vent piece may be slackened and raised or
moved by a lever handle or other convenient means. When a gun can be so
altered or formed that the breech can be made circular, of larger dimensions,
but eccentric in diameter to the barrel or body, the breech may be fitted with
a cap of wrought iron or steel having in its end a hole or opening, of the same
size as the chamber, eccentric to the diameter of the cap, but which, upon
being turned round a portion of the circle, can be brought opposite to the bore
or axial line of the gun, and so permit of the charge being inserted through
the breech; and the cap, when again turned round, will present a blank face
to the chamber or bore, and thereby close it. There is also another opening
or hole in the breech cap at right angles to the former, and in the circum-
ference of the cap so placed in relation to the first-described hole, and of such
a size as will permit of the removal or withdrawing of the moveable vent
piece or plug. The breech is bored or has a hole otherwise formed therein
at right angles to the bore or chamber for receiving the moveable vent piece
or plug behind the ammunition chamber. This hole or opening. should be
made through the thicker part of the diameter of the breech piece, and the
vent piece or plug may be of circular, parallelogram, or any other convenient
form in section, and is secured in its place by the cap being turned sufficiently
far round, whilst it can be withdrawn or removed by bringing the hole in the
circumference of the cap opposite to the vent piece. A plug or stopper may
also be inserted through the breech into so much of the chamber or.bore as is
between the vent piece or plug and the inside face of the cap, for the purpose
of assisting in supporting the vent piece or plug. The cap may be screwed
on its interior circumference for the purpose of securing it on to the breech,
just as the ring, band, or hoop previously described is applied to muzzle-

page_text: loading guns converted according to the present Invention, or it may be
guided and secured in its place by means of studs or portions of screw threads
so arranged as to admit of the cap piece being readily removed and replaced,
whilst the facility of tightening is provided for and the means of adjustment
for wear can likewise be secured.