IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Lewis at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd November
1866.
I, JOSEPH LEWIS, of No. 51, High Street, Bloomsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention comprises improvements, firstly, in the construction of
fire-arms; secondly, in the construction of cartridges; and, thirdly, in rifling
guns, which improvements are herein-after described under their respective.
heads.
. Firstly, the improvements in the construction of fire-arms relate to breech-
loaders, and consist in the arrangement (1st) of a plunger or breech-closing.
bolt with a backward and forward action in the charge chamber and its
socket; (2nd), of a mode of locking and unlocking the plunger; (3rd), of an
action for firing the gun; (4th), of a spring and trigger action serving to
fasten and unfasten the plunger and ignite the fulminate; and (5th), of a
mode of inserting the cartridge in the chamber, which arrangements, for the
convenience of description, are classified as follows:-
1st. The arrangement for opening and closing the chamber and inserting
the cartridge into the latter consists in a sliding bolt fitting into the chamber
and moving in a socket which forms a continuation of the barrel with a
to-and-fro horizontal action, which by means of a projecting piece on the bolt.
iş imparted to the latter with or without turning the bolt in its socket.
i

page_text: By driving, the sliding bolt backwards an opening is formed in its socket in
a line with the chamber to receive the cartridge, whilst by the same motion
the gun is cocked, as herein-after described, and by the forward motion of the
sliding bolt the cartridge is pushed into the chamber. A self-acting lever
stop attached to the sliding bolt serves to fasten the plunger when the chamber
is loaded. A button attached to and working the lever stop is so placed in
advance of the plunger handle that the former is necessarily acted upon by
the hand simultaneously with the action of drawing forward the sliding bolt.
A cap or hood which is attached to and moves with the sliding bolt serves to
cover and protect the opening in the socket in which the sliding bolt moves,
and the cartridge is inserted. At the rear end of the sliding bolt there is a
projection, into which a screw is fixed to hold this cap or hood, which neces
sarily must slide to and fro with the plunger..
2nd. For the purpose of locking the plunger it has a slot through it at the
rear end, into which slot a cross bolt is shot, whereby not only. 'is) the plunger
securely fastened, but a perfect, resistance is afforded to-the-explosive force of
the charge, thus constituting the plunger a solid breech-closer; to unlock the
plunger the cross bolt is withdrawn, as herein-after described. At the lower
side of the breech end of the barrel is a lump screwed or welded to the barrel,
and serving as a guide to the cross bolt and also as an abutment of the barrel
against the stock.
3rd. To fire the gun a piston contained in a tube or without a tube, and
held in position by a spiral-spring, is made use of as a striker; 'this' piston and
its tube (if used) and 'it's spring are contained and fixed-inside the sliding
bolt, in the bottom of which there is a longitudinal slot through which a
tumbler acted upon by a spring acting as a hammer strikes the piston, and
causes the front end of it (the piston) to impinge on the needle or piercer,
which ignites the fulminate in the cartridge in the manner herein-after
described. An advantage of the arrangement above described for firing the
gun is that no lock plate or hammer is required, whereby the stock is so much
the stronger that it is not cut away at the side to receive a lock plate and
hammer pivot.
:
. .
4th. The spring and trigger action consists of a spring, a forked' lever
attached to the trigger, and a tumbler placed and fixed longitudinally in an
iron frame in a line with and immediately under the chamber and sliding
bolt socket, this frame being securely fixed to the stock. The forked
lever carries the cross bolt which locks and unlocks the sliding bolt or
plunger, and as it is put in motion by the trigger action fastens the cross bolt
in the slot at the rear end of the sliding bolt plunger, or withdraws the cross

page_text: bolt from the slot and unlocks the said plunger. The trigger is also so con-
nected with the tumbler and acts upon the spring in the same line by means
of a short bent lever, that an up-and-down motion through a slot in the bottom
of the sliding bolt and its; socket, in which slots the tumbler works, is imparted
to the tumbler by the elastic action of the spring according as, the latter is
placed in a state of tension or released by the action of the trigger or the
short: bent lever and tumbler. The effect of the upward motion. of the
tumbler when released from the spring is to strike the rear end of the piston
striker, which acting on the head of the piercer ignites the fulminate. From
this arrangement, when the trigger is pulled it results that first the forked
lever shoots. the cross bolt into the slot at the rear end of the plunger, and
instantaneously after the tumbler by the action of the spring strikes the
piston, which acting on the piercer explodes the charge. After the charge is
fired, in drawing back.the.sliding bolt the tumbler (which is acted upon by,
means of an inclined groove in the sliding bolt, in which groove the tumbler
works;). is turned down and laid hold of by the spring, thus cocking the gun,
which is then in readiness to be fired by the trigger action. The pressure of
the finger con the trigger causes one continuous action, which locks the plunger,
with the cross. bolt, and liberates the tumbler, so that the plunger is securely.
locked and, the charge fired simultaneously without any possibility of the gun
being discharged before the plunger or breech-closer is fastened; at the same
time when the trigger, is pulled slowly there is an appreciable resistance in
locking the plunger, which admits of suspending the action at that point so
as not to release.the tumbler, whereby the gun is kept -at. half cock without
danger ofi explosion unless, the trigger is again pulled. By a simple, arrange-,
ment the tumbler may for greater, safety, if considered requisite, be locked,
whilst the gun is loaded and not required to be fired. The barrel, the
chamber, and the sliding bolt socket may be (as shewn in the Drawings) one
continuous tube, or the; breech part of the tube containing: the actions may be
separate and screwed to the barrel proper....
1
5th. The mode of inserting the cartridge in the charge chamber is as:
follows: Attached to the sliding bolt is a cradle or open box of suitable form.
and dimensions to contain the cartridge,, and provided with..springs to prevent
the cartridge falling out; the use of this cradle is to facilitate the insertion of.
the cartridge into the opening behind the chamber formed by drawing
back the plunger, as before mentioned. A tube attached to the sliding bolt.
may be used for the same purpose, but this, cradle or tube may be dispensed
with..
Secondly, the improvement in the construction of cartridges consists in the

page_text: introduction inside the cartridge of a pointed metallic wire or piercer, of which
the point being close to a fulminating cap or patch resting on the rear end of
the bullet, and the head of the piercer being struck by a piston or hammer,
'the impact of the point of the piercer on the fulminate shall ignite the charge.
The piercer is made with or without a head, and may be naked in the powder,
but I prefer to enclose it in a tube of paper, metal, or other suitable material,
which serves the double purpose of holding the fulminating cap or patch. and
protecting the piercer from corrosion by the action of the gunpowder ; this
tube is made longer than the piercér, so that the end of the tube next.to..the
fulminate shall extend beyond and cover the point of the piercer and prevent
the point from coming in contact with the fulminate unless-struck by the
piston, thus obviating accidental explosion. In forming the cartridge, :a
fulminating cap fitted on the end of the protecting tube covering the point of
the piercer, is placed in contact with the rear end of the bullet or the point.of
the piercer instead of being fixed in a fulminating cap may be in close
proximity to a disc or patch containing the fulminate on the rear end of the
bullet. The head of the piercer is inserted in a wad having a hole in its
centre for that purpose, and forms the rear end of the cartridge over the
powder in the cartridge case, so that only the thickness of the wad intervenes
between the head of the piercer and the forward end of the plunger, through a
hole in which the point of the piston striker passes when the gun is fired. The
position of the fulminate in the cartridge may be varied from that above
described. Instead of being at the base or rear end of the bullet it may be
either in the centre of the powder or at the rear end of the cartridge imme-
diately under the wad, and in either of these two variations the fulminate
would be on or close to the top of a supporting pin resting on the bullet as
its point of resistance, and would be struck by the point of the piston striker
in the manner before described.
I intend to apply this mode of constructing cartridges and producing
ignition of the fulminate and the charge by the impact of a separate piercer
in each cartridge on fulminate resting on or close to the projectile, not only to
my improved breech-loader as above described, but to ammunition in general
for any kind of gun, whether small arms or cannon, for which it may be
applicable. The use of a wad at the rear end of the cartridge is for the
purpose of preventing the escape of gas through the breech-closer, but in cases
where that precaution is not required the wad may be dispensed with.
Thirdly, the improvements in rifling guns, and which are applicable to
small arms or to ordnance, consist in forming spiral rifling in only a com-
paratively small portion of the length of the barrel. The theory on which

page_text: this plan of rifling is founded - is, that the object of rifling being to impart a
spinning motion to a cylindrical projectile on its long axis, that object may be
best effected by limiting the spiral action to a short length of the barrel,
leaving the projectile to travel the remainder of its passage through the barrel
in a smooth bore, but I give the preference to rifling on this plan the muzzle
end of the barrel only, the remaining part of the bore being smooth, through
which the projectile will be propelled with the full velocity imparted by the
expansive force of the explosion of the charge before reaching the spiral
rifling, and arriving under that condition at the rifled muzzle end of the
barrel, will receive a rapid spin, causing it to rotate with greater velocity than
if its motion had been retarded by the resistance of curved rifling through the
whole length of the barrel.
Having given a description of the several improvements constituting my
Invention, in order to render it more clear I have annexed to this Provisional
Specification Diagrams, Figs. 1 & 2, to which the following is a reference:―
(a) is the sliding bolt or plunger; (b), the socket in which the sliding bolt
moves to and fro; (c), the lump on the sliding bolt by which the latter is
moved backwards and forwards; (d) is a slot in the sliding bolt to receive
the cross bolt which locks the former; (e) is a slot in the sliding bolt in which
the tumbler or hammer works; (f), a slot in the sliding bolt socket for the
passage of the tumbler; (9) is the piston striker and spiral spring; (h) is the
hole in the forward end of the plunger through which the point of the striker
acts; (i) is the trigger, and (5) the forked lever attached to the trigger; (k) is
a short bent lever worked by the trigger and acting on the spring; (7) is the
spring; (m), the tumbler acting as a hammer; (n), the cross bolt; (o), the iron
frame; (p), the lever stop and button; (9), the sliding bolt handle; (r), the
barrel of the gun; (s), the stock; (t), the cartridge; (u), the bullet; (v), the
piercer covered with a paper tube; (w), a fulminating cap; (a), the wad for
the prevention of the escape of gas at the breech; (y), the charge chamber;
(2), the lump at the breech end of the barrel; and (3), the cradle, all
respectively being the parts of my improvements herein-before mentioned and
referred to.
The foregoing is a general description sufficient to explain the principle
and plan of my said Invention, and the Diagrams annexed will be understood
by any skilled mechanic.