Improvements in Breech-loading Small Arms.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Nov., 1895-Accepted, 4th Jan., 1896
Improvements in Breech-loading Small Arms.
I, NILS GUSTAF HANSON, of 53 Sarbrunnsgatan Stockholm, in the Kingdom
of Sweden, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to breech-loading mechanism of the kind wherein a
breech bolt is employed, my improvements being especially applicable to fire-arms
in the form of walking sticks, the fire-arms provided with my improvements being
quite equal to sporting guns as regards accuracy of aim and range. The improved
fire-arm is characterized by being easily loaded and cocked and by the means
whereby the accidental opening of the mechanism or discharge is prevented, the
fire-arm being so constructed that it is automatically half cocked when opening
the mechanism and cannot afterwards be discharged until it is fully cocked. The
locking arm of the breech bolt is located in a recess in the butt or handle and the
fire-arm is carried like an ordinary walking stick, that is to say, by holding the
bandle in the hand, whereby the said locking arm is clasped and the accidental
opening of the mechanism is prevented. The trigger is situated on the underside
of the handle.
To enable my invention to be fully understood I will describe how it can be
carried into practice by reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the handle or butt end of a breech loading
fire-arm constructed according to my invention:
Figure 2 is a cross section through the handle:
Figure 3 is a horizontal section; and,
Figure 4 is a side elevation of the said end of the fire-arm :
Figure 5 is an elevation of the firing pin; and,
Figure 6 side and front elevations of the locking arm detached.
The barrel a, which forms the stick and which has a ferrule-shaped plug
mounted on its lower end, has screwed upon its upper end a
casing b in which
the breech bolt c slides in the usual manner. The casing itself is formed of
two rigid bars b', 6' which at their rear ends are connected by means of the
handle d. The breech bolt is provided with grooves in which the bars are
located so that the whole forms a breech bolt which has an even exterior
surface. In the breech bolt are placed the firing-pin f, the spring g, the extractor h
and the hook or sear i, the latter forming a lever and being adapted to be
pressed inwards towards the firing pin by the spring k. In the opposite direction
the sear i is acted upon by the trigger fixed to the handle in the angle between
the stick and the handle. The breech bolt cannot be turned, but its locking arm m
can be turned upon a pin n fixed to the breech bolt and in a plane perpendicular
to the longitudinal axis of the stick. A recess in extending across one of the
guiding bars 6' and continuing into the handle seives to receive the locking arm
when the breech bolt is pushed in whereby the breech bolt is locked. In Figure 2
full lines shew the locking arm in its locking position and the dotted lines shew
it in its open position. When turned down the locking arm enters the breech bolt
below the guiding bar b' as the shoulder m' on the same enters below a notch in
the bar 6 into an extension of the recess in the breech bolt in which the upper
end of the arm is situated (see Figure 2). A very effective locking of
the breech bolt is thereby obtained, so that the breech bolt cannot slide relatively

page_text: to the casing b. The end of the arm m, which can be pushed into the handle,
is bent outwards a little to admit of its being taken hold of from below in order
to turn it up. It is kept in its locking position by the spring o, placed in the
cylinder and fixed by means of the pin c¹, one end of the said spring forming the
extractor h. The spring o acts upon the locking arm by means of two flat
surfaces p and p' on the latter separated by a rounded ridge or nose.
The locking
arm is retained in its locking position when the spring o acts upon the surface p and
in its open position, when the spring acts upon the surface p¹. The firing pin can
be drawn backwards by pulling the band q. The sear then enters the half cock
notch a or the full cock notch a' (both made on the under side of the firing pin)
according to the distance to which the firing pin is drawn backwards. The sear i
as well as the sear notch a¹ is undercut in consequence of which the discharge
(which is effected by applying pressure to the trigger so as to depress the sear i)
cannot take place when the sear i engages with the sear notch a'. The half cocking
of the fire-arm takes place automatically when the locking arm m is opened, as the
locking arm has a lever and its inner end is of the form of a bevelled shoulder m³
which enters a recess r on the upper side of the firing pin f. The rear edge of
the said recess forms an acute angle relatively to the longitudinal axis of the firing
pin. When the locking arm is opened the shoulder m³ thereof acts against the
said edge in such a manner that the firing pin is forced backwards and the sear i
engages with the sear notch a'. In order to prevent an accidental discharge,
however, when the breech bolt is free, the locking arm is at m³ so formed with
relation to the slope of the shoulder m³ and the edge m, that the half cocking of
the firing pin has already taken place, before the locking arm has quite left the
recesses in the guiding bars & and the butt or handle. The firing pin remains half
cocked with relation to the breech bolt while the latter is drawn backwards for the
extraction of the empty cartridge and for the insertion of a new cartridge, after
which the breech bolt pushed in and locked.
If the locking arm should for some reason be turned up after the cocking of the
firing pin, and the trigger be afterwards operated, the edge m of the free firing
pin impinges against the shoulder m³ and the firing pin stops in the half cock
position, so that the discharge cannot take place. If the slope of the surfaces on
the parts m³ and m* is so great, that the firing pin spring succeeds in bringing the
firing pin past the half cock position, it must first turn down the locking arm, and
the breech bolt is then locked so that the discharge cannot take place backwards.
The fore end of the firing pin is then drawn in behind the front face of the
breech bolt and firing cannot take place. In order to cock the gun, the firing
pin is drawn backwards by pulling the band q so as to cause the sear
with the sear notch a². The discharge can then be effected by pressing the
trigger l.
to engage
The firing pin moves freely in the ring t, firmly connected to the breech bolt
and forming an abutment for the spring 9. Through the ring passes a screw t¹ the
end of which passes into a longitudinal groove t' made in the firing pin, whereby
the firing pin is prevented from turning. A similar screw e, entering a groove in
the breech bolt through the guiding bar 61, limits the outward movement of the
breech bolt.
Instead of the recess r with its bevelled edge m', the firing pin may be provided
with a shoulder, upon which acts the locking arm m.
In the case of muskets, rifles and the like, the recess for the locking arm, which
is pivotally connected to the breech bolt, is made in oue guiding bar of the breech
bolt and extends down into the butt or the casing of the mechanism of the gun.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is:-
1. In fire-arms having breech loading mechanism of the kind in which &
breech bolt is employed, a locking arm m pivotally connected to the breech bolt

page_text: which can slide but not turn between the guiding bars, the inner end of which arm
can, if desired, be acted upon by a spring on the breech bolt, which spring retains
the said arm in either of two extreme positions, and which arm can be turned down
into a recess made in one of the guiding bars and in the handle or the butt, and is
adapted to be grasped by the hand in order to safely lock the breech bolt at the
discharge, substantially as set forth.
2. In fire-arms having breech loading mechanism, provided with the locking
arm arrangement, claimed in the first claiming clause, a bevelled shoulder or
nose m³ on the locking arm m in the vicinity of its fulcrum which on the locking
arm being moved from the locked position is turned against an oblique recess or a
bevelled shoulder m* on the firing pin, forcing the firing pin to slide backwards to
the half cocked position, and a shoulder m² on the locking arm of such a size with
relation to the bevel of the shoulders on the locking arm and the firing pin, that
when the locking arm is opened it shall not have left its recess in the handle or in
the butt, when the firing pin is half cocked substantially as set forth.
3. In fire-arms in the form of walking sticks having breech loading mechanism
in which a breech bolt is employed and provided with the locking arm arrangement
referred to in the first and second claiming clauses, the arrangement of the recess
into which the locking arm is pushed in one guiding bar and in the corresponding
side of a handle, connecting the guiding bars at their rear ends, substantially as
set forth.
4. The improved breech loading fire-arm herein before described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawing
this 19th day of November 1895
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.