IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas James Hart, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Barrel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 29th September 1859, and dated the 2nd July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas James Hart
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd July 1859.
T, THOMAS JAMES HART, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Barrel Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
At the breech end of the barrel, and on the side thereof, a slot or opening
is made at which the charge is introduced and pushed forward into the barrel;
on the outside of the said breech end of the barrel a tube is screwed, which
said tube has a slot or opening similar to that in the side of the barrel; by
turning the said tube upon the barrel the opening in the said barrel may be
closed or opened at pleasure. The said tube is turned by means of a lever
or thumb-piece fixed upon it; the open breech end of the barrel is closed by
a sliding plug or piston, the conical end of which embeds itself against a
conical seat immediately behind the part of the barrel where the discharge
takes place. On the posterior part of the sliding plug are projecting pins or
wings, which when the said plug is pushed to its bearing in the barrel enter

page_text: slots in the before-mentioned tube, and when the said tube is turned so as to
close the opening in the side of the barrel the engagement of the said pins
in the said slots effects the fixing of the conical end of the plug firmly on its
seat during the discharge. After the discharge the outer tube is turned and
the sliding plug liberated, the opening in the side of the barrel being at the
same time uncovered. The plug may now be drawn back and another charge
introduced, the said plug is again pushed up to its bearing and the outer tube
turned so as to lock the said plug and close the opening in the side of the
barrel, and a second discharge may be effected. The conical end of the plug
which closes the barrel during discharge is not formed on the end of the plug
itself but on the end of a screw, which screws in the axis of the plug. When
from wear or otherwise the conical end of the plug requires to be somewhat
advanced to make it fit tightly on its bed, it may be adjusted by turning that
end of its screw which protrudes from the outer end of the plug. The lock
and other parts of the fire-arm to which my improvements are applied may be
of the ordinary construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas James Hart in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 30th December 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JAMES HART, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Barrel
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas James Hart, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
James Hart, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas James Hart, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas James Hart, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,

page_text: or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Thomas James Hart, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists of the method herein-after particularly described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings of constructing the breech end
of breech-loading fire-arms and the parts connected therewith for the purpose
of opening the breech end for the introduction of the charge and closing it
during discharge.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a side elevation of a breech-loading
musket constructed according to my Invention, the several parts being in the
positions they respectively occupy when the musket is ready for discharge;
Figure 2, represents a side elevation of the same, the several parts having the
positions they respectively occupy when the musket is about to be charged;
Figure 3 represents a vertical longitudinal section of the same, the several
parts having the same positions as in Figure 2. The other Figures represent
detached portions of my Invention as herein-after explained; the same letters
are employed to indicate the same parts in the several Figures.
a is the barrel of the musket, at the breech end of which is a slot or
opening b, the said slot or opening 6 being on the side of the said barrel, the
said breech end of the barrel is shown separately in Figure 4; in charging
the musket the cartridge is dropped into the said opening b. On the outside
of the breech end of the barrel is a tube c, shown separately in Figure 5, the
said tube c having a slot or opening e, of the same size and form as the
opening 6 in the barrel. The said tube c is connected with the barrel by
screwing upon a shoulder on the said barrel as seen at d in Figures 3 and 4,
the said tube c having a rotatory motion upon the said screw d. By turning
the tube c upon the barrel a by means of the thumb plate f, the opening e
may be made to coincide with the opening 6 or otherwise. The opening b is
covered by the tube c when the thumb-plate f is in a horizontal position, and
the said opening 6 uncovered when the said thumb-plate f is in a vertical
position. A sliding plug or piston g shown separately in Figure 6 slides in
the end of the barrel, and when pushed home its conical end h embeds itself
on the conical bed i, thereby closing the barrel at a point immediately behind

page_text: that at which the discharge takes place. The pushing home of the plug or
piston g forces the cartridge which was dropped in at the hole into that
part of the barrel where the said cartridge is to be ignited. The plug
or piston g is prevented from rotating by means of a feather i, engaging
in the groove in the barrel (see Figures 4 and 6), and the tube c is
prevented from rotating on the barrel excepting when the plug 9 is
pushed home by means of the feather or projection on the said tube
engaging in the slot m in the piston g. On the posterior part of the
sliding plug or piston 9 are projections n, n. When the said plug 9 is
pushed to its bearing in the barrel, the projections n, n, enter the tube c
by passing through those portions of the opening in the end of the said
tube marked in Figure 5. By turning the tube c by means of the thumb-
plate f; those portions of the end of the tube c marked p, p, engage behind
the projections n, n, and thereby hold the plug 9 firmly in its place. The
opening in the barrel is at the same time closed, and the musket is ready
for discharge; q is a small bolt on the thumb-plate f, which said bolt being
pressed when the tube c is in the position shown in Figure 1 passes through a
hole in the tube c, and engages in the barrel a. The tube c is thereby fixed.
After discharge, the bolt 2 is withdrawn, the thumb-plate f raised into a
vertical position, and the plug g withdrawn. The opening b is now uncovered,
and a cartridge may be dropped therein. By pushing forward the plug g
bringing the thumb-plate f into a horizontal position, and pushing in the bolt q,
the musket is again ready for discharge. On moving the thumb-plate f from
a vertical to a horizontal position, the tube c is made slightly to advance upon
the screw d, and the parts p of the tube c are thereby made to press firmly
against the projections n, n, of the plug 9, and hold its conical end h firmly to
its seat at i. The conical end h of the plug g is not formed on the end of the
said plug g, but is carried by a screw 7 situated in the axis of the plug 9, and
which said screw » may be made to advance or retire in the plug by turning
it in one or other direction. In this way the conical end h of the plug may be
adjusted to the greatest nicety. After the conical end has been accurately
adjusted, the screw r is fixed by means of the lock nut s, and washer t; the
lock and other parts of the inusket are of the ordinary construction.
Although I have only described my Invention in its application to a musket,
yet my Invention may be applied to fire-arms generally.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I claim

page_text: as my Invention, firstly, closing the breech end of breech-loading fire-arms by
means of a sliding plug fixed in its place during discharge by a tube on the
breech end of the barrel constructed and worked as herein-before described,
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the method herein-before described and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings of adjusting the ends of the plugs of breech-loading
fire-arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas James Hart, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
THOMAS JAMES HART. (L.S.)