Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 29th May, 1896
Complete Specification Left, 29th May, 1896-Accepted, 4th July, 1896
1, WILLIAM FILMORE MARKHAM, of the Village of Plymouth, Wayne
County, Michigan, United States of America, 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:--
My invention consists in the construction of an air gun comprising a magazine
device for controlling the exit of a shot therefrom, a holding device at the muzzle
of the gun for holding the shot until the gun is righted and when so righted
permit it to fall into the barrel in the well known manner of loading a muzzle
loading gun.
The invention further consists in the peculiar construction, arrangement and
combination of the various parts, all as more fully hereinafter described.
In the drawings I have deemed it necessary to show the muzzle of the gun
without showing the means for retracting the piston and the means for actuating
the same nor the other well known parts of such gun, as my device may be applied
to any type of air gun.
Fig. 1 is a vertical, central section through the barrel of an air gun showing
only the muzzle portion thereof, illustrating my invention.
Fig. 2 is a similar section showing the trigger or valve in position to allow a
single shot to fall into the auxiliary holding device.
Fig. 3 is a sectional perspective view illustrating the manner in which a shot is
delivered from the holding device into the barrel.
Fig. 4 is a section on line - Fig. 2.
The barrel may be constructed so as to comprise a false barrel A, a true
barrel B and a block or filling C, between the two, preferably of wood.
The true barrel at its lower end has a suitable seat D, so constructed that as
the ball falls into it from the muzzle in end-loading or from the magazine in the
manner described, it will hold it with sufficient force to prevent its accidental
displacement.
In the previous construction of such device, it has been customary to effect a
loading through the side of a true barrel, which necessitated some means of
closing this feed aperture. My present construction feeds from the mechanism
directly into the mouth of the barrel thereby preventing any necessity of such
valve, and making the gun shoot with the desired accuracy and strength and
without any danger of leakage of the air through side ports or openings.
To this end, the construction which I prefer is that shown in the drawings, in
which the block C'is cut away more or less at the forward end to form the annular
magazine E.

page_text: The true barrel B is made slightly shorter than the false barrel and the auxiliary
loading device for the shot is so constructed that when released the shot will fall
therein and be held until the gun is righted, when they will fall into the mouth of
the true barrel and lodge in the seat at the lower end thereof in the well known
manner of such guns.
The construction which I prefer comprises a cap F secured in any desired
manner at the end of the barrel and having the central port or opening G in line
with the true barrel but beyond the same. The upper face H of this cap is
concave as plainly shown in Fig. 1, so that anything resting on it in the upright
position of the gun will tend to roll into the port G and thence into the barrel.
I is a ring shaped flange secured to the cap around the port G, and so constructed
as to leave a free ingress or egress of the shot in or out of the true barrel in
shooting or in unloading.
The inner edge of this flange is preferably bent in slightly so as to form a concave
runway J substantially parallel to the face H of the cap.
a
K is a port or aperture through the cap F communicating with the interior of
the magazine, and this is controlled by a trigger or valve L, preferably formed of
single piece of wire, extending across that port, as shown in Fig. 4 aud
coiled around the inside of the flange eccentrically, as shown, being secured
at N at its opposite end, the finger piece of this trigger projecting through an
aperture in the flange through the exterior, so that it may be operated by the
finger.
The parts being thus constructed their operation is as follows; the gun being
inverted, as shown in Fig. 2 and the trigger or valve L moved to one side, the shot
will fall from the magazine into the runway J. The valve being then closed and
the gun reversed in position to the upright, as shown in Fig. 3, the shot will run
down the concave face H in the mouth of the barrel and lodge in the seat as
described. This construction is not only exceptionally simple but may be
attached to any ordinary make of air gun to convert the usual muzzle loading
gun into a magazine gun.
The magazine may be filled in any desired manner; I have shown a cap o in
the side of the false barrel which may be removed for this purpose.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is ;
1. In an air gun, the combination with the true barrel, of a magazine having its
discharge adjacent to the muzzle of the barrel, means for controlling the exit from
the magazine, and a temporary holder for the shot to be loaded, constructed to
deliver the shot into the muzzle of the barrel.
2. In an air gun, the combination with the true barrel of a magazine having its
discharge adjacent to the muzzle of the barrel, a trigger or valve to control the
exit of the shot, a flange over the exit adapted to hold the ball in the inverted
position of the gun after its delivery from the magazine, and means for guiding the
ball into the muzzle on righting the gun.
3. In an air gun, the combination with the true and false barrels, and an inter-
posed chamber forming a magazine, of a cap for the false barrel beyond the
end of the true barrel having a convex face, an aperture from the magazine
through this cap, a trigger to control the aperture and a circular curved flange
over the cap.
Dated April 21st 1806
WILLIAM FILMORE MARKHAM.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.