IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Prosper Saville at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
June 1866.
I, THOMAS PROSPER SAVILLE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to breech-loading fire-arms of the kind commonly
called drop-down guns, or guns in which the barrels turn in a vertical plane
upon a joint, their open breech ends being depressed and held against the
face of the break-off for discharge, and raised from the said break-off for the
introduction of the cartridges into the breech ends.
My said Invention consists, firstly, of the improvements herein-after
described in constructing and arranging the mechanism of the said guns for
discharging central-fire cartridges. I place the pins or strikers in slightly
oblique holes made in the break-off of the gun, the inner or acting ends of
the said pins or strikers being situated in the axes of the barrels. The pins
or strikers are pressed into the holes in the break-off so that their inner ends
shall be flush with the face of the break-off by means of coiled springs bearing
against collars or shoulders upon the said pins or strikers. The pins or
strikers are placed in the break-off from the face thereof, the said pins being
maintained therein either by vertical plates or by bushes screwed into the face
of the break-off. That part of the break-off nearest the butt end of the gun
is cut away to about half the depth of the break-off. The cut away portions

page_text: of the break-off constitute depressions or chambers, near the bottoms of which
the outer ends of the pins or strikers are situated, and project a short distance
into the said depressions or chambers. Into the depressions or chambers thus
formed beyond the pins or strikers the heads of the hammers enter to discharge
the gun, the said heads having the requisite shape. The front of the head of
each hammer is inclined or bevilled so that on the fall of the said hammer its
bevilled head strikes against the outer end of the pin or striker projecting into
the depression of the break-off, driving forward the said pin or striker so as
to cause its inner end to strike upon and discharge the cartridge. By con-
structing and arranging the mechanism for discharging the gun according to
my Invention a shield or protecting plate is situated behind the outer ends of
the pins or strikers which are acted upon by the hammers, which shield or
plate effectually protects the person using the gun from injury by the flying
out of the said pins or strikers, the pins or strikers being advanced to discharge
the cartridges nearly in a line with the axes of the barrels.
My Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvements in cartridge
case extractors for the said guns. The said extractor consists of a horizontal
rod sliding in a recess or hole in the rib between the barrels. The outer end
of this rod carries a vertical plate or the extractor proper which lies in a
recess in the face of the breech ends of the barrels when the barrels are shut
down against the break-off. The outer sides of the said vertical plate have
the same curvature as the inner sides of the barrels, and are provided with the
necessary grooves to receive the rims of the cartridges when pushed home in
the breech ends of the barrels. At the bottom of this plate or extractor is a
second rod parallel with that working in the rib. The said second rod works
in a hole between the barrels and acts as a guide to the extractor. The top
of the vertical plate or extractor is formed into a handle or thumb plate by
which the extractor is worked. The handle or thumb plate may either pro-
ject from the top of the rib or be expanded horizontally, the said expanded
part lying, when the gun is ready for discharge, in a depression in the top of
the break-off. The front end of the rod in the rib is connected to one end of
a coiled spring, the opposite end of the coiled spring being fastened by means
of a pin passed through the rib to the end of the hole in which the said rod
slides. By means of this spring the return motion of the extractor is effected.
When the breech ends of the barrels have been raised from the face of the
break-off after the discharge of the gun by pressing the head or thumb plate
of the extractor towards the butt end of the gun the extractor slides out of
the recess in the face of the barrels and starts or partly withdraws the exploded
cartridge cases from the breech ends of the said barrels. On releasing the

page_text: head or thumb plate of the extractor it returns to its normal position by the
action of the spring. The sliding motion of the extractor is limited in either
direction by means of a pin passed through the rib working in a slot made in
the rod sliding in the said rib; or the cartridge extractor may be made single.
In this case the extractor is carried by a rod sliding outside the barrel near
the body of the gun. A projection on the body pushes the extractor out when
the barrel is raised, and the face of the break-off pushes the extractor and the
cartridge inwards on the shutting down of the barrel.