IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Augusto Albini and Francis
Augustus Braendlin at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition on the 20th February 1867.
We, AUGUSTO ALBINI, of Genoa, and also of No. 1, New Broad Street
Buildings, in the City of London, Captain in the Italian Navy, and FRANCIS
AUGUSTUS BRAENDLIN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention relates to breech-loading fire-arms in which the breech is
opened and closed by means of a block hinged to the breech end of the
barrel.
Our Invention consists, firstly, of the following arrangement of parts of a
lock for holding down the blocks of the said fire-arms, and for discharging the
said fire-arms, the said arrangement of parts being contained in or attached to
the closing block. In a cavity in the said block a tumbler turns upon an axis
in the usual way. One end of the axis of the tumbler passes outside the
block and carries an arm or lever for cocking the gun. A pin or striker in
the axis of the block is jointed to the tumbler, which is provided with a spring
to give it the required motion. At the back of the tumbler is a lever, the
long arm of which is acted upon by a spring. The short arm of the said lever
carries a sear or sears, which engage with bents in the tumbler. To the head
of the lever a bolt for bolting down the block is jointed. The long arm of
the lever works in a slot in the extreme free end of the block, and a trigger

page_text: of the ordinary kind is made by pressure of the finger to enter the said slot
and act upon the said lever, and thereby discharge the gun. When by the
action of the trigger the long arm of the lever is pressed down the bolt jointed
to its head is projected, and takes into a recess in the back of the shoe, into
which the block shuts down, and the said block is thereby bolted in its place.
At the same time the sear carried by the lever is disengaged from the bent in
the tumbler, when the mainspring communicates motion to the said tumbler,
and projecting the pin or striker forward discharges the gun. On removing
the finger from the trigger the spring described raises the lever and withdraws
the bolt at the same time it brings the tumbler to the position of half-cock,
thereby withdrawing the pin or striker into the closing block. The position
of full-cock is given by the outer cocking arm or lever.
Our Inveution consists, secondly, of a safety slide on the face of the closing
block for the purpose of preventing the accidental discharge of the fire-arm.
If after discharge the pin or striker from any failure of the mechanism of
the gun should not be withdrawn into the closing block the shutting down of
the closing block might cause the projecting pin or striker accidentally to
discharge the cartridge in the barrel, we prevent this by means of the slide
described, which is let into and works flush with the face of the closing block.
Through a hole in the said slide the pin or striker passes, and when the slide
is in its normal position its top end projects above the block, and on throwing
back the block the said projecting top end strikes against the breech end of
the barrel, and the slide is made to move on the face of the block and close
the hole through which the pin or striker passes. The bottom end of the slide
now projects, but when the block is shut down the said bottom end of the
slide comes in contact with the bottom of the shoe, and the slide is restored to
its original position, and the hole through which the pin or striker works is
uncovered. If after discharge the pin or striker is not withdrawn into the
block then the slide is incapable of moving, and on attempting to throw back
the block the resistance which is offered indicates the derangement of the
mechanism and warns the user of the gun against the accident which would
arise by the shutting down of the closing block before the pin or striker has
been forced into the closing block.
Our Invention consists, thirdly, of the following arrangement of parts for
preventing accidents by the non-withdrawal of the pin or striker after dis-
charge: In the lower part of the rear end of the closing block a small
cranked lever works, its vertical arm engaging in a notch on the under side of
the rear end of the pin or striker, and its horizontal arm projecting through a
slot at the rear end of the closing block. A spring under the vertical arm

page_text: presses upwards and urges the cranked lever in a direction proper to with-
draw the pin or striker. The lower part of the shoe is not made of the same
curvature as the upper part and the end of the block, but is in a plane at
right angles to the axis of the shoe. After the bolt which has locked down
the block and struck the pin or striker to discharge the gun is withdrawn
the action of the striker spring as well as that of the cranked lever tends to
withdraw the striker into the block; but should the striker by the failure of
these springs not be withdrawn into the block the raising of the block effects
the withdrawal of the said pin or striker. The end of the horizontal arm of
the cranked lever on the raising of the block bears against the vertical
lower side of the rear of the shoe, and the said lever is made to turn upon its
joint in a direction proper to withdraw the striker; the said striker is thereby
withdrawn and accident prevented.
Our Invention consists, fourthly, of a cartridge-case extractor constructed
in the following manner :-We cut on either side of the barrel curved slots,
the curvature of the said slots being portions of a circle, and in the said slots
we place curved plates capable of sliding therein; these curved plates are a
little longer than the slots. When the cartridge is in its place in the barrel
its rim bears against the lower ends of the curved plates, their upper ends
projecting above the top of the barrel. On the closing block being thrown
back after discharge it presses upon the upper ends of these plates, thereby
projecting the lower ends outwards or into the shoe, and starting the case of
the exploded cartridge from the barrel.