IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

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PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left, by Michael Frederick Halliday at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th, August 1867.
I, MICHAEL FREDERICK HALLIDAY, of South Kensington; in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman; do hereby declare the nature of the said; Invention,,
for." IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists, first, in the particular conformation of the rear.face
of the barrel, the front and rear faces of a movable piece carrying the
exploding pin or striker, and the front face of asfixed piece behind the
movable piece, as hereafter described; secondly, in an arrangement of
extractor; thirdly, in the formation of an'i aperture below the movable piece,
to allow of the escape of the empty cartridge case; and, fourthly, in, the
combination of the parts of breech-loading fire-arms, all, as bereafter.described.
These iniprovements will be; fully understood by the following description of
a fire-arm constructed according thereto. Immediately at the rear of thes
barrel is a movable piece, which exactly corresponds to and fits,into the,space.
between the rear of the barrel and the fixed piece before referred to; this
movable piece is free to be turned over upon the barrel on a centre or axis,
which corresponds with the centre or axis of the bore of the gun. The rear
face of the barrel is a portion or segment of a sphere struck from this centre,
and the rear face of the movable piece is a portion or segment of a larger
-sphere struck from this same centre, while the front face of the movable piece
is concave to correspond with the rear of the barrel, and the front face of the

page_text: fixed piece is concave to correspond with the rear face of the movable piece.
The particular conformation of these parts being portions of spheres struck
from the same centre forms an important feature in my Invention. The
movable piece is formed with a central aperture, in which an exploding pin or
striker is fitted; this pin has a bevilled head, so that when the movable piece
is raised by a suitable projection after the discharge the bevilled head by
coming against the inside of the barrel is pushed automatically within the
movable piece, whereby a spring, as ordinarily employed to withdraw the
striking pin, is dispensed with. The play of the striking pin is limited by a
screw or pin passed through the side of the movable piece and entering a slot
or recess in the striking pin. In a recess in the lower part of the rear face
of the barrel a curved extractor is fitted, which is connected to a bar carried
below the stock or barrel, and fitted with a finger piece or trigger-like pro
jection, by which the extractor may be drawn back to extract the empty case.
The extractor is fitted with a spring to return the extractor into position.
Below the space into which the movable piece fits there is an aperture con-
tained between two strong longitudinal metal plates; the empty case when
withdrawn by the extractor falls through this aperture clear of the gun. The
fixed piece before referred to has a central aperture corresponding to that of
the movable piece; in this aperture à bolt works, which extends back in
convenient. guides, and its rear end projects through the upper part of the
butt at the ordinary curved part or swall of the butt 3. this rear end of the
bolt carries a finger piece or projection by which the arm is cocked.. The under
side of the bolt has two notches: for the "half bent" and "full bent" respec-
tively; a projection on the trigger plate takes into one, or other of these
notches for the half or the full cock. When the trigger is pulled a spring
drives forward the bolt, so that its. front end passes through the fixed piece,
enters the movable piece, and drives forward the striker to explode. the charge;
the bolt at the same time serves to lock the movable piece in place: By drawing
back the bolt by means of its finger piece it is cleared from the movable piece
and the lock put at half or full cock, as required. I prefer to use with the
guns before described cartridges with a convex base corresponding to the
convex rear face of the barrel.