IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William James Hill at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 16th September 1878.
WILLIAM JAMES HILL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun and
Pistol Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN REVOLVING SMALL-ARMS."
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in the lock
mechanism of revolving small-arms, my said improvements being particularly
applicable to revolving pistols, but may also be applied to revolving guns and
rifles.
By my Invention the lock mechanism is much simplified, and its action made
very efficient.
arm.
According to my Invention I provide the front of the hammer with a jointed
arm for cocking it, a recess being made in the said hammer for receiving the said
This jointed arm is capable of moving inwards or towards the hammer, but
it cannot move outwards beyond the line of the front of the hammer. The jointed
arm is pressed into the last-described or normal position by a spring. I make the
sear arm in one piece with the trigger; the said sear arm, besides holding the
hammer at full cock or in a position of safety, also serves to act upon the cocking
arm described for cocking the hammer. The bent in which the sear arm on the
trigger engages is made at the front and near the bottom of the hammer, and
immediately under the bottom of the cocking arm on the haminer. Jointed to the
heel part of the trigger, below the sear arm described, is the lifter, by which the
revolving cylinder is partly turned to bring a fresh chamber in it opposite the barrel.
The lower limb of the mainspring is prolonged, and its prolonged end is supported
upon a shoulder on the inner face of the lifter, so that when the lifter is raised by
the trigger the said lower limb of the mainspring is raised with it and compressed.
The free end of the upper limb of the mainspring bears against the back of the
hammer in the ordinary way. When the trigger is pulled the sear arm acting
against the jointed arm on the front of the haminer lifts the said hammer to full
cock. By the same motion of the trigger the lifter is raised, the revolving cylinder
partly turned, and the lower limb of the mainspring compressed. As soon as the

page_text: sear arm on the trigger has lifted the hammer to full-cock the jointed arm on the
hammer escapes from the said sear arm, and the latter by the pressure of the com-
pressed lower limb of the mainspring acting through the lifter is made to engage
with the bent in the front of the hammer and hold the said hammer at full-cock;
but the continued motion of the trigger in the same direction causes the sear arm
to be lifted from the bent in the hammer, and the hammer liberated for the discharge
of the pistol or gun, as is well understood. On loosing the trigger the lifter descends,
and the pressure of the lower limb of the mainspring acting through the said lifter
upon the trigger causes the sear arm to be re-engaged with the bent in the discharged
hammer, and hold the said hammer in a position of safety.
The lower limb of the mainspring may be made to give a rebound to the hammer
after the pistol or gun has been discharged by making a shoulder on the prolonged
part of the said lower limb of the mainspring bear against the back of the hammer,
that is to say, when the lower limb of the mainspring has nearly reached its lowest
position after the discharge of the pistol or gun the said shoulder acts against the
tail of the hammer, turning the said hammer through a small angle, and thereby
slightly lifting the nose end of the hammer, the pressure of the said lower limb of
the mainspring at the same time causing the sear arm to engage with the bent in
the hammer, as before described..