IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Edward Merritt at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
December 1855.
I, THOMAS EDWARD MERRITT, of Maidstone, in the County of Kent, Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS" to be as follows:-
This Invention, so far as it relates to the breeches of. ordnance, consists in
the employment of a conical plug or faucet, fitted to turn transversely to the
bore or axis of the gun, an opening being made through the faucet to coincide
with the bore when the breech is open, such bore extending entirely through
the gun. This faucet is turned to open or close the breech, by means of a
lever handle, and is kept tight in its seat by a suitable tightening screw.
When the charge is inserted, an india-rubber, lead, or copper valve is placed
behind it, and on the back of this valve is formed a small handle or projection,
over which a slotted portion of the faucet passes when the breech is closed.
The object of this valve is to form by its expansion when the charge is fired
a perfectly tight breech, and so prevent the escape of the gases generated by
the explosion. When composed of india-rubber or other elastic material, the
valve consists of one or more elastic discs, placed on a short spindle having a
sliding metal disc on the front end of it, and a fixed metal disc on the back end,
with the handle or projection herein-before referred to. When made of lead
or copper, the valve will consist of a cup or closed tube, enclosing a portion of
the charge, and fitted to the bore accurately, so that when the charge is fired
the metal of the tube will expand and form a perfectly tight breech.
The portion of the Invention relating to the breeches of breech-loading

page_text: small arms consists, according to one modification, in the employment of a
hinged breech piece or plate, jointed to. the upper edge of a ring, which is
brazed on to the end of the barrel. To this hinged breech piece is connected
the tail of the india-rubber or other valve, herein-before referred to, so that on
opening the breech the valve is withdrawn ready for the introduction of the
cartridge, and when the breech is closed its valve is pushed into the end of
the barrel immediately behind the cartridge. A strong bolt worked by a
handle on the side of the arm serves to secure or release the hinged breech
piece as required.
Another modification of breech for breech-loading small arms consists of a
lid valve opening inside the barrel, and hinged at the back end to the upper
surface of the same, the barrel being closed at the breech in place of open, as
in the last-described arrangement. Inside the breech is a copper expanding
tube, half of which is cut away in an oblique direction longitudinally. This
tube has a small stud on the back end, which stud projects through the.closed
end of the barrel, and is fitted wiih a suitable handle to enable the tube to be
turned partially round on its longitudinal axis. In loading the arm the tube
is turned half round; and the lid falls inside, the barrel.into a recess made for
that purpose.
The charge is then introduced, from the upper surface of the
barrel, and the tube being turned back again, it lifts. up the lid and closes it.
The improved cannon shot consists. of. a.cylindro-conoidal shot,. fitted with a
lead clothing and expanding base.
The projectiles for rifles, smooth bores, and pistols. for long ranges, are
made, according to one modification, with both ends. pointed, and are used
with wads of cork or other elastic material; some of these projectiles for
smooth bores may be made with spiral grooves, and projections or feathers,
at an angle, of about 5° on the after pointed end. According to another
form, the projectiles may be plain cylinders in the middle, with conical
pointed ends. The projectiles are also formed with two, three, or more
feathers on them, to suit the different numbers of grooves. in rifles; such
projectiles being made either of a cylindro-conoidal form or cylindrical, with
the frustrum. of a cone at the front end.. Some of the projectiles are.formed
like a tube bevilled off at the front, and also slightly. at the back, for the
purpose of diminishing the resistance of the air. Others. again are formed
similar to a. knife blade, of a sufficient thickness to fill the grooves.of the rifle,
and having sharp points.