IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Birkett and Henry
Scott at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 14th January 1869.
We, THOMAS BIRKETT, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Maker, and HENRY SCOTT, of West Bromwich, in the County of
Stafford, Gun Action Filer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to bo as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in breech-loading
fire-arms.
In breech-loading fire-arms in which to open the breech the barrels
turn upon a transverse horizontal axis the barrels are frequently locked
in position for firing by means of a lump on the under side of the barrels
entering a recess in the body and being there held by a spring bolt or
catch. Some cases, however, have been known where such a spring
bolt or catch has failed to hold the barrels securely, and the breeches
of the barrels have opened on firing to the peril of the user of the
weapon.

page_text: According to our Invention we give additional security by providing
two, three, or more separate spring bolts or catches, and they are so
arranged that the bolt or catch on which the hand lever directly acts
in turn acts upon the next bolt or catch, and so on throughout the
series if more than two bolts or catches be employed.
5
I prefer to use three bolts or catches arranged as follows:-The
locking lump on the under side of the barrels is divided transversely into
two parts entering two separate corresponding recesses, one behind the
other, in the body. The first spring catch or bolt is fitted into the body
to work in a hole or passage formed for it in the metal which separates 1
the two recosses already mentioned. The hand lever works on a
transverse horizontal axis under the body, and a spring which acts upon
it causes an arm with which it is provided to push forward the first
bolt or catch to cause its nose to enter a notch in the back of the front
portion of the locking lump. The nose of the catch is inclined so that 1
it yields to the hump and lets it pass as the barrels are closed. The
second catch is on the hindermost of the two parts of the lump on
the barrels, and it locks into the partition between the two recesses
in the body. The third catch is in the body at the back of the second.
recess; it is provided with a spring to throw it forward, and it catches
into the back of, the hindermost part of the lump on the barrels. In
unlocking the barrels when the hand lever operates to draw back the
first bolt or catch out of its recess this bolt or catch comes back
against the nose of the second bolt or catch and pushes it out of its
recess, and the back of the second bolt or catch comes against the nose 2
of the third, which is so in turn pushed back, leaving the barrels
free.
In closing the breech the action is similar; the first bolt or catch
yields to the foremost portion of the lump on the barrels as already
explained, the inclined nose of the second bolt or catch comes against
the back of the first, and yields and passes it, and the third bolt or
catche similarly yields to the back of the second.
By this arrangement three separate lockings are obtained, which gives

page_text: in the lump on the barrels and catching into the recess in the body.
This bolt or catch is by preference provided with a spring, but this is not
essential.