IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ADMO
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Eugène Lomel, of Avignon, France,
Captain of the Regiment of Pontonniers, for the Invention of
“IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ADMO "
Improvements in Breech-LoADING FIRE-ADMO }}
Sealed the 13th May 1875, and dated the 19th March 1875.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Eugène
Lomel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th March 1875.
I, CHARLES EUGÈNE LOMEL, of Avignon, France, Captain of the
Regiment of Pontonniers, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention has for its object the construction of breech-loading
fire-arms on a system which I call the "horizontal balance," in which
the breech is opened and closed as required by moving the barrels in a
horizontal plane instead of in a vertical plane as usual. For this
purpose the barrels are fitted to the arm so as to be capable of being
turned on an axis either to the right hand or the left, such axis being

page_text: placed to the left of the centre line of the arm for guns opening to the
right, and to the right thereof for guns opening to the left. By this
arrangement the back end of the barrels and the plate against which
they abut may be formed in a straight line, or nearly so.
The barrels are united together and to the stock by being soldered or
fixed on to a plate having on its lower side a projecting pin or stud to
form the centre of motion, and a curve projecting piece adapted to work
in a curved dovetailed groove formed in the base plate to which the stock
is fixed. The radius of the curve of the said parts is a line therefrom to
the said centre of motion. A spring stop passing through the said base
plate into a curved slot formed in the plate which unites the barrels
serves to limit the extent of motion of the barrels.
The breech is opened and closed as required by means of a key worked
by a trigger lever through a mortice in the said base plate, such key
being formed with projections adapted to pass into and act alternately
on the two sides of an oblique opening in the projecting piece on the
lower side of the plate uniting the barrels. By this means the barrels
have imparted to them a double motion, thereby facilitating the closing
of the breech as required. The hinder part of the said opening is large
enough to allow of a ready entrance of the projection on the key, which
when it has entered the opening can work therein so as to close the
breech effectually without the need of special care in adjusting the
position of the barrels by hand.
In the two positions of opening and closing the key is maintained in
position by a spring fitted under the base plate, which spring acts on
two surfaces cut in the key.
The stock of the gun may be variously arranged without interfering
with the above described mode of construction.
A cartridge extractor is or may be adapted and applied to the gun,
Such extractor consisting of a blade working on a centre and furnished
with wings to lay hold of the rim of the cartridge. This blade when the
gun is loaded is contained in a cavity let in between the two barrels, the
two wings of the blade completing the back part of the barrels which is
cut to receive them.
The cartridge extractor is acted upon as required by means of two
projections at the top, but it may be made self acting.

page_text: Also the arrangement above described for working the barrels may be
varied by substituting for the pivot on which they turn a curved groove
and slide.
In the above described gun the main parts are formed in straight
lines and arcs of circles, thereby facilitating the construction of such
parts by machinery. Owing to the breadth of the base plate and the.
plate for uniting the barrels, and the accurate fitting of these parts, the
gun is well balanced and the breech is solidly closed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Eugène Lomel in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 17th September 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
EUGÈNE LOMEL, of Avignon, France, Captain of the Regiment of
Pontonniers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles Eugène Lomel,
Her special license that I, the said Charles Eugène Lomel, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Eugène Lomel, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Eugène Lomel,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Eugène Lomel, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described. and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
My Invention of "Improvements in Breech-loading Fire-arms" has
for its object the construction of breech-loading fire-arms on a system
which I call the "horizontal balance," in which the breech is opened
and closed as required by moving the barrels in a horizontal plane
instead of in a vertical plane as usual. For this purpose the barrels are
fitted to the arm so as to be capable of being turned on an axis either to
the right hand or the left, such axis being placed to the left of the
centre line of the arm for guns opening to the right, and to the right
thereof for guns opening to the left. By this arrangement the back end
of the barrels and the plate against which they abut may be formed in a
straight line, or nearly so.
The barrels are united together and to the stock by being soldered or
fixed on to a plate having on its lower side a projecting pin or stud to
form the centre of motion, and a curved projecting piece adapted to
work in a curved dovetailed groove formed in the base plate to which
the stock is fixed. The radius of the curve of the said parts is a line
therefrom to the said centre of motion. A spring stop passing through
the said base plate into a curved slot formed in the plate which unites
the barrels serves to limit the extent of motion of the barrels.
The breech is opened and closed as required by means of a key worked
by a trigger lever through a mortice in the said base plate, such key
being formed with projections adapted to pass into and act alternately
on the two sides of an oblique opening in the projecting piece on the
lower side of the plate uniting the barrels. By this means the barrels
have imparted to them a double motion, thereby facilitating the close of
the breech as required. The binder part of the said opening is large
enough to allow of a ready entrance of the projection on the key, which
when it has entered the opening can work therein so as to close the

page_text: key, in front of which projection the spring M acts. By the arrange-
ment shewn and described the key is caused to impart a primary move-
ment to the barrels at the opening of the breech and to complete the
movement begun by the hand when the barrels are brought to the
position for firing. The action of the key may, if preferred, be controlled
by other suitable means in substitution for the spring.
The mode of fitting the wooden stock of the gun to the metal parts
may be varied from that shewn in the Drawing.
The cartridge extractor, represented in Figures 13 and 14, is a moveable
blade P turning on a horizontal pivot, as shewn, and terminating in two
ears or projections p, p, at the top, which can be acted upon as required
by the fingers. This blade, which when the gun is loaded is lodged
in a cavity let in between the two barrels, has two wings, completing
the back part of the barrels which is recessed to receive them. By
pressing on the projections p, p, the wings are caused to act on the rims
of the cartridges and extract them as required.
A self-acting cartridge extractor might be adapted and applied to this
gun, arranged so as to be acted upon by a spring which had been
previously pressed upon by the movement of the barrels. Or the stem
of the extractor might be acted upon by a small vertical lever worked
by the motion of the barrel plate.
I would here remark that the movement of the barrels above described
may be effected without the use of a pin or stud and socket to act as a
centre of motion by adapting and applying to the front part of the
plate D another projection as at G, or a simple bolt moving in a curved
groove formed in the base plate, the centre of which curve would be in
the same geometrical vertical axis as that of the groove F. Also the
stop for limiting the extent of motion of the barrels may be varied, and
in other respects the parts may be varied in detail.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim
as of my Invention is, the construction and arrangement of the parts of
the gun, as hercin-before described, whereby the breech may be opened
and closed as required by moving the barrels in a horizontal plane by
the means described, and also the formation of the parts in straight lines

page_text: and arcs of circles as represented and described, thereby admitting of
their being made by machinery adapted for the purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Eugène Lomel, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirty-first day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy- 5
five.
CHARLES EUGÈNE LOMEL. (L.S.)