IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME, AND FOR OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Garrett, Civil Engineer, and George
Holcroft, Engineer, both of the City of Manchester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR
THE SAME, AND FOR OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE."
Sealed the 17th April 1868, and dated the 18th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Garrett
and George Holcroft at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 18th October 1867.
We, HENRY WILLIAM GABRETT, Civil Engineer, and GEORGE HOLCROFT,
Engineer, both of the City of Manchester, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN
CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME, AND FOR OTHER FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention is applicable to breech-loading fire-arms and ordnance, and
it consists in connecting the barrel to the breech piece by means of spiral
projections on the one fitting into a spiral groove or grooves in the other, by
which contrivance when the barrel is drawn forward or the breech piece is
pulled back the chamber to admit the cartridge is opened, and when the
barrel is pressed back or the breech piece is pushed forward the fire-arm or
piece of ordnance is ready to be discharged. A shot, bolt, or spring catch

page_text: is or may be employed to lock the barrel and breech piece together. By this
arrangement the catches, springs, and levers usually required to open and
close the cartridge chamber are dispensed with.
Our improvements in cartridges may be applied to cartridges for every
description of fire-arms and ordnance, and it consists in introducing a small 5
thread or portion of gun cotton or fulminate into or through the gunpowder of
the cartridge for the purpose of producing instantaneous combustion thereof.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry William Garrett and George Holcroft in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
WILLIAM GARRETT, Civil Engineer, and GEORGE HOLCROFT, Engineer, both of
the City of Manchester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us,
the said Henry William Garrett and George Holcroft, Her special license
that we, the said Henry William Garrett and George Holcroft, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry William
Garrett and George Holcroft, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agreo 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 Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME,
AND FOR OTHER FIBRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Henry William Garrett and George Holcroft, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of
our or their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what 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 we, the said Henry William Garrett and George
Holcroft, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement (that is to say) :-
-
Our Invention is applicable to, breech-loading fire-arms and ordnance, and
it consists in connecting the barrel to the breech piece by means of spiral pro-
jections on the one fitting into a spiral groove or grooves in the other, by which
contrivance when the barrel is drawn forward or the breech piece is pulled
back the chamber to admit the cartridge is opened, and when the barrel is
pressed back or the breech piece is pushed forward the fire-arm or piece of
ordnance is ready to be discharged.
Our improvement in cartridges may be applied to cartridges for every.
description of fire-arms and ordnance, and it consists in introducing a small
thread or portion of gun cotton or fulminate into or through the gun-
powder of the cartridge for the purpose of producing instantaneous combustion.
thereof.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying two Sheets of
Drawings.
:
In Sheet 1, Figure 1 is an elevation of a breech-loading rifle constructed,
according to our improvements; Figure 2 is .a longitudinal section of the
same; Figure 3 is a transverse section shewing the cartridge chamber closed;.
Figure 4 is another transverse section with the cartridge chamber open; and
Figure 5 is a plan of the rifle with the cartridge chamber open.
a is the stock of the rise; b, the trigger; c, the hammer of the trigger;
d, the solid nipple on which the hammer strikes; and e, the horizontal spindle
which is pushed forward by the inclined lower end of the nipple to explode the
cartridge. The spindle is provided with a spring to bring the nipple back to.
its original position when the hammer is raised. f is the sight, which is
hinged to the band 9 instead of being hinged to the barrel, as now customary;
h is the barrel, which is rifled as usual, but I prefer to give only about three-
fourths of an entire revolution to the rifled grooves, whereas it has heretofore
been customary to give one or more entire revolutions thereto. The barrel is
connected to the stock by the band g, and by a second band nearer the muzzle
which is not shewn in the Drawing. To the stock a is fixed the breech
piece i, which is bored out and made with internal spiral grooves and pro-
jections corresponding to other spiral grooves and projections on the end of
the barrel. At the lower side of the breech piece is the spring catch j, the
object of which is to take hold of the case of the exploded cartridge when the
barrel is pushed forward to open the cartridge chamber. Near the breech
end of the barrel h is fixed the handle or knob k, to which is jointed the spring

page_text: catch taking into the recess in the breech piece i. The shank of the
knob k rests upon the semicircular part of the breech piece, and the spring
catch serves as a lock when the fire-arm is ready to be discharged, as shewn
in Figures 1 and 3; this semicircular part extends as far as the band g. The
entire breech piece is securely fastened to the stock by screws, one of which
is shewn at in Figure 5.
Our improved cartridge is shewn in section in Figure 2; it consists of a
thin sheet metal tube and end piece containing the powder and the detonating
cap m and the ball n with the plug o as usual, and in order to insure the
simultaneous combustion of the powder a small thread or portion of gun cotton
or other fulminate extends from the detonating cap m to the back of the
plug o; by this means as the ignition of gun cotton is more rapid than that of
gunpowder it is evident that the wholo charge is exploded more rapidly than
heretofore, thereby not only increasing the effective force of the explosion,
but preventing any residue to be left in the cartridge case. When the
cartridge chamber is open, as shewn in Figures 2 and 5, the cartridge can be
inserted into the end of the barrel, as shewn in Figure 2; the cartridge
chamber is then closed by drawing the barrel towards the breech piece until
the spiral projections of the barrel enter into the recesses in the breech piece,
. and they are guided together by the shank of the knob k sliding along the
edge of the stock, as shewn in Figure 4. When the projections on the end
of the barrel take into the recesses in the breech piece the knob k is turned
partly round in the direction of the arrow in Figure 4, thereby screwing the
barrel into the breech piece, and ultimately bringing the shank of the knob
into the position shown in Figures 1 and 3, at which time the spring catch k¹
has dropped into the recess t, and the fire-arm is then ready to be discharged.
When the trigger has been pulled the incline at the end of the nipple d acting
on the incline of the striker or spindle e causes the front end thereof to strike
the detonating cap m and explodes the powder in the cartridge; the knob k
is then turned back and the barrel pushed forward to open the cartridge
chamber. In opening the cartridge chamber the spring catch ¹ is released
from the recess by taking hold of the knob k and the shell of the exploded
cartridge which has been caught by the catch j is removed and another
cartridge is placed in the end of the barrel, which can then be drawn back to
bring the parts again to their proper positions ready for the next discharge.
By this arrangement the fire-arm can be rapidly discharged, and the fouling
of the cartridge chamber which so soon occurs in breech-loaders of the present
construction is almost entirely avoided. The recoil of the fire-arm is also
greatly reduced.

page_text: It is evident that ordinary cartridges may be employed with our improved
fire-arm.
We wish it to be understood that in all cases when the barrel is rifled the
rifted grooves must be made in the contrary direction to the spiral projections
on the end of the barrel, so that the action of the projectile on the barrel may
tighten the barrel and breech piece together.
Figure 5 represents a modification of our Invention. In this arrangement
the barrel is stationary or fixed to the stock, and the sliding breech piece x is
moved to and fro to open and close the cartridge chamber. h is part of the
barrel; i is the fixed breech piece, in which the sliding bolt x is moved by
the handle k; e is the striker for exploding the cartridge. A spiral groove in
the bolt a fits on a projection in the fixed breech piece i.
In Sheet 2, Figure 6 is an elevation partly in section of a piece of ordnanco
constructed according to our improvements; Figure 7 is a transverse section
and Figure 8 a plan of the same.
h is the barrel supported on trunnions ³ connected to the gun carriage, as
usual, and is the breech piece which is made so that it can easily be
moved partly round and to and fro on the carriage to open and close the
cartridge chamber. The end of the barrel and the interior of the breech piece
are made with spiral projections and recesses, which screw into each other to
close the cartridge chamber, as before described. The breech piece is made
with an external groove fitting on the guide segment r, which is fixed to the
guide bar s resting in the grooved rail t and passing through the stay u forming
part of the gun carriage. After the piece has been discharged the shot bolt v
which connects the barrel to the breech piece is opened, and the breech
piece i is drawn back to open the cartridge chamber first by means of a lover
which is inserted in a socket in the breech piece, and the gunners acting on
this lever disconnect the breech piece from the end of the barrel; the breech
piece is then slid back until the cartridge chamber is fully opened by means
of a rack and pinion or a screw and nut, as shewn, or other equivalent, or by
manual labor.
The cartridge for our improved ordnance may be made as usual, or with
a centre of gun cotton or other fulminate, as above described in reference to
the rifle.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, we declare that we claim,―
First. Connecting the barrel to the breech piece of breech-loading fire-
arms and ordnance by spiral projections on the one fitting into recesses in the
other.

page_text: And secondly. The application of a centre core of gun cotton or other
fulminate through the gunpowder of cartridges.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry William Garrett and George
Holcroft, have hereto set our hands and seals, this Sixteenth day of
April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
HENRY WILLIAM GARRETT. (L.S.)
GEO. HOLCROFT.
(L.S.)