as Magazine Arms.
Year: 1886

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by The Colt's Patent Firearms Manufacturing
Company (Incorporated), of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, United
States of America, Manufacturers of Firearms.]
known as Magazine Arms.
I FREDERICK VON OPPEN, of 14 Pall Mall in the County of Middlesex, Agent
for Colt's Firearms Company, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to an improvement in that class of breech-loading fire-
arms in which the breech-piece is arranged to move backward and forward in the
axial line of the barrel, to open and close the breech, and in which the blow is
communicated through the firing pan by a hammer hung in rear of the breech
piece, with special reference to that sub-division of this class of fire-arms in which
the breech-piece is moved by a handle beneath the barrel, in connection with the
breech-piece, or its mechanism, so that a longitudinal movement of the handle
beneath the barrel imparts the opening and closing longitudinal movement to the
breech piece; and while specially adapted to arms in which the magazine is
arranged above the receiver, so that the cartridges fall into the receiver from the
magazine by gravity, parts of the invention are applicable to other constructions
of arms.
The first part of the invention has for its object to lock the hammer when cocked
by the opening movement of the breech piece, and so that it cannot be discharged
until the breech piece be fully closed. The second part of the invention has for its
object to prevent the entrance of a cartridge from the magazine into the receiver
until the previous cartridge shall have been forced into the barrel, and positively
withdrawn therefrom on the retreat of the breech-piece; and the third object
of the invention is to start the shell, or unexploded cartridge from the barrel,
by mechanical means independent of the extractor hook on the breech piece. And
the invention consists in the construction whereby these objects are accomplished,

page_text: as hereinafter described, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in
which,―
Fig. 1 represents in side view so much of the arm as is necessary to explain the
invention, and showing the hammer locking lever, the parts being in the normal
position.
Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing the same parts in the position they will assume
when the breech is fully open.
Fig. 3 is a sectional top view showing the hammer locking lever, and its
arrangement with the hammer.
Fig. 4 shews a modification of the locking lever.
Fig. 5 is a top view of the receiver drawn on an enlarged scale, and showing the
opening through which the cartridges pass into it from the magazine, the magazine
being drawn in dotted lines in the position of application.
Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the magazine.
Fig. 7 is a side view, partly in section, showing the shield on the breech piece,
with the parts in the closed position.
Fig. 8 is a top view of the breech piece, part of the shield being broken away to
show the latches.
Fig. 9 is a side view of the breech piece and shield, the shield being shewn in its
extreme rear position.
Fig. 10 is a similar view, partly in section, shewing the breech-piece in its
extreme rear position.
Fig. 11 is a transverse section through the receiver, breech-piece, and shield.
Fig. 12 is a top view of the breech piece and shield in their extreme rear
position, and showing the latch t as having made engagement between the breech-
piece and shield.
Fig. 13 is a transverse section through the breech piece and latch m, showing
the connection between the cam on the brace and the latch.
Fig. 14 is a side view, partly in section, of the front portion of the receiver and
barrel, showing the starting lever.
Fig. 15 is a transverse section through the receiver and magazine, looking
towards the rear end of the barrel.
Fig. 16 is an inverted plan view of the magazine, showing the flange around the
mouth.
Fig. 17 is a transverse section showing a modification in the arrangement of the
shield.
A represents the receiver, B the barrel attached to the forward end of the
receiver, C the longitudinal movable breech piece, D the brace hung to the breech
piece near its forward end, upon a pivot a, and so that when the breech piece is in
its closed position, the brace will rest against an abutment E, and thereby support
the breech-piece against explosion. The brace is constructed with an arm F
extending downward from its hub into connection with a longitudinally sliding
bar G, which extends through the forward end of the receiver, to a handle H
beneath the barrel, so that in the first part of the movement of the handle to the
rear, the brace will be raised from its locking position, and the continued move-
ment of the handle will cause the breech piece to move to the rear. By the return
movement of the bandle H, the breech piece will be fully closed, and by the
completion of the forward movement of the handle, the brace D will be brought to
the locked position.
In the receiver A, at one side of the breech piece, a double ended lever b, d, is
hung upon a pivot e, so as to rock thereon in a vertical plane; the arm b extends
forward, and stands over a cam f on the brace D (see fig. 1), so that when the
brace is brought to its locked position, as seen in that figure, the cam f will have
raised the forward arm of the lever to its fullest extent; by this means the rear
arm d is tilted to its downward position. The rear end of the arm d is extended
inwards in the form of a finger g (see Fig. 3), so that it may be brought into the
path of the hammer, but when the rear arm d is turned downwards, as indicated in

page_text: Fig. 1, then the finger g is out of the path of the hammer, and the hammer is free
to be cocked or discharged, as desired.
In opening the breech-piece, the brace D is raised from its abutment E, so as to
work rearwards over the abutment E, as shewn in Fig. 2; this rear movement of
the brace produces a corresponding rear movement of the breech-piece C, and the
breech-piece in its turn forces the hammer to its full cocked position.
As the brace recedes, and after the hammer has been brought to its cocked
position, the brace D under-runs the rear end d of the lever b. d, and tilts it
upwards, as indicated in Fig. 2, so as to bring the finger g in front of the
extension h on the hammer, so that that extension will strike the finger g when
the hammer is free, it being understood that the rear movement of the breech piece
will force the hammer slightly beyond the full cocked position, and that so soon as
the hammer is free, it will return into engagement with the rear end d of the
lever b, d., and will there be held under the force of the main spring, until such
time as the engagement with the lever b, d, is broken.
On the forward movement of the breach piece, it reaches its fully closed position,
when the brace D has reached the point where it is free to be turned down against
its abutment E. When this position is reached, and the brace is turned down, the
cam fengages the forward arm b of the lever, and tilts its upward, as seen in
Fig. 1, which movement throws the rear end b of the lever downwards, and thereby
releases the hammer, leaving it free to discharge the gun.
By this arrangement, very rapid firing may be obtained simply by the move-
ment of the handle H, as the operator, by applying a constant pull to the trigger,
so as not to engage the hammer, the rear movement of the breech piece will throw
the hammer rearward, where it will be caught by the rear arm d of the lever b. d,
and then, after the breech has been closed, and as the brace D reaches its locked
position, the lever b. d, will be tripped, so as to release the hammer, and the blow
will be delivered irrespective of the trigger; thus, each rear movement of the
handle will cock the hammer, and each forward movement of the handle will
discharge it, and the firing may be maintained as rapidly as the operator can give
the requisito rear and forward inovement to the handle H.
Instead of imparting the disengaging movement to the lever b. d, by a cam ou
the bub of the locking brace D, such movement of the lever may be produced by
the breech piece itself, as shewn in Fig. 7, by constructing the breech piece with
a cam i near its forward end, which cam will strike an inwardly projecting part of
the lever b. d. (as shewn in Fig. 4), so that by the opening movement of the breech-
piece, the cam will be caused to strike the projection on the forward arm of the
lever, and give it a down movement, so as to throw up the finger g. The relative
position of this cam and the finger g, it will be observed, is such, that the finger
will come into the path of the hammer, so soon as it is thrown to full cock, and
before the breech-piece is fully opened.-In some cases, this may be an advantage
over operating the lever by the brace D, from the fact that the brace cannot well
rock the lever, to bring the finger in front of the hammer, until the brace
approaches the extreme rear movement.
It is desirable to provide a guard which, while it separates and retains the pile
of cartridges in the receiver, will not be withdrawn until the empty shell, or the
unexploded cartridge, has been positively caught and withdrawn from the barrel
by the extractor, for, unless such provision be made, should the extractor fail to
engage the cartridge or shell, and the breech-piece be moved rearward without
taking the cartridge or shell from the barrel, the next cartridge in the pile will
fall into the receiver, and will there choke the passage, and prevent the closing of
the breech-piece.
To obtain the result, a shield I is arranged upon the upper surface of the breech-
piece C; this shield is in the form of a thin plate, of a shape corresponding to the
shape of the breech-piece, and the passage in the receiver A through which it
moves, so as to lie upon the surface of the breech-piece, and move to and fro with

page_text: it when engaged therewith; and it is of a length somewhat greater than the
opening in the top of the receiver.
At the forward end of the shield I, a V-shaped notch J is cut, so as to expose
the extractor-hook at the forward end of the breech-piece. In its extreme
forward position shewn in fig. 7, the shield practically closes the opening in the
receiver, over the breech-piece, and in that position it is locked to the breech-piece,
by a latch m, so hinged to the breech-piece at n, as to swing in a vertical plane, a
nose o standing up through an opening p in the shield, so that while so engaged
the shield must move with the breech-piece. As the breech-piece is moved
backward and the shield has passed entirely to the rear of the opening in the
receiver, a stud r. in the receiver strikes the rear end a. of the latch (see fig. 9), and
so draws down the nose o. out of the opening p. in the shield, thus disengaging the
shield from the breech-piece.-As the shield is disengaged, its rear end strikes
against the stud 7. and remains stationary, while the breech-piece completes its
rear movement, as indicated in dotted lines in figure 9, and also as seen in fig. 10,
which movement takes the forward face of the breech-piece C to the rear of the
forward end of the shield.
In the breech-piece is pivotted, so as to swing in a vertical plane, a second
latch t, the forward end u. of this latch is turned inwards, and, forward of the
end s. of the latch m, into the path of the stud 7, so that after the stud r. has
depressed the latch m, the continued rearward movement of the breech-piece will
bring the end u. of the latch in contact with the stud r, and the forward end of
the latch will be depressed, as seen in fig. 10, thus raising the rear end, so as to
bring a shoulder w. on the latch up against the rear end of the shield, as shown
in fig. 12 and as the breech-piece is moved forward, the shoulder w. of the latch t.
coming in contact with the shield, will force it forward, with its nose in advance of
the breech-piece, as shewn in fig. 10, and will continue to move in advance of the
breech-piece until a projection 2. on the rear end of the latch comes against a
stationary cam 3 in the receiver A, as indicated in dotted lines in fig. 10; this
cam 3. will depress the rear end 2 of the latch, so as to disengage the shoulder w.
from the shield; the shield will then, by reason of its frictional contact with the
receiver, remain stationary, the breech piece continuing its movement until a
shoulder 4 on the breech-piece comes against the rear end of the shield. The
shield will then be moved forward with the breech-piece to its extreme forward
position, and when in that position, the latch o. will be forced into the opening i.
in the shield by the action of the can f. on the locking brace D, or, what is the
same thing, by the projection 5 on the arm b. of the hammer locking lever (see
fig. 13), the lever or the cam striking a projection 6. made for that purpose on the
latch, so that in the final locking of the breech-piece in its closed position, the
shield and breech-piece will be so connected together that in the next rearward
movement of the breech-piece, the shield will be withdrawn as before. As the
locking of the breech-piece cannot take place until the extractor hook has passed
over and taken hold of the cartridge head, the shield is not locked to the breech-
piece, so as to be withdrawn with the latter, until after the extraction is ensured.
In operation, when the breech-piece is completely open, the shield is so far
retracted as to leave clear the opening from the magazine into the receiver, as
seen in Fig. 10, and a cartridge may drop into the receiver, as seen in fig. 10, into
position in front of the breech-piece, to be transferred to the barrel. A second
cartridge will follow the first, but as the breech-piece is returned to close the
barrel, the shield advances first, and passes between the two cartridges, the
V-shaped notch in the forward end of the shield producing a wedge-like action
upon the upper cartridge, so as to raise its rear end until the shield can pass
between the two, and also raising the rear end of the cartridge out of the path of
the extractor. The shield having thus entered, stops for an instant, to permit the
breech-piece to come up against the head of the under cartridge, and then the
shield moves with the breech-piece, as above described, into its closed position.

page_text: The extractor will now engage the head of the cartridge in the usual manner.
The shield standing as a complete partition between the chamber in the receiver,
and the cartridge next above, forms a support for the pile of cartridges in the
magazine, but as the breech-piece is withdrawn to remove the empty shell, or an
unexploded cartridge from the barrel, in order that it may drop down through the
opening in the receiver, the shield moves rearwards with the breech-piece, and opens
a passage for the next cartridge, but if the forward movement of the breech-piece
be not complete, so as to ensure the extractor laying hold of the cartridge, tho
latch o. will not have been brought into a position to engage the shield, the shield
will therefore remain in the forward position by reason of its frictional contact with
the walls of the receiver, and the breech piece will continue its movement without
the shield, which will remain and act as a guard to hold back the pile of car-
tridges; the breech-piece must therefore be again returned to the closed position, so
as to catch hold of the cartridge. On its next retreat, the cartridge will return
with it, then the latch m. will engage with the shield, and the shield will be drawn
back with the breech-piece and the cartridge. On the other hand, if, in the
forward movement of the breech-piece with a cartridge, the gun be not completely
closed, so as to be locked and discharged, and the breech piece be then returned,
the shield will remain as the guard to hold back the pile of cartridges, so that in
rapid firing, if the operator should fail to complete his forward movement, before
he withdraws the breech-piece, the shield prevents the next cartridge in the pile
from falling into the receiver, so as to choke or interfere with the action of the
gun. Such imperfect movements are liable to occur in rapid firing, and this
arrangement of a shield is intended to afford protection against such choking or
clogging of the gun.
If the locking lever for the hammer be not employed, then the cam f. may be
caused to act directly upon the projection 6 of the latch m, or a similar cam may
be provided on the hub of the brace D, independently of the cam f; the can f.
is however a sufficient illustration for this modification.
This second part of the invention has been described as with a positive move-
ment for the latch t, but the locking movement of the latch may be produced by a
spring Z. beneath the rear end of the latch, as seen in fig. 10; the positive move-
ment is however preferred.
The frictional contact between the shield and the walls of the receiver, is best
insured by making the shield from some elastic metal, its diameter being made
slightly larger than that of the breech-piece, so that it will be compressed on its
introduction into the receiver, the reaction forcing the edges of the shield against
the walls of the magazine. The shield may however be constructed rigid, so as to
fit the receiver more closely than it does the breech-piece, and the friction between
the shield and the receiver will then be greater than that between the shield and
the breech-piece. Or the guard may be constructed with a flange upon each edge,
to ride in corresponding grooves in the receiver, as shewn in fig. 17, which flanges
and grooves would in themselves produce sufficient friction for the purpose, it only
being necessary that the shield shall be in frictional contact with the receiver, so
as to be held by the receiver when not positively connected with the breech-piece.
It frequently occurs that the exploded shell sticks in the barrel, so as to make it
difficult to start the cartridge by the rear movement of the breech-piece. In order
to facilitate such starting of the cartridge, a bell-crank-lever L M (Fig. 14) is
pivotted to the receiver underneath the rear end of the barrel, the arm L extending
up so as to stand in front of the flange of the cartridge in the barrel, as seen
in fig. 14, the other arm M extending forward over the slide G, so that in the
forward position of the slide, the arm M will fall into a slot in the slide, and its
end stand in rear of the upwardly and forwardly inclined forward end N of the slot.
In the first part of the rear movement of the slide G, the incline N will pass
beneath the forward end of the arm M, and turn it upward, as indicated in dotted
lines in fig. 14, which movement will correspondingly turn the arm L rearward, as

page_text: indicated in the dotted lines, thus giving to the shell a preliminary start inde-
pendently of the breech-piece, it being understood that the extractor has a certain
amount of longitudinal movement independently of the breech-piece, so that the
breech-piece can move rearward a short distance before the extractor lays hold of
the cartridge, thus permitting the starting lever to act in advance of the extractor
hook.
The magazine, which is shewn in perspective in fig. 6, and in transverse section,
somewhat enlarged in fig. 15, forins a circuitous chamber to receive a number of
cartridges, so that when placed upon the top of the receiver, the cartridges will
follow each other down the inclined partitions into the receiver. The angles of the
magazine are curved, as at R, fig. 15, for facilitating the passage of the cartridges,
and to obviate the risk of cutting the operator's hand by the sharp edges of the
magazine as heretofore constructed. The magazine is formed with a flange S
around its mouth, the flange extending forward at T, and rearward at U, the
flanges T U being intended to engage corresponding flanges 8 and 9 on the top of
the receiver (see fig. 5).
As a means for locking the magazine in place, the forward flange T is curved
from a centre considerably short of one half the length of the magazine, say as
at 10, figs 5 and 16, and the rear flange is cut upon a curve from the same point,
that is, on a radius very much longer than that of the forward end, and the flanges 8
and 9, which are uner-cut flanges, to receive the flanges on the magazine, are
correspondingly curved; hence, to intreduce the magazine, the forward flange T is
set into the flange 8, as indicated in dotted lines in fig. 5, and so as to bring the
centres coincident; then the magazine is turned until both flanges are in position.
In that position, a spring-bolt 11 at the rear is thrown forward into a notch 12 so
as to secure the rear end, and the rear end being held, the short radius of the curve
of the forward end prevents that end from being turned right or left, and the
magazine is thus secured in place. The notch 12 is so inclined with relation to the
nose of the bolt 11, that on sufficient force being applied, the magazine may be
turned away from the bolt for removal, the engagement of the bolt being sufficient
however to hold the magazine in place.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my Foreign Correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The means substantially as described for locking the hammer in the cocked
position until the breech end of the firearm is fully closed.
2. In a magazine fire arm, the use of a shield, as I, with its accessaries, all
constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as herein shown and described,
and for the purposes set forth.
3. In a firearin in which the breech piece is arranged to move longitudinally,
the combination with a slide, as G, and handle H, in connection with the operative
mechanism of the breech-piece, of a bell-crank-lever M pivotted in the forward
end of the receiver, substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose set
forth.
4. In a magazine firearm, the mode of securing the magazine in position, sub-
stantially as herein described and shown, with reference to figs. 5, 6, 7 and 16 of
the drawings.