IMPROVEMENTS. IN. FIRE-ARMs
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Lecomte de Foutainemoreau, of the
...General Patent Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire.of
France, and 4; South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS. IN. FIRE-ARMs."-A communication from.
Pierrė Elie Jules. Fleury, Lieutenant in the French Imperial Navy,
residing at Paris, in the Empire of France::..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left: by the said Peter Armand Lecomte
de Fontainemoreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents; with
his Petition, on the 16th March 1864.
3
I, PETER ARMAND LECOMTE DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of the General Patent
Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South'
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows, that
is to say:
-
The Invention consists in adapting to muzzle and breach loading guns
certain mechanism by which any accidental discharge of a gun may be avoided,
and the cocking and uncocking of muzzle-loading guns prevented (when not
required). For muzzle-loading guns I pass through the middle of the lock a
tempered steel cylinder, by which the cocks are prevented from moving either
when at rest or when cocked; a movement perpendicular to the axis of the barrels
is given to this cylinder by means of two jointed levers worked by two knobs ;
A

page_text: these levers are set on a plate screwed to the stock of the gun, and may
be caused to move alternately by a long double spring. The said levers are
prevented from moving when the cocks are at rest by means of a small cylin-
drical bolt with a hook moving within a tube by means of a watch key. For
breech-loading guns I employ the cylinder as above stated, and a lever with
one arm only, put in movement by a knob set at about one-third of its length;
this lever is fixed on the iron mounting of the gun, and receives an alternate
motion by means of a spiral spring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand Lecomte de Fontainemoreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 14th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINEMOREAU, of the General Patent Offices,
10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontainemoreau, Her special license that I,
the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontainemoreau, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de
Fontainemoreau, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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," a communication from Pierre Elie Jules Fleury, Lieutenant in the
French Imperial Navy, a person resident at Paris, in the Empire of France,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Peter Armand Le Counte
de Fontainemoreau, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, or under the hand and seal of one of them,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the 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
Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:-
The Invention consists, firstly, in the application to muzzle & breech loading
guns of certain mechanism which when [the gun is uncocked causes a bolt to
project from the lock into a hole in the side of the hammer, thereby holding it
from and preventing it moving accidentally; and, secondly, in the application
to muzzle-loading guns provided with the above-mentioned mechanism of a
catch worked by a key similar to a watch key, the object of the said
catch being to fasten the bolt mentioned in the first part of the Invention, so
as to render it impossible to cock or uncock the gun without the aid of the
key provided for the purpose.
In order, however, that the nature of my Invention may be more easily
understood, I will proceed to describe the first part of it as applied to a double
barrelled muzzle-loading gun, by the aid of the accompanying Drawing.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1, 2 and 3. The bolt mechanism consists of a tempered steel
cylinder or bolt a, furnished at its interior extremity with a small hole b; this
cylinder passes through the stock of the gun and the body of the lock, and
into a hole o made above the large screw hole r of the lock plate; it is put in
motion by a lever L cranked at c, and terminates with a small cylindrical
pivot which works in the hole 6 of the bolt a. This crank is so formed that
the lever L can move both behind and below the large screw of the lock in
the case of a straight plate, as in Figure 3. This lever L is notched at the
other end in the form of a Y for receiving the pointed end i of a second lever
L. A milled knob m is fixed by means of a small screw to the other end of
the lever L for moving it. The two levers L, L', pivot on two small axes f,f,
rivetted on the plate p, which supports the whole of the mechanism. When
the knob m is pressed, each end of a spring K presses on the levers L, L¹,
giving them an alternate movement; and the ends y of the spring K are
notched in the form of a hook, so as to hold the levers L, L', and prevent
them moving on the axes f, f. Each hammer of the gun is provided on its
internal face with an oval hole t, which when the hammer is uncocked is exactly
opposite the hole o in the body of the plate, so that it can receive the end of
the bolt a. The spring K carries a small plate a bent at right angles, and

page_text: which is placed under the plate p, and fixed.to it, and the said plate p is itsel
fixed to the stock by means of one or two screws, two screws being required
for that on the left hand, and one for that on the right; Figure 4 shews the
setting required for the plate p, the levers L and L', as well as for the
'spring K, the depth of the groove being the same as the total thickness of the
mechanism; P is the setting of the plate p, and X is that of the small bent
plate of the spring K.; M shews the cutting to allow for the movement of
the two levers L, L, in which at the points d (Figures 1 and 2) notches are
made to allow of the passage of the screw which passes in the holes, Figure 4,
and which fixes the under part of the breech-piece to the stock and to the
escutcheon; the position of the knob m for both locks is that of the usual
position of the left hand in holding the gun, and would be at about 2, Figure 4.
The above description is for a lock having. the large spring.o in front of the
tumbler, but in the case of a reversed lock the lever L must be slightly
altered, for in place of passing under the large screw of the lock; and for
which they have to be cranked at c, they must be made to pass in front of the
large screw, and then cranked at right-angles; as shewn in Figure. 5, or,in the
form of an S, as shewn at Figure 6. .It must also be observed that in making
in the stock the place necessary for the play of these last levers (Figures 5,
and 6) the support of the front part of the body of the reversed lock must be
raised; in this case a plate of iron or steel must be used in place of the
wood that has been cut away, as shewn in Figure 7, in which plate are made
two holes and r, the first one for the passage of the bolt a, and the
second r for the large screw of the lock. This plate is fixed to the stock by
means of one or two small screws v, v; which may be placed at the top and
bottom of the plate T, which must be of the same shape as the wood cut
away. The end of the lever L, which passes in the hole 6 of the bolt a, need
not be confined to any particular shape, but the general form of the body of
the levers L will only admit of slight alteration.
....
The second part of the Invention is shewn at Figure 8, and consists of a
small metal tube H made to receive the bolt G; this tube is fitted in the
stock below, and at the side of the knob of the before-mentioned levers L³, and
is fixed by means of a screw R. The end I of the bolt G is square, so that
it can be moved by a key made to fit it. The other end of the bolt is fur-
nished with a projection or catch J, which when in a vertical position is
behind the lever L' furnished with the knob, and holds it firm, and consequently
the bolt a and hammer are also immoveable; when, on the contrary,
the catch I is in a horizontal position the levers work freely, and the gun
may be cocked and uncocked at will....

page_text: gun;
The mode of working the mechanism is as follows:-When the bolts, as
above described are applied to a gun, and the hammers are uncocked, the holes o
in the bodies of the lock plates, and the holes t of the hammers communicate,
and the bolts a traverse both and prevent the hammers moving them to cock the
the thumb of the left hand must be pressed on the left knob m, and the
first or second finger of the same hand must be pressed on the right knob m,
the said knobs projecting a little from the stock; by this pressure the levers L'
will be made to act in the direction shown by the arrows F, F, and the bolt a
will be moved in the direction shewn by the arrows F", that is, to say, they
will be drawn in the interior of the lock, thus freeing the hammers, which may
then be easily cocked or uncocked at will. When, however, the pressure is
taken from the knobs m, the springs K will act and cause the bolts a to take
their first position and to project from the lock into about three-quarters the
thickness of the hammers, thus fixing the latter and preventing them moving
accidentally. The knobs m must be placed so that when the gun is held they
come just under the fingers of the left hand that are used to press then.
I will now describe the mode of applying the first part of my Invention to
breech-loading guns. In this case the lever L, instead of being jointed, is
made in one piece, as shewn in Figure 9: A knob C, D, carries a small plate P,
fixed to the lever L by two small screws. At the joint C is a pin for pressing
on a spiral spring placed in the cavity o, Figure 10; this spiral spring tends
to repulse the knob C, D, when the pressure of the fingers is removed. The
levers L are lodged in a groove M, N, made in the sides of the breech-piece, and
a small slot A, B, is made underneath the groove M, N, to receive the blade P
of the lever L. In order that the joint K of the lever L should hold the
cylindrical bolt a, by passing in the hole made for the purpose, a mortice F is
made at the end of the setting M, N, in the back part of the breech piece. The
lever thus modified and applied to a breech loader will answer the same
purpose as those applied to a muzzle-loading gun, as already described.
Having now fully described the nature of the said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I wish it to be distinctly understood that
I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down, but what I
claim and wish to be protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
First, the general arrangement of the mechanism herein-before described,
and its application to breech and muzzle loading guns, by means of which the
hammer or hammers of a gun when uncocked are bolted down so as to prevent
them moving accidentally, and also the mode of releasing the same.
And, secondly, the construction and application to muzzle-loading guns

page_text: provided with the above-mentioned mechanism of the catch shewn at Figure 8,
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine-
moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of
September, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-four.
Witness;
HY. GILBEE,
10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris.
L DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.B.)