AN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Talbot Pitman, of the American and European
Patent Offices, 67, Gracechurch Street, London, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS."-A communication from James H.
Merrill, of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America.
Sealed the 15th April 1856, and dated the 17th October 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Talbot Pitman
.
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th October 1855.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American & European Patent Offices,
67, Gracechurch Street, London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS," a communication from James
H. Merrill, of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America, to be
as follows:-
This improvement relates to the breech of fire-arms, and has for its object
to produce a breech-loading arm, which shall combine simplicity of construction
and safety in using, with facility of loading, certainty of discharge, & ease of
cleaning.
The breech is of the faucet variety, and the breech pin is turned to open or
close the breech by means of a lever, which shuts down upon the grasp of the
5 stock to close the breech, and turns up to an erect position to open it. The
breech may be either a separate piece from the barrel, or not, as preferred.

page_text: In either case the bore is carried through barrel & breech in the same line.
At the rear end of the breech it is slightly expanded at the sides and top to
facilitate the introduction of the charge, and for the same purpose the stock
is cut away behind the breech to admit a metallic trough to guide' the charge
into its entrance. The breech is pierced with a transverse opening to receive
the breech pin. The axis of this opening is at right angles to, & intersects
that of the bore, and the opening is about double the diameter of the bore.
It may be cylindrical or very slightly tapering, and into it the breech pin is
accurately fitted.
.
The breech pin has a projection on each end, one in the form of an oblong
button, which enters a slot in a piece dovetailed into the lock plate, and which,
by being turned across said piece, firmly secures the pin in the breech. This
slot and button are protected and concealed by a sliding cover. The projection
on the other end of the breech pin has attached to it the lever, by which the
pin is turned. The bore of the breech and breech pin is larger than that of
the barrel. When the lever is raised at right angles to the barrel, the bore is
continuous through the barrel, breech, and pin. When the lever is turned
down upon the grasp, the breech is closed, and the solid side of the pin
becomes the bottom of the chamber. That part of the side of the breech pin
which forms the bottom of the chamber has a cylindrical or parabolic cavity
in it. This cavity is surrounded at a short distance from its edge by grooves,
which extend to the end of the pin to let out the smoke. The edges of these
grooves are made sharp, for the purpose of scraping the soot, &c. off the concave
surface of the hole in which the pin turns.
To prevent friction, I keep the pin lubricated with suet or other hard fat,
and for this purpose I make deep channels on the side of the pin, opposite
that which forms the bottom of the chamber; and these I fill with hard
tallow, which melts with the heat of the breech, and lubricates the parts
effectually. The breech pin is prevented from dropping out by a bolt working
in a groove in the lever end of the pin. The trough before mentioned serves
as a receptacle for a rammer of limited action, which forces the ball to the
proper position in the chamber.
-
The lever attached to the breech pin is a broad plate, shutting down with a
spring, and covering the trough and rammer, and protecting them from rain
and damp.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Talbot Pitman in the Great Seal Patent Office ou
the 15th April 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices, 67, Grace-
church Street, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Talbot Pitman, Her special licence that. I, the said John
Talbot Pitman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Talbot Pitman, 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 Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS," a communication from James H. Merrill,
of Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States of America, upon the condi-
tion (amongst others) that I, the said John Talbot Pitman, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
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 I, the said John Talbot Pitman, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in
which Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a rifle, embracing my improvements;
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section through the centre of the breech, including the
adjacent parts of the barrel and stock; Fig. 3, a view in perspective of the
lever and breech pin detached; Fig. 4, a similar view of the breech pin in
a different position; Fig. 5, a similar view of a plate, having an oblong
opening into which the button of the breech pin locks; Fig. 6, a section of
the plate at the line X, X, of Fig. 5; and Fig. 7, the periphery of the breech
pin developed upon a plane surface.

page_text: My improvement relates to the breech, and the principal object I have in view
is to produce a breech-loading fire-arm, which shall combine facility in loading,
efficiency in discharge, safety in using, ease in cleaning, and simplicity in
construction.
The rifle in the accompanying Drawing consists of a barrel A, a stock B,
ramrod C, and lock D, with the usual guards and hair trigger. The breech E
of the barrel is of the faucet variety; and the plug or breech pin F is turned
to open or close the breech by means of a lever G, which shuts down upon
the of the stock to close the breech, and turns up to an erect position
grasp
to open it.
I prefer for convenience in constructing this fire-arm to have the breech
separate from the barrel, and screw the two together when finished; but the
breech and barrel may be made with a little more labor in one piece. In the
Drawing I have represented a breech E, made separate from the barrel A, and
screwed into the same, and the bore extended through both in the same line.
The bore at the rear end of the breech is slightly expanded at the sides
and top to facilitate the introduction of the charge, and, for the purpose of still
further facilitating its entrance, the stock is cut away behind the breech, to
admit a metallic trough H to guide the charge into the entrance of the breech.
The breech is pierced with a transverse opening to receive a breech pin F.
The axis of this opening is at right angles to and intersects that of the bore
of the barrel, and it is about double the diameter of the bore.
This transverse hole may be made cylindrical, or if preferred slightly tapering,
to facilitate the withdrawal of the breech pin, which must be made of corre-
sponding form; but its taper must not be great, or else the unequal pressure
towards the opposite ends of the pin, consequent upon their unequal diameter,
will greatly endanger its being blown out, and will, in any event, produce
great and injurious lateral strain upon the piece. Into this transverse hole in
the breech the pin is accurately fitted. This pin has a projection on each end,
one I, in the form of an oblong button, which enters a slot I, in a piece dove-
tailed into the lock plate, and which, by being turned across the same, holds
the pin securely in the breech. This slot and button are protected from
injury and concealed by a sliding cover J. The projection K on the opposite
end of the pin has the lever G fastened to it, by which the pin is turned.
The bore of the breech which receives the charge is larger than that of the
barrel, and this enlarged bore is continued through the breech pin, so that
when the lever G is raised at right angles, or thereabouts, to the barrel, as seen
in red lines in Fig. 2, the bore will be continuous through the barrel, breech
and vin.

page_text: When the lever is turned down upon the grasp, as seen in Figure 1, the
breech will be closed, and the solid side of the pin will become the bottom
of the chamber. That part of the side of the pin which forms the bottom of
the chamber has a cylindrical cavity L formed in it, or preferably, the cavity
should be of a parabolic form, in order that the force of the explosion may be
concentrated against the centre of the ball, and this cavity or indentation has
the further effect of preventing to some extent the escape of the smoke
through the joint round the pin. To prevent the smoke, gunpowder, dust, &c.,
which from the great violence of the explosion are in a greater or less degree
forced into the joint round the pin, the cavity L, which forms the base of the
chamber, is surrounded at a short distance from its edge, by grooves a, Figure 7,
which extend to the end of the pin to let out the smoke. The edges of the
grooves are sharp, to scrape the soot, &c. off the concave surface of the hole
in which the pin turns. As the pin becomes heated, and the joints dry, the
friction rapidly increases, to counteract which to a considerable extent, I líave
discovered that it is only necessary to keep the pin lubricated with suet or
other hard fat, and for this purpose I have formed deep channels c, on the side
of the pin opposite that which forms the bottom of the chamber, and these
grooves I fill with hard tallow, which does not melt while the plug is cool,
but melts when the heat becomes so great that if the lubricant was not present
the joint would be filled with dust, and the plug or pin turn with difficulty.
For the purpose of preventing the accidental dropping out of the pin while
the button is turning over the slot, a bolt M enters a groove m, at the end
of the pin on which the lever G is fixed. When it is desired to withdraw the
pin from the breech to wipe it, which is often necessary, or to replenish the
tallow, this bolt is pressed back with one hand, and the pin withdrawn with
the other.
The curved trough H, which extends from the rear end of the breech to the
shoulder N, on the stock, at the rear end of the grasp, not only facilitates
the introduction of the charge as before-mentioned, but it also serves as a
receptacle and guide for a rammer C, which is secured in it, and can move
forward a distance limited by a bridge P, near the front of the trough, against
which the thumb piece of the rammer is thrust forward, and then drawn back.
This construction and arrangement of the rammer ensures the entrance of the
5 ball the required distance into the chamber to give abundant space for the
powder, and allow it to pass into the chamber in front of the pin, thus
preventing waste, and rendering the ignition and explosion of the powder more
thorough and complete, and making the discharge as forcible and efficient as
possible.

page_text: The rear end of the rammer may extend back into a hole bored in the
stock, and be, connected with a helical spring to retract it, which would
dispense with the necessity of drawing it back by hand, and leave the hand at
liberty to shut down the lever G, to close the breech by the same motion that
would draw the rammer back, thus increasing the rapidity of firing.
The lever G is a broad plate having a concave end, into which a springs,
fastened to the shoulder N, enters to hold it in place when shut down to cover
the rammer and trough in which it is arranged, so as effectively to exclude
rain from the entrance to the breech. The piece, when loaded or before
loading, looks like a common fire-arm, except that a broad plate covers the
upper part of the grasp, and the breech externally is wider than usual. To
load the piece the lever is thrown up, which uncovers the channel H in the
grasp, and brings the axis of the hole in the stopper, and the axis of the bore
into the same line. If the piece is a rifle, a ball is dropped into the breech,
and passing through the chamber lodges against the shoulder formed by the
meeting of the bores of the chamber and barrel. The charge of powder is
then poured in and the lever shut down, the hole in the stopper cutting off any
excess of powder, or, if a cartridge is used, the end of the cartridge, and
dropping the same through an opening left for the purpose under the breech,
and just in front of the guard.
As regards safety in using this arm, it will be seen that the load is in the
chamber of the piece, and that the movable stopper forms the bottom of the
chamber only, so that there is no firing through a joint, which is confessedly
objectionable. Again, throwing up the lever and drawing out the stopper,
the barrel becomes a simple tube, and the stopper may be wiped and the barrel
.cleaned with the greatest facility, the whole arrangement presenting the utmost
simplicity of construction.
The grooves a and c in the breech pin F perform their office so effectually
that the piece may be discharged a hundred times without any sensible difference
in the facility of throwing up the lever..
What I claim under the above in part recited Letters Patent is, making
the breech pin with. grooves, arranged substantially as herein described, to
scrape the, soot, &c. off the hole in. which the pin turns, and receive the
matter. thus scraped off, whether the said hole in which the pin turns be
grooved or not; but I make no claim to grooving the hole, as grooves in it
are well known, and are incapable of performing the functions of grooves
in the pin.
.
I also claim the construction of the breech pin with a receptacle for tallow
to lubricate the joint, as herein set forth.

page_text: I also claim the depression L in the breech pin, opposite the end of the
bore.
I also claim the combination of the button on one end of the breech pin,
and the slotted plate in connection with which the button works, to secure the
breech pin firmly in place while the breech is closed, in combination with a
catch M or the equivalent thereof, at the opposite end of the breech pin, to
prevent the pin from dropping out while the breech is open and the button
in a line with the slot, by which means the breech is securely closed while
the charge is exploded, and the pin at the same time capable of being readily
removed.
I also claim the arrangement of the rammer in the rear of the breech, in
combination with the breech pin, substantially as herein set forth.
I also claim the construction and arrangement of the breech pin, the lever
for turning the same, the trough H to receive the charge and guide. the
rammer C, in such manner that the lever, when shut down upon the stock,
will cover and protect both the rammer and charging channel, substantially as
herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Talbot Pitman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
JOHN TALBOT PITMAN. (L.8.)