IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SMALL ARMS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SMALL ARMS."-A
communication from abroad by Lewis Wells Broadwell, residing at
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Sealed the 11th January 1862, and dated the 19th July 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th July 1861.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE, APPLICABLE ALSO TO SMALL ARMS,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Lewis Wells Broadwell, residing at
Saint Petersburg, Russia,) to be as follows:--
This Invention consists in the employment of a breech block or breech
closer constructed with a chamber in front, of larger diameter than the bore
of the piece, and moved up and down to open and close the bore by toggles
connected to a shaft worked by a detachable lever handle. Also in the
employment in the chamber in the face of the block of an expanding ring,
which upon the firing of the charge becomes expanded and renders the breech
gas-tight.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th January 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my execu-
tors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING ORDNANCE,
APPLICABLE ALSO TO SMALL ARMS," (a communication from abroad by Lewis
Wells Broadwell, residing at Saint Petersburgh, Russia,) upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in the employment of a breech block or breech
closer constructed with a chamber in front, of larger diameter than the bore
of the piece, and moved up and down to open and close the bore by toggles,
connected to a shaft worked by a detachable lever handle. Also in the
employment in the chamber in the face of the block of an expanding ring,
which upon the firing of the charge becomes expanded, and renders the breech
gas-tight.

page_text: Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan; Figure 2, a longitudinal
section; and Figure 3, a vertical section taken somewhat diagonally through
the breech block and breech of a cannon constructed according to my Inven-
tion; Figure 4 is a back or rear view; Figures 5 and 6 are longitudinal
sections taken at different parts; Figure 7 is a face or front view; and
Figures 8 and 9 are vertical sections of the breech block or closer detached;
Figure 10 is an outside front view; Figure 11 is a central cross section; and
Figure 12 is an inside rear view of the expanding ring; Figure 12* is
view in vertical section of a double expanding ring which I sometimes employ
instead of the ring shown at Figures 10, 11, and 10.
a
The end d¹ of the
the end d about a
a is the breech block or closer free to slide up and down in a chamber bat.
the breech end of the cannon. This block is slotted at c, c, in which toggles
or raising levers d, d, work; a detached view of one of these levers is given in
side view at Figure 13, and in edge view at Figure 14. Figure 15 is a view
of the pin by which the levers are connected to the block.
lever works about the rod e in a recess in the breech, and
pinf in the breech block. The rod e is shewn detached at Figure 16; it
passes through the breech to the outside thereof, and has motion communicated:
to it by a lever handle g, detached views of which are given at Figures 17
and 18; the chamber in which the rod e works is enlarged at its outer end, as
shown at g, Figure 1, to receive the socket on the lever handle. There is a
pair of toggles to each block, which when the breech is closed, occupies the
position shown in Figure 2 by the black dotted lines, and when the breech is:
open that shown by the red dotted line in the same Figure; his a groove
formed in the rod e, into which a projection on the lever d¹ takes, whereby the
latter is secured to the rod or spindle e. To open the breech place the spindle
of the handle g on the rod e, then pull back the bandle which turns the rod e,
at the same time extending the toggles d, d', and raising the block a to the
position shown by the red lines in Figure 2; a clear space is then provided.
through the rear end of the gun for the insertion of the charge; then
to close the breech push forward the lever handle g and the gun is ready to be
discharged. is the expanding ring resting in a recess or chamber formed in
the face of the block a, which is of a somewhat larger diameter than that of
the bore of the gun; when the explosion takes place the gases rush back into
the chamber, the ring i expands, and all escape of gas is thereby prevented.
Figures 19 and 20 are views of a back sight used with this gun; Figure 21
is a view in vertical section of the breech block in a modified form. This
arrangement is particularly applicable for ships' and fortification guns, where
the working parts do not require that protection from dirt that field pieces do.

page_text: The recess in the breech for receiving the expanding ring i is of a somewhat
different shape, as shown at ¹, the other parts are referred to by letters corre-
sponding with those in Figure 2.
In Sheet 2 the expanding ring is shown applied and fitted to a breech-
loading carbine, Figure 1 of which is a side elevation, Figure 2 a longitudinal
section, Figure 3, a cross section at the hinge where the barrel and breech
separate; and Figure 4, a plan of the same.
-a is the barrel hinged to the breech 6 about the spindle c; d is the chamber
in the face of the breech containing, as in the gun before described, an ex-
panding ring e; ff, are lugs on the breech, and g, g, are lugs on the barrel;
h is a spring clasp for securing the lugs f and g; i is a pin, terminating at its
lower end in a knob k, and passing through an aperture formed in the breech
piece band abutting against the under side of the spring clasp. To open the
breech press upwards the pin i by means of the knob k against the spring
clasp h, the latter then rises and with it the lugs f, g, and the breech opens
about the point c. When the charge is inserted lift the breech until it is in a
line with the barrel, the spring clasp then snaps down over the lugs, and the
arm is secure. The line 1, 1, Figure 2, indicates the place where the breech
m is a rear sight which is raised and lowered by means of a screw n
opens.
below.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the improve-
ments in breech-loading ordnance, applicable also to small arms,-
First, the employment of a breech block or breech closer with a chamber in
front, of larger diameter than the bore of the piece, the said block or closer
being caused to move up and down, substantially in manner herein-before
described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the employment of an expanding ring in the face of the breech
block or closer, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.