IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by. William Thomas Carrington,
Henry Gielgud, and Zdenko Leopold Wessely at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 23rd October
1868.
We, WILLIAM THOMAS CARRINGTON, of No. 10, Park Street, West-
minster, in the County of Middlesex, and HENRY GIELGUD, of No. 3,
George Yard, in the City of London, and ZDENKO LEOPOLD WESSELY,
of No. 3, George Yard, aforesaid, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in certain improved arrangements of breech-
loading fire-arms, wherein the opening of the breech for the introduction
of the cartridge and the closing of the same subsequently at the same
time effects the cocking of the gun ready for firing.
For this purpose in one arrangement we form in the breech end of
the barrel a slot or aperture, through which the cartridge may be
introduced, in which aperture a block is made to slide vertically up

page_text: and down for the purpose of closing and opening the barrel. The block
is formed hollow and contains a sliding bolt, which constitutes the
hammer of the gun, and which together with the block is connected to
and actuated by the trigger guard arranged to open on a hinge as a lever
in the following manner :-The breech block is connected to the trigger
guard by means of a link, so that when the trigger guard is pulled
down or pushed up it causes the block to descend or ascend with it.
The trigger guard carries furthermore a lever, one end of which turns
on a pin carried by the trigger guard, while the other end fits with
slight play in a slot or notch in the before-mentioned sliding bolt con-
tained in the breech block. In a recess in the trigger guard is placed a
spring which is caused to press against a tail formed on the lever in such
a manner as to tend to make the lever throw the sliding bolt forward
towards the breech end of the barrel, at which point the breech block
has an aperture, through which passes a projection on the end of the
sliding bolt for striking the cap of the cartridge. Upon the side of the
lever is however an arm or a projecting cam surface in contact with a
pin fixed in the slot in the breech of the gun, and so formed that when the
trigger guard is drawn down, the lever, and with it the the sliding bolt,
is pushed back in the breech block by such pin up to a certain point,
where the sear or spring catch or catch actuated by a spring upon the
breech block catches into a notch in the bolt, so as to hold it in the
backward position; at the same time the backward motion of the lever
will have somewhat compressed the spring in the trigger guard, and
this compression of the spring will be continued by the act of closing
up the trigger guard, and with it the breech block preparatory for firing,
inasmuch as the lever will thereby be moved still further back relative
to the trigger guard, owing to the difference between the path of its
fulcrum, connected to the trigger guard, and its upper end situated in
the sliding bolt. By this arrangement it will be seen that the operation
of cocking the gun is partially effected by the downward motion of the
breech block, and is completed when it is closed. up again ready for
firing. For firing the sear or spring catch holding the sliding bolt is
withdrawn by means of a link jointed to a lever actuated by the trigger,
whereupon the spring in the trigger guard throws forward the lever and
sliding bolt, and thus effects the firing of the cartridge. A spring acts
on the trigger so as to keep it in position for allowing the sear or spring
catch free action. The trigger guard is held securely when closed up

page_text: ready for firing by means of another spring catch, the spring of which
may conveniently be formed in one with the spring acting on the
trigger. For removing the cartridge case after firing one or more levers
or arms having their fulcra on a pin below the breech end of the
barrel is or are acted upon by the descending breech block in such a
manner as to force out the cartridge or cartridge case. The projection
or striking pin on the sliding bolt is by preference so formed with an
inclined surface that when the breech block moves downwards the pin
readily rides out of the recess in the cartridge case in which the cap is
situated. The breech block may either be guided in its up-and-down
motion by sliding between guiding surfaces in the slot of the breech, or
it may be fixed to an arm or lever turning on a pin some distance in
front of or behind the breech block,
In another arrangement instead of causing the breech block to slide
downwards we arrange it to slide back into a recess in the breech of
the gun. For this purpose we attach thereto a lever projecting below
or on any side of the gun, which lever has an arm or arms, which when
the breech block is closed up against the breech end of the barrel pass
through slots formed both in the breech end of the gun and in the
breech block, thus securely holding the latter in this position when
firing. After firing the lever is drawn down slightly, so as to withdraw
the locking arm or bolt from the slots in the breech of the gun, and the
breech block is then moved backwards by means of the lever. In the
breech block is, as before, a sliding bolt with striking pin, which bolt
is pressed forward by a spring situated either between the rear end
thereof and the end of the sliding block, or in any other convenient
position. In pushing the sliding block forward after insertion of a
cartridge the sliding bolt is held back by a spring catch or sear actuated by
a spring, upon releasing which by means of the trigger the bolt is thrown
forward by the spring, and the firing of the cartridge effected thereby.
In another arrangement the rear end of the breech block is made to
turn on a fixed pin, the front end being drawn down so as to open the
breech end of the barrel by an arm fixed to or formed on the hinged
trigger guard. Through the breech block passes a sliding pin or striker
for igniting the cartridge, and which is prevented by a spring from
projecting beyond the breech block unless struck by the hammer. This
latter consists of a sliding bolt contained in the breech of the gun, into

page_text: a slot in which bolt passes a finger projecting from the end of the trigger
guard; this finger is of such a form that on the trigger guard being
drawn down for the purpose of loading it at the same time pushes back
the hammer and compresses the spring, actuating it until the hammer is
caught by a spring catch or scar, which holds the hammer back while
the breech block is being closed up again. For firing the hammer is
released from the sear by the trigger, when the spring of the hammer
throws it forward against the before-mentioned striking pin. The trigger
guard is held in its closed-up and lowered positions by means of a link
carried thereby and acted on by a spring contained in the trigger guard,
which link has two notches, one of which catches on to a pin or small
roller in the breech of the gun according as the trigger guard is in tho
one position or the other.
In another arrangement the breech block, hinged as before, is caused
by its downward motion itself to press back a hammer turning on a pin
in the slot of the breech block until it is caught by a spring catch or
sear. The hammer is acted on by a spring connected to the hinged
trigger guard, and by preference also to the hammer itself, so that on the
closing up of the trigger guard, while the hammer is held in the back-
ward position the spring is consequently compressed, and on releasing
the sear by the trigger it throws the hammer forward against the
striking pin contained in the breech block as before, and acted on by a
spring so as, after being struck by the hammer, to be drawn into the
breech block again.
The first herein-before described mode of arranging and actuating a
hammer contained inside the breech block may also be employed in
combination with that arrangement of breech block in which this is
made to turn down on a pin at the rear end, as in the two last-described
modifications; or in place of actuating the sliding bolt or hammer as
described in the first arrangement, a finger or lever on the hinged
trigger guard is made to pass both into a slot formed in the hinged
breech piece and in a slot formed in the sliding bolt or hammer, so that
by the downward motion of the trigger guard the said finger both
moves the breech block down and at the same time pushes the sliding
bolt back in it, and at the same time compresses a spiral spring between
the bolt and the back end of the breech block until a tail on the bolt
is caught by the sear. In closing up the trigger guard, and thereby

page_text: also the breech block, the length of the slot in the sliding bolt allows of
the necessary motion of the finger on the trigger guard while it itself
remains held in the backward position by the sear. On releasing the
sear by the trigger on firing the sliding bolt with its striking pin is
thrown forward in the breech block by the spring as before.