CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1857

page_text: by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Edward Newton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
February 1857. A communication.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in breech-loading fire-arms relates to a novel
mode of constructing and applying a magazine within the stock of a fire-arm
to contain a large number of ball cartridges or loaded balls, and to certain
mechanism employed in connection with the said magazine, and with a move
able breech to cause the cartridges to be supplied one at a time as required to
the barrel by the act of opening and closing the moveable breech.
The Invention also consists in a certain novel 'mode of combining the
hammer with the moveable breech to effect the cocking of the hammer.
The barrel of the fire-arm is screwed into a stout piece of metal, which may
be termed the "breech supporter," as it contains and supports the sliding
breech. A shell or chamber of malleable cast iron or other metal forms a
portion of the stock, and has its front part firmly secured by screws to the
breech supporter, and its rear part firmly secured to the wooden portion of the

page_text: stock. A hinged lid or cover is attached to this shell or chamber, and is
capable of being opened for the purpose of examining and adjusting the
mechanism connecting the sliding breech with the magazine. The stock is
provided with a cavity extending from the breech supporter to the butt end.
The magazine consists of a long screw enclosed in a tube grooved internally
and fitted to the exterior surface of the screw thread, so as to be capable of
rotating freely thereon. The grooved tube or envelope is constructed with four
grooves, which are each of the form of a portion not less than one-half of a
cylinder, and extend from end to end of the tube, the size of the said grooves
being such that the cartridges or balls will fit easily within them. The magazine
thus constructed contains the cartridges or loaded balls partly within the
grooves of the tube and partly within the thread of the screw, and as many.
balls may be placed within it as the grooves and screw thread are capable of
containing, placed as close as possible one behind another. When the balls are
placed in this magazine the turning of the screw within the grooved tube, while
both are confined longitudinally, will cause the balls to move longitudinally}
in the grooves. Each groove has an opening near the rear end of the tube or
case, and the balls are introduced through a little door in the side of the stock.
The pitch of the screw is uniform from the end nearest the breech of the
barrel to a distance from the front end equal to the length of a ball, when it
suddenly increases; the pitch from the rear end of the screw to a point near the
front end being such, that in moving the balls longitudinally, by the revolution
of the screw within the case or tube, a complete revolution of the screw will be
necessary to move the balls a distance équal to their own length. When the
balls arrive at the exit or front end the increase of pitch is such that one-
quarter revolution of the screw is sufficient to move a ball its whole length.
The screw turns on a central pin or rod, and is made with its threaded' part
exactly of the same length as the case or tube; the front extremity of the said
thread being exactly, flush or even with the front end of the case, which is
entirely open, and the rear extremity of the said thread reaching exactly to the
rear end of the case, which is closed. The case or tube is confined to the
screw in a longitudinal direction by means of a shoulder in front of the journal.
By means of a tooth formed on: a lever, which also forms the trigger guard,
the movement of the sliding breech is produced, and the loading of the barrel
is effected: During the first quarter of a revolution of the screw of the maga-
zine the case of the latter is caused to turn with it, and consequently no forward.
movement of the balls in the magazine takes place, but this movement effects
the twisting of a spring, which is held or maintained by a projecting, stop piece
on the end of a spring attached to the butt plate. The case of the screw.is

page_text: 0
then held fast, so as to allow the screw to be moved back again; while the shell-
remains stationary for the purpose of moving the balls forward in the magazine..
The screw of the magazine and its appendages is rotated by means of suitable
mechanism connected with the moveable breech, so that the act of removing
the moveable breech may also bring forward the ball from the magazine, a
spring being attached to the cover of the stock for the purpose of pressing on
the ball which is nearest to the front end of the screw and to the mouth of the
magazine, to prevent its being ejected from the magazine too soon.
The sliding breech, which is employed in connection with the improved
magazine, slides up and down perpendicularly to the barrel in a suitable>
opening made through the breech supporter. The trigger guard lever, by which.
the breech is moved to admit the balls to the barrel, is fitted to work on a pin,..
which is inserted transversely through the breech supporter, and the same pin
serves for the hammer to work upon. The hammer carries a needle, which
effects the explosion by the act of perforating a percussion priming placed
within or behind each charge; it works within a mortise in the trigger guard
lever, which is fitted loosely within a mortise in the lower part of the breech.
During the first part of the downward movement of the trigger lever which
works the sliding breech no movement of the latter is produced, so that the
hammer may be cocked and drawn back far enough before the breech is moved
to draw the needle out of the hole in the breech through which it reaches the
charge.
The magazine is charged through a door or opening at the side, into which
the balls are dropped, and by causing the screw and its envelope or case to
rotate a second vacant space will be presented opposite the opening, and by
continued repetition of these operations, and dropping the balls or cartridges
into the holes in the case as fast as they are presented, the magazine is quickly
filled from end to end, and all is ready for loading the barrel. To effect the
loading, the magazine must be left free to turn on its axis, and then, by drawing
down the trigger lever as far as it is allowed to move, far enough to remove the
sliding breech from the barrel, to bring the latter into communication with the
cavity into which the balls are delivered from the magazine. When the screw
is liberated, a spring by its action on the screw forces all the balls or cartridges
in the magazine forward, and causes the point of the most forward one to press
against the heel or butt of that which is in the cavity near the breech and
force the point of the ball up against the breech, and as the breech is moved
out of the way, by the continued pulling down of the trigger lever, the spring is
allowed free action, and the screw turns, moving forward all the balls or car-
tridges in the magazine, and causing the first one to be expelled therefrom by

page_text: another which takes its place. The ball or cartridge expelled from the cavity
at the end of the screw is not yet forced entirely into the barrel, as a part of it
occupies the space in which the sliding breech works, but by the raising of the
trigger lever to close the breech the sharp upper edge of the breechi passes
between it and the point of that which is now in the cavity, and the bevilled
front part of the wedge-shaped upper portion of the breech drives it into the
chamber of the barrel, which may be slightly tapered, and into which it should
enter tightly.
In some cases the screw may be arranged to work within a case or envelope
containing only one groove, though of course this magazine will contain fewer
balls than the multiple-grooved case first described. The last-mentioned con-
struction of the case is better adapted for pistols, as it occupies less room
within the stock.