IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINE OR REPEATING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon
and Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, South-
ampton Buildings, London, and 18, Rue Gaillon, Paris, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINE OR REPEATING FIRE-ARMS."-
A communication from abroad by Benjamin Burkley Hotchkiss,
of Paris, France, Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 6th December 1875.
I, WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-
Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, and 13, Rue Gaillon, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINE OR REPEATING FIRE-
ARMS," to be as follows:-
These improvements have roforones to the ordinar hunnch loading

page_text: which is converted into a magazine or repeating gun by forming in the
stock for the reception of the cartridges a tubular passage running
diagonally from its extremity towards the rear end of the barrel into
the under part of the shoe, where the cartridge is usually placed when
loading by hand. A spring is lodged in this passage for the purpose of
pushing up the cartridges towards the chamber of the shoe, and of
impelling them therein and partly within the chamber of the barrel
on the withdrawal of the bolt preparatory to being entirely inserted in
the chamber of the barrel on the bolt being pushed home.
For the purpose of these improvements the trigger is formed at the
part where it traverses the stock with a circular opening of sufficient
size to allow of the passage of a cartridge, and just ahead of this circular
opening in the trigger towards its upper edge a stationary shoulder is
provided against which the foremost cartridge is arrested by its rim.
On pulling the trigger the cartridge rim is thrown off this shoulder,
and when the cartridge is thus liberated the spring impels it forward
until its further progress is arrested by the bolt, and on this latter being
withdrawn, taking with it the empty shell or the unexploded cartridge,
as the case may be, the spring impels this liberated cartridge in the
chamber of the shoe and partly in that of the barrel ready for its entire
insertion in the latter on the bolt being pushed home. In this manner
all the cartridges in the magazine can be fired successively, and the
magazine can be recharged by inserting cartridges therein by hand
through the chamber of the shoe down the stock whilst the bolt is
withdrawn. This gun can also be used for single firing, either when
the magazine is exhausted by laying a cartridge in the chamber of the
shoe in the usual manner, or when the magazine is still charged entirely
or partially by paralysing the action of the spring in any convenient
manner, such as by pressure exerted on the foremost cartridge by any
suitable mechanism, such as a pin, a screw, a spring, or a wedge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd May 1876.

page_text: and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London, and 13,
Rue Gaillon, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Morgan-Brown, Her special license
that I, the said William Morgan-Brown, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Morgan-Brown, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINE OR REPEATING FIRE-ARMS," (a communication
to me from abroad by Benjamin Burkley Hotchkiss, of Paris, France,
Engineer,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Morgan-Brown, my executors or administrators, by an in-
strument 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 William Morgan-Brown, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner thie
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
In order that my improvements be clearly understood and easily put
into practical operation, I will proceed to describe them in detail
conjointly with the seven Figures of the accompanying Drawings,
of which Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation showing the
main parts of my magazine or repeating gun; Figure 2, a plan of the
shoe; Figure 3, a cross section through C, D, Figure 1; Figure 4, a
cross section through A, B, Figure 1; Figure 5, a cross section through
F, F, Figure 1; Figure 6, a longitudinal sectional elevation of a
loose nose piece and extractor with the fore end of the firing pin

page_text: in full; and Figure 7, a cross section of these parts through G, H,
Figure 6.
The main component parts of my new gun conjointly with a barrel
and its usual concomitant parts are the system, the shoe, the magazine,
the trigger, and the stock. The system is constructed on the same
principle as that described with reference to my single-loading fire-arm
patented August 28th, 1874, and is composed of the bolt a, the hammer b,
the firing pin c, the loose nose piece d, the extractor f, and the spiral
spring g; the bolt, the hammer, the firing pin, and spiral spring are
similar to those referred to in my said Patent, of August 28th 1874.
The extractor f and loose nose piece d are modified and improved as
follows:-The extractor f is provided with a hook f¹, and consists in a
solid bar f lodged in a longitudinal slot cut in the nose piece d, see
Figures 6 and 7, a portion ƒ³ inside the nose piece, the under surface
of which is flat and bears against a similar flat cut on the firing pin c
for the purpose of preventing it from rotating and unscrewing from the
hammer b when the system is in the shoe; it also serves, when the
system is taken apart, as a key to unscrew the firing pin from the
hammer when the system is withdrawn from the shoe, the part f³ is
terminated at its rear with a tail f* which constitutes the spring of
the extractor, and allows the hook f¹ to rise sufficiently to pass over the
head of the cartridge when the bolt is closed. The nose piece d is
provided at its fore end with a projecting stud d', Figure 1, which
enters a corresponding cavity in the shoe, and serves to prevent the
loose nose piece from following the rotary motion of the bolt whilst
the stud d², which is also fixed on the bolt a, causes this said nose piece
to participate in its rectilinear to-and-fro motion.
Although the above-described modifications in the extractor and
nose piece have been made specially in reference to my new magazine
gun, I claim equally their adaptation to a single-loading gun.
The shoe, in addition to take to the cylindrical hole and guide for the
sliding system, as in the majority of bolt guns, contains an opening h,
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4, for the passage of the cartridges into and from
the stock; it may also contain a stop, hereafter described, for the purpose
of immobilising the cartridges in the magazine when the gun is used as
a single loader.
The magazine is situated in the stock and hut and of the

page_text: spring n until its further progress is arrested by contact of the bullet
against the under face of the bolt a; all the other cartridges in the
magazine follow, under the impulsion of the sping, this liberated
cartridge.
of the magazine is pushed
cartridge 9 is arrested by
At this period the bolt is
Extracting. This is effected in the usual way by simply rotating and
drawing back the bolt, the hook f', which is passed over the head of the
cartridge by closing the bolt draws back the empty shell which is ejected
through the lateral opening in the shoe, and directly the space in the shoe
becomes free the cartridge p in the passage
forward by the spring n until the following
contact of its head against the stops h¹, h¹.
again closed, whereby the cartridge p previously impelled in the shoe is
inserted in the chamber of the barrel at the same time the gun is closed
and cocked, and the hook of the extractor passed over the head of the
cartridge in the chamber. In this manner the gun can be fired until
the magazine is exhausted.
GUN USED AS A SINGLE LOADER.
If the magazine is empty the gun can be loaded and fired at once like
an ordinary bolt gun, but if the magazine is entirely or partially charged
a stop has to be raised vertically in the position indicated, Figures 1
and 4. By rotating the lever 8, to which it is attached or forms a part in
this erect position, it acts as a stop to the further advance of the
magazine cartridges p, and the ones following it, when on pulling the
trigger the foremost cartridge p is released from the stops h³, h². I will
however especially remark that this stop r can be suppressed, and in such
case when the gun is used as a single loader it is fired in the first case by
the foremost cartridge in the magazine, and for each further discharge it
is fed by a cartridge inserted each time through the hole h in the
magazine, so as thus to constantly reserve the contents of the magazine
for rapid firing when required. It is thus evident that an efficient,
simple, and inexpensive magazine gun is produced by the mere additions
to an ordinary bolt gun of three mechanical parts, the pusher, the
magazine spring, and the stops, whilst all the separate parts can be mounted
and taken apart, and the gun fired as efficaciously as a single loader.
Having thus explained the nature of my improvements, as well as
the best means that I am acquainted with for carrying the same into
practical operation, I claim,―

page_text: First. The construction of a magazine or repeating gun by passing the
cartridges through the trigger made hollow for that purpose.
Second. The mode indicated of arresting the cartridges successively in
the aperture of the shoe, and of liberating one at a time by the action of
pulling the trigger for firing.
Third. The combination of the half-cock or locking mechanism v on
the trigger with the magazine.
Fourth. The expulsion of the cartridges from the magazine directly or
partially in the chamber of the gun by the action of the magazine
spring.
Fifth. The above-described construction of a magazine gun by the
simple addition as supplementary parts of the pusher and magazine
spring to an ordinary breech-loading bolt gun.
Sixth. The mode of extracting the exploded cartridge shell over the
cartridge entering the chamber from the magazine.
Seventh. The modified construction of the extractor and the nose
piece, whether applied to a magazine gun or a single loader.
Eighth. The mode of charging the magazine by pushing the car-
tridges therein, by which action those already in the magazine are
pushed back, and the magazine spring compressed:
Ninth. The stop in the shoe for the purpose of arresting the
advance of magazine cartridges when the gun is used as a single
loader.
And, Tenth. The construction of the shoe with two passages meeting
at an angle, one for working the bolt, and the other for the insertion of
the cartridges in the magazine, and their expulsion therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-six.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)