AN IMPROVED REVOLVER
Year: 1856

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Carroll Tevis at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th May
1856.
I, CHARLES CARROLL TEVIS, Lieutenant-Colonel, residing at Paris, in the
French Empire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED REVOLVER," to be as follows:-
My improved pistol is a revolver, in which the ball is subject to compression
on being fired (revolver á balle forcée). The discharge is effected by simple
pressure, and successive charges may be fired without the necessity of cocking
after every discharge, the revolving breech presenting successively different
barrels or chambers by the action of the fall of the hammer. The revolving
breech can be readily taken out, and replaced without taking the arm to
pieces. There is a moveable back plate, so that the charge may be inserted
at the back of the breech, and the ball being placed in a chamber at the back
of the charge chambers in the breech gets compressed on being fired, as the
front of the charge chambers is of less diameter than the rear wherein the
charge is inserted. The charge can be easily withdrawn from the rear of
the chamber without being fired.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a revolver pistol, constructed according to my
Invention, with the butt in section; Figure 2, plan of the revolver prepared
to receive a charge; Figure 3, side view of the back plate of the breech,
detached; Figure 4, section through the barrel at the moment of loading;
and. Figure 5, back view of the breech and of the back plate unscrewed;
Figure 6, view of hammer detached. The revolver is composed of. two main
parts, the barrel A and the butt B. This butt is prolonged in the shape of

page_text: a rod C, at the end of which is a piece D, free to move and describe a fourth
of a revolution round the point d as a centre. A locking lever b, moveable
round the point c, is fixed to this piece D, and comes down over a stud d on a
spindle e, which forms the axis for the breech E, and is placed under the
barrel, so as to fix it to the butt B by sliding it into the piece D, there
becoming locked by the locking lever and stud. The breech E is composed of
several barrels or tubes E', E', united round a hollow tube, which fits over the
spindle e. Each of the barrels is formed at back with a chamber g, g, of greater
diameter than the front part thereof, and in these chambers the powder and
ball are placed. A back plate F is screwed upon the threaded end of the
spindle e, and is connected to the breech by a rod K, which is free to slide into an
orifice at i, but cannot get quite out of it; it may be raised or pressed in, accord-
ing to the position of the back plate F. The plate F is provided with as many
projecting necks J, J, as there are barrels in the breech, and each neck is
formed to fit hermetically into its corresponding breech barrel. A ratchet is
fixed at the centre and at the back of the plate F, with as many teeth as there
are barrels in the breech. Each of the projecting necks communicates
through a channel with a nipple for receiving a precussion cap. The breech
is, under ordinary circumstances, moveable, but it may be fixed on the spindle,
when, by turning it by hand, it will cause the spindle to revolve with it, and thus
unscrew the back plate F, which opens to allow of the breech being charged.
On turning the breech in a contrary direction. the back plate will be screwed
on, and the necks J, J, will hermetically close the back of the breech barrels.
A wooden case covers the mechanism in the butt, and when the breech is in
position and fastened by the locking lever, the back tumbler rests against a
rod q, which acts as a stop. The hammer is fixed on the end of a rod s,
kept back by a spring t. The tail of the hammer has a notch which hooks
into u, which is distended by the spring v. The tumbler u acts upon the rods,
which pushes the hammer forward to fall upon one of the nipples, and at the
same time upon the lever q, which drops, and carrying with it one tooth of the
ratchet, causes the breech to make a partial revolution, and present another
nipple ready for the next action of the hammer, while the hammer falls back
and resumes its former position.
In Figure 7 a modification is shewn, in which the spindle e has two buttons
z, 2, and is split at its end. The mechanism C may be placed under the butt
instead of within it.
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