IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, BREECH-LOADING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Green, of New Bond Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gun and. Rifle Manufacturer,. for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, BREECH-LOADING."
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 6th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Green at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th November 1860.
I, WILLIAM GREEN, of New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun,
and Rifle Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, BREECH-LOADING," to be as follows:-
The improvements relate to forming fire-arms breech-loading, and have for
their object facility in withdrawing and refixing the breech-piece.
The breech-piece is formed with a conical or other suitable shape fore end
adapted to enter, and so as to make a close joint with the barrel whilst at the
back end it is formed with a projection having a slotted hole adapted first to
slide and then to turn upon an axis of motion, and it is connected by a link
with another piece or lever, by raising which the breech-piece is first drawn
back, so as to be clear of the end of the barrel, and then raised for the supply
of a fresh charge at the fore end of the breech-piece, or for other purposes..
This raising means when fully down in its place serves as a false breech or
abutment for the breech. The drawing back and raising may be effected from
the under side by a segment or otherwise.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Green in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GREEN, of New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun and Rifle
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Green, Her special licence that I, the said William Green, my execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Green,
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 FIRE-ARMS,
BREECH-LOADING," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Green, 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 William Green, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The improvements relate to forming fire-arms breech-loading, and have for
their object facility in withdrawing and refixing the breech-piece.
The breech-piece is formed with a conical or other suitable shape fore end
adapted to enter and so as to make a close joint with the barrel, whilst at the
back end it is formed with a projection having a slotted hole adapted first to
slide, and then to turn upon an axis of motion; and it is connected by a link
with another piece or lever, by raising which the breech-piece is first drawn
back, so as to be clear of the end of the barrel, and then raised for the supply
of a fresh charge at the fore end of the breech-piece, or for other purposes.

page_text: to describe the Drawing annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
e,
Figure 1 shows a side view of parts of a gun arranged according to my
improvements; Figure 2 is a plan of the same; and Figure 3, a sectional side
view; Figure 4, a sectional side view, showing the parts in the position they
would assume for loading; Figures 5, 6, and 7 show other views, the nature
of which is written thereon, and by which the nature of. the parts will be
better understood. a, a, are the barrels; b, the breech-piece, which at the
fore end is formed with conical projecting pieces, adapted to enter suitable
correspondingly formed parts of the inner ends of the barrels, in order that
when that end of the breech-piece is forced up to the ends of the barrels a, a
close joint at that part may be effected, At the back end of the breech-piece
there is a projection 6', formed with a slotted hole, through which passes a
pin c, and which pin c serves as the axis of motion of the breech piece, as will
be seen. The breech-piece 6 is connected by a pin joint b² to one end of the
link d, which at the other end is, by pin joint, connected to the lever which
is capable of turning on the fixed pin e', for the purpose of raising the breech-
piece b. This lever e is also formed with a false breech or abutment e
adapted when fully down to receive the shock produced by firing, and in this
position it is securely held by means of the slide f, carried by the lever e, and
adapted to pass under the projections g, g, carried by the stock, and to be there
retained by the action of a spring f. But when it is desired to raise the
breech 6 for a fresh charge or otherwise, the slide f is, by the handle f³,
attached thereto, first drawn back to release it from the catches 9, 9, when the
lever e will be raised, and the raising of the lever e will, by the link d, first
draw back the breech b, so as to release the projecting ends from the barrels,
during which time the projection 61 will slide on the pin c, and then the fore
end of the breech will be fully raised by turning on that pin c; and at this
time a projecting pin h will travel in a groove formed for it in the side of the
projection b¹.
The drawing back and raising may be effected from the under side by a
segment or otherwise.
Having thus described the means which I adopt in carrying my improve-

page_text: ments into effect, I would have it understood that I do not claim the various
mechanical parts separately considered, nor do I confine myself to the precise
arrangement shown and described; but what I do claim is the adaptation or
combination of means as applied to breech-loading fire-arms, substantially as
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Green, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
B. J. B. MILLS,
Clerk to William Brookes, Patent Agent,
73, Chancery Lane,
London.
W". GREEN. (L.S.)