AN IMPROVE- MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Rock Cooper, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 7th February 1861, and dated the 13th December 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said
the said Joseph Rock Cooper at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1860.
I, JOSEPH ROCK COOPER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT ON IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvement or improvements in breech-
loading fire-arms herein-after described, the object of the said improvement or
improvements being to facilitate the withdrawal or removal of the plug or
closer by which the breech end of the barrel is closed during the discharge of
the fire-arm. My Invention is applicable generally to such breech-loading
fire-arms as are closed by a plug or closer which slides without rotatory motion.
It frequently happens that after firing the plug or closer requires the applica-
tion of greater force than can be conveniently applied directly by the thumb
and finger in order to remove the said plug or closer from the breech of the

page_text: barrel. By my Invention the removal of the plug or closer is effected without
difficulty; my Invention is especially applicable to breech-loading fire-arms of
the kind described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me, and
bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One thou-
sand eight hundred and sixty, and I will describe my Invention as applied to a
breech-loading fire-arm of that kind. My Invention is, however, applicable, as
herein-before explained, to breech-loading fire-arms in general, in which the
breech is closed by a plug or closer sliding without rotatory motion in the
direction or nearly in the direction of the axis of the barrel. I carry my
Invention into effect in the following manner:-I prefer to make the arm or
lever, by the raising and lowering of which the plug or closer is made to with-
draw from or advance into and close the open breech end of the barrel, of about
one half the length of that represented in the Drawings of the Specification of
the Patent herein-before referred to. I attach to the said arm or lever a
second lever, which I prefer to let into and make flush with the surface of the
first-named arm or lever. The said second lever is jointed to another lever
near the free end of the latter. The long arm of the second lever may be six
or eight times as long as the short arm. The said short arm of the second
lever bears upon the edge or front of the opening in the barrel at which the
charge is introduced when the principal arm or lever is shut down. After
discharge and when it is wished to raise the principal arm or lever for the
introduction of another charge, the second lever is raised by taking hold of a
handle or ring fixed on the end of its longer arm. The short arm bearing on
the edge or front of the slot in the barrel, the end of the principal lever to
which the second one is attached is raised with six or eight times the force
applied by the hand; this is done by raising the second lever, and by now
pulling back the said second lever the principal one is raised to the full extent.
After the introduction of the charge the principal lever is shut down, when the
second one falls into its place. The details of my Invention require modifying
to suit breech-loading fire-arms of various constructions, but the construction
and action of my Invention remain essentially the same in its various appli-
cations. The essence of my Invention consists in the use of a lever for giving
the first motion to and thereby loosening the plug or closer of breech-loading
fire-arms of the kind described when the breech end has to be opened
for charging. The said lever being additional or supplementary to the lever
which is ordinarily used in some kinds of breech-loading fire-arms for effecting
the complete withdrawal of the plug or closer..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Rock Cooper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
ROCK COOPER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, 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
Joseph Rock Cooper, Her special licence that I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Rock Cooper, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of the improvement or improvements in breech-
loading fire-arms herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, the object of the said improvement or improvements being to
facilitate the withdrawal or removal of the plug or closer by which the breech
end of the barrel is closed during the discharge of the fire-arm. My Invention
is applicable generally to such breech-loading fire-arms as are closed by a
plug or closer which slides without rotatory motion. It frequently happens
that after firing the plug or closer requires the application of greater force
than can be conveniently applied directly by the thumb and finger in order to
remove the said plug or closer from the breech of the barrel. By my Inven-

page_text: tion the removal of the plug or closer is effected without difficulty. My
Invention is especially applicable to breech-loading fire-arms of the kind
described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to me and bearing
date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty, and I will describe and illustrate my Invention as
applied to a breech-loading fire-arm of that kind. My Invention is, however,
applicable as herein-before explained to breech-loading fire-arms in general in
which the breech is closed by a plug or closer sliding without rotatory motion
in the direction or nearly in the direction of the axis of the barrel.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents, in side elevation, a
breech-loading-rifle with my Invention applied-thereto, the breech-end-of the
said rifle being closed ready for discharge; Figure 2 represents the same, the
several parts having the positions they respectively assume when the lever and
parts connected with it are about to be raised for withdrawing the plug pre-
paratory to loading, and Figure 3 represents the same when the lever and
parts connected with-it have been raised and the plug withdrawn ready for
loading; Figures 4 and 5 represent, in plan and end clevation respectively,
portions of the said rifle, as herein-after explained.
a is an arm or lever turning on the joint b, by the raising and lowering of
which said lever the plug or closer c (indicated in dotted lines in Figure 3),
connected through the block d and link e with the said lever, is made to
withdraw from or advance into the open breech end of the barrel. The said
arm or lever a is made about one-half the length of that described and repre-
sented in the Drawings of the Specification of the Patent herein-before
referred to. I attach to the said arm or lever a a second lever f, f, jointed
at g to the said arm or lever a, and near the free end thereof. The said arms
or levers a and f, f, are shown separately from the gun in plan in Figure 4,
and in end elevation in Figure 5. In the arm or lever a a longitudinal
groove or recess at h is made, into which the lever f, fƒ, falls when the arm
or lever a has been depressed, as represented in Figures 1 and 4, and the
said lever is thereby made to lie flush with the said arm or lever a.
The long
arm of the second lever f, f³, may be six or eight times as long as the short
arm of the said lever. The short end f2 is curved as represented, and.
when the principal lever a is shut down, the said curved end få rests upon
the curved edge or front i of the opening in the barrel k, at which opening
the charge is introduced, and when the secondary lever f, f2, is raised into the
position represented in Figure 2 the said curved end of the lever bears upon
the curved edge or front of the opening in the barrel. After the discharge
of the rifle, and when it is wished to raise the principal arm or lever a for

page_text: the introduction of another charge, the second lever f, f, is raised from the
principal lever a from the position represented in Figure 1 to that represented
in Figure 2 by taking hold of the handle on the end of its longer arm. By
the raising of the said lever f, f, its shorter end f2 working against the edge
or front i of the opening in the barrel raises the free end of the principal
lever a to which it is jointed, as represented in Figure 2, the said principal
arm or lever being raised with six or eight times the force applied by the
hand to the secondary lever f, f2. After the lever f, f, has been raised
into the position represented in Figure 2, by now pulling back the said
lever f, f, the principal lever a is raised to its full extent, as represented in
Figure 3, and the plug c is withdrawn from the breech end of the barrel.
After the introduction of the charge the principal lever a is shut down, and
the plug c driven home, when the second lever f, f, falls into its place in the
slot or recess h in the principal lever a, as seen in Figure 1, and the rifle is
again ready for discharge. The jointed end of the principal lever a has a
tailpiece a,. against which a roller m, on the free end of a spring n, bears,
by which said spring and roller the shutting down of the principal arm or
lever a is facilitated, and when shut down retained in its place.
The end of the second lever, and the end of the block in which it works,
may be slightly modified in the manner represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8
of the Drawings. Figure 6 represents a side elevation of the principal and
secondary levers and block connected therewith made according to this
modification; Figure 7 is a longitudinal section of the same; and Figure 8
is a plan of the same. I make the end of the second lever o, o², of the
shape represented, and I lengthen the slot at p, in which the end o² works, so
that the said lever 0, 0², when raised, can be placed at right angles to the
principal lever q, as represented in Figures 6 and 7, instead of forming an
obtuse angle therewith, as represented in Figures 2 and 3.
of the lever is in this case not weakened by cutting away the metal to form
the recess in which the end of the block engages when the lever is raised as
in the lever f, f2, see Figures 2 and 3. The modification, Figures 6, 7,
and 8, does not, however, differ in any essential respect from that already
described. Instead of making the secondary lever f, f2, lie in a slot or recess
in the principal lever a, the part may be made in the form of a plate, and
lie flat upon the said principal lever a.
The short end
The details of my Invention require modifying to suit breech-loading fire-
arms of various constructions, but the construction and action of my Invention
remain essentially the same in its various applications, and the particular

page_text: modifications required will depend upon the particular construction of the
breech-loading fire-arm to which it is applied.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in breech-loading
fire-arms herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say, a lever for giving the first motion to and loosening the plugs or
closers from the breech ends of the barrels of such breech-loading fire-arms as
are closed by a plug or closer which slides without rotatory motion in the said
barrels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Rock Cooper, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOSEPH ROCK COOPER. (L.S.)