IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING Guns and RIFLES.” BREECH-LOADING Guns and RIFLES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Wellington Greener, of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, for the Invention of " IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING Guns and RIFLES.”
BREECH-LOADING Guns and RIFLES."
Sealed the 9th February 1875, and dated the 9th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Wellington
Greener at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 9th September 1874.
I, WILLIAM WELLINGTON GREENER, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING GUNS AND RIFLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers to the description of breech-loading guns known
as the Lefaucheux or drop-down principle, and consists of another
method of working out the same results as my Patent of 19th September
1873, No. 3084, [Drawings, Sheet 1], which I accomplish in the
following manner :-Instead of the long pin with the projection or cam
on same, which connects the top lever with the bottom bolt, I make a
bottom bolt with an arm or elbow at the rear end turned up towards the

page_text: strap of false breech. I connect this bolt with the lever by means of a
tumbler placed under the strap of false breech. The shank of tumbler
projects through a round hole in the strap of false breech, upon which I
fix the thumb lever. I connect the bottom bolt with the tumbler by a
small pin screwed into the bottom bolt, the point of said pin being t
smooth to work free in a slot of the tumbler, a little out of the centre,
giving an excentric or crank motion; or I can connect the bottom bolt
with the tumbler by means of a projection or toe on the tumbler work-
ing in a recess of the bolt, or by means of a swivel.
I work the top cross bolt in the following manner:-Instead of the ]
projection or cam working under the strap of false breech in my Patent,
No. 3084, I use a thumb lever which has a spur in front working
through a slot in the false breech, acting as a cam and engaging directly
in the top cross bolt. By moving the lever to the right, the tumbler
working on its centre withdraws the bottom bolt backward, at the same 1
time the spur on the lever withdraws the top cross bolt to the left, dis-
engaging the barrels for loading.
.
I also use a scear spring acting on the tumbler to make the gun self-
locking.
I claim the principle of working the top cross bolt and the double
bottom bolt by the one movement of a top lever in the manner
aforesaid, which I designate a "treble wedge-fast breech-loading
action."
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Wellington Greener in the Great Seal 25,
Patent Office on the 4th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
WELLINGTON GREENER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 30
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign; did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give

page_text: and grant unto me, the said William Wellington Greener, Her special
licence, that I, the said William Wellington Greener, his executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Wellington Greener, his 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 BREECH-LOADING GUNS AND RIFLES," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Wellington
Greener, his executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, 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 Wellington Greener, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
My Invention refers to the description of breech-loading guns known
as the Lefaucheux or drop-down principle, and consists of another
method of working out the same results as my Patent of 19th September
1873, No. 3084, Drawings, Sheet No. 1, and which I accomplish in the
following manner :-Instead of the long pin with the projection or cam
on same which connects the top lever with the bottom bolt, I make a
bottom bolt J with an arm or elbow at the rear end turned up towards
the strap of false breech. I connect this bolt with the lever D by
means of a tumbler G placed under the strap of false breech. The
shank of tumbler projects through a round hole in strap of false breech,
upon which I fix the thumb lever D. I connect the bottom bolt J
with the tumbler G by a small pin K screwed into the bottom bolt, the
point of said pin being smooth to work free in a slot of the tumbler a
little out of the centre, giving an excentric or crank motion, or I can
connect the bottom bolt with the tumbler by means of a projection
or toe on the tumbler working in a recess of the bolt, or by means of
a swivel.

page_text: I work the top cross bolt C in the following manner :-Instead of the
projection or cam working under the strap of false breech, in my Patent,
No. 3084, I use a thumb lever D which has a spur E in front, working
through a slot in the false breech, acting as a cam, and engaging
directly in the top cross bolt C. By moving the lever D to the right,
see Figure 3, the tumbler G working on its centre withdraws the
bottom bolt J backward, at the same time the spur E on the lever D
withdraws the top cross bolt C to the left, disengaging the barrels for
loading..

page_text: Figure 9 shows the small pin K, which, being screwed into bottom
bolt J, the smooth point works free in a slot of the tumbler, a little out
of the centre, and acts as a pivot connecting them together.
Having thus, described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
mode of carrying the same into effect by means of the foregoing
Specification, and as further illustrated on the accompanying Drawings
(and which I designate a "treble wedge-fast" breech-loading action),
I claim, without limiting myself to these precise details, the combination
of the top cross bolt with the double bottom bolt, using the same lever;
that by the one movement of a top lever both the top cross bolt and
also the double bottom bolt are at the same instant either withdrawn
or secured in the manner herein-before described and shewn on the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Wellington Greener, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
WILLIAM WELLINGTON GREENER. (L.S.)