IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Smiles, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS.”
Sealed the 2nd May 1878, and dated the 23rd November 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Smiles at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd November 1872.
I, JAMES SMILES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMs," to be as follows:-
-
My Invention has reference to breech-loading small-arms of the kind
called bolt guns, and consists of the improvements herein-after described
in ejecting the case of the exploded cartridge from the breech shoe after
it has been extracted from the barrel.
T 19
ins and ninatar adinarily placed on the under

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Smiles in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th May 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
SMILES, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Smiles, Her special license
that I, the said James Smiles, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Smiles, 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
BREECH-LOADING SMALL-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Smiles, 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 James Smiles, 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 has reference to breech-loading small-arms of the kind
called bolt guns, and consists of the improvements herein-after described
in ejecting the case of the exploded cartridge from the breech shoe after
it has been extracted from the barrel.
I dispense with the spring and ejector ordinarily placed on the under
side of the breech shoe, and I also dispense with the slot in the said shoe

page_text: through which the ejector works. I also dispense with the incline or
cut away portion on the under side of the nose end of the bolt.
At the rear of the breech shoe, and at a short distance in advance of
the shoulder against which the handle of the bolt bears to lock the bolt
in position for firing, I form a groove or depression extending across the
concave bottom of the shoe, and in a plane at right angles to the axis of
the shoe. The said groove, or depression may be inclined on its front
side, that is, the side nearest the muzzle of the gun, while its opposite
side is preserved perpendicular to the axis of the shoe. The bolt is
furnished with the ordinary hook extractor which on the closing of
the breech engages with the rim of the cartridge. On withdrawing
the bolt after the discharge of the gun the case of the exploded
cartridge is extracted by the said hook and is drawn along the shoe with
its axis coincident with the axis of the said shoe until the rim of the
cartridge case is brought over the said groove or depression, when the
lower side of the rim is forced into the said groove by the extractor.
The longitudinal motion of the lower side of the rim of the cartridge
case being thus arrested, and the longitudinal motion of the upper side
of the rim of the said case being continued by the hook of the extractor,
a sudden raising of the fore or open end of the cartridge case is
effected, by which motion the said case is jerked or ejected from out

page_text: Figure 3 is an end elevation of the bolt and breech shoe; Figure 4
represents in side elevation the bolt separately; Figure 5 represents in
plan the breech shoe separately; and Figure 6 represents the sear
separately.
a is the breech shoe and 6 the breech bolt sliding and partly rotating
in the said breech shoe; c is the tubular sleeve surrounding the rear end
of the bolt b and carrying the striking pin of the gun; d is the sear
which engages with the notch or bend e in the under side of the sleeve o
to cock the gun for discharge; ƒ is the trigger for liberating the sear d
from the bent e to discharge the gun; g is the trigger and sear spring
bearing upon the short arm of the trigger in the manner represented;
h is the ordinary hook extractor situated in the rib i of the breech
bolt b. The shape of the extractor is best seen in Figure 1. The hooked
end of the extractor is pressed down so as to cause it to engage with the
rim of the cartridge case by the action of the coiled spring h³ and stop
pin ko.
At the rear of the breech shoe and at a short distance in advance of
the shoulder asst which the handle of the bolt 6 bears to lock the
bolt in position for firing is a groove or depression / extending across the
concave bottom of the shoe a. The said groove or depression is inclined
at its front end or the end nearest the muzzle of the gun, while its
opposite end is preserved perpendicular to the axis of the shoe, and
forms a vertical shoulder as represented. The bolt 6 is retained in the
shoe by the cross pin m engaging in the longitudinal slot n in the bolt
(see Figures 3 and 4.)
After the gun has been discharged and the bolt 6 unlocked, as
illustrated in Figure 1, the withdrawal of the said bolt opens the breach
and the extractor & extracts the empty case p of the cartridge from the
barrel, the said extracted case being drawn along the shoe with its axis
coincident with the axis of the shoe. When by the withdrawal of the
bolt 6 the empty cartridge case has been extracted from the barrel of
the gun the rim of the cartridge case is brought over the groove or
depression / in the shoe a, and the lower side of the said rim is forced by
the action of the extractor / into the said groove. The lower side of the
rim of the extracted case is thereby caught by the vertical shoulder of
the said groove or depression and the longitudinal motion of the said

page_text: lower side of the rim arrested. The further or continued motion of the
bolt to complete the opening of the breech carries further the upper side
of the rim of the cartridge case, whereby a sudden raising of the free or
open end of the said case takes place, by which motion the said case is
jerked or ejected from out the shoe a, as illustrated in Figure 2, where
the empty cartridge case p is represented in the act of being ejected.
.
· The inclination of the front side of the groove or depression may be
omitted and the groove be made of the same depth throughout.
In addition to the simplicity and efficiency of the ejecting arrange-
ment described and represented the following advantages result from
its use :-
The shoe of the gun is stronger than shoes of the ordinary con-
struction, having a slot for the ejector to work through. By the absenco
of the incline on the under side of the nose of the bolt which the
ordinary éjector renders necessary there is no longer any liability to the
escape of gas under the bolt from the explosion of a defective cartridge.
The discharging mechanism is also stronger in consequence of the pin
on which the sear turns having to carry the sear only instead of the sear
and ejector as in the ordinary arrangement, and the sear is not cut
away at the joint end as in the ordinary sear.
My Invention is applicable to all kinds of bolt guns.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it. to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvements in ejecting
the cases of the exploded cartridges from the breech shoes of breech-
loading 'small-arms of the kind called bolt guns herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is to say, making
across the concave bottom of the breech shoe of the said small-arms or
guns a groove or depression, into which groove or depression on the
withdrawal of the bolt to open the breech and extract the empty
cartridge case, the lower side of the rim of the extracted cartridge case
is forced by the extractor so as thereby to suddenly arrest the motion of
the lower side of the said rim and. cause the cartridge case on the

page_text: continued motion of the breech bolt to be jerked or ejected from the
breech shoe, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Smiles, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT,
Clerk to George Shaw,
Birmingham.
JAMES SMILES. (L.S.)