IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES."
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Carr, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING
FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Carr at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th April 1865.
I, JAMES CARR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agent, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES," to be as
follows:-
My improvements in breech-loading fire-arms consist of the arrangements
of parts herein-after explained for opening the breech of the gun for loading
and securely closing it for discharge. At the rear or breech end of the barrel
I form a chamber or trough, open at top, in which chamber a plug is made
to slide. By the sliding of this plug in one or other direction the breech of
the barrel is opened or closed. To the top and forward end of the plug a
plate or cover is hinged, which plate or cover when shut down closes the top
of the chamber. On the under side of this plate or cover is a bolt or wedge,

page_text: situated at right angles to the plate. The plug has a slot, through which
when the plate is shut down the bolt or wedge passes and engages in a slot
made in the bottom of the chamber. By the engagement of the bolt in the
last-named slot the plug is securely fixed and the breech closed for firing.
The bolt or wedge is connected to the plate by its top end being screwed
thereto by a screw having a little play, or by being inserted in a depression on
the under side of the plate, and secured by a pin or screw. By this arrange-
ment all pressure is borne by the wedge itself instead of by the hinge and the
junction of the wedge. The cover of the chamber is kept in position by a
spring set flush in the plug, and pressing laterally on the wedge; or the spring
'may be set in the wedge and made to press on the plug. In order to prevent
the plunger from being drawn wholly out I employ a stop formed by a screw
pin. The end of this screw pin passes through the back end of the guard
and bears against a flat surface, filed or otherwise formed on the under side
of the plug when it is wished to remove the plug the stop must bo
unscrewed. In order to make the chamber water-tight, and thereby to
protect the action from water or damp, I fix a washer of india-rubber under
the head of the screw by which the bolt or wedge is fixed to the plate or
cover. Instead of making the bolt or wedge in the manner described it may
be modified in the following manner :-The wedge is fixed to the plate
transversely, that is, it crosses the axis of the plug, and when the cover is shut
down the wedge bears against the end of the plug instead of passing through
a slot in it, and takes into a slot in the bottom of the chamber; or the wedge
may engage with the chamber by entering slots cut in opposite sides of the
chamber. In order to fix down the lid securely during the firing, I employ a
spring bolt, which shoots through the hind part of the lid into the end of the
plunger. This fastening may also be applied to fire-arms in which the opening
and closing of the breech is effected by a box, jointed at its fore part to the
chamber or barrel. Instead of the spring bolt described a cam may be
employed for securing the parts by which the breech is closed.
In applying my Invention to needle guns I make a needle or loose pin pass
through the top of the fore part of the cover and through the fore part of the
plunger, so as to strike the self-igniting cartridge in its rear end. The needle
or pin is acted upon by the hammer of the lock or by a piece of metal attached
to the hammer. Or I make the needle or loose pin work parallel to the
plunger, and in the side of or in the plunger, and cause the tumbler of the
lock or a piece of metal attached thereto to act on it. Or I attach the needle
or loose pin to the nose of the hammer, either rigidly or by a joint, and make
it work through a hole or slot in the top of the barrel.
When it is wished to

page_text: fire loose powder instead of a cartridge I make the fore end of the plug hollow.
In order to prevent the escape of gas on firing I fix a cap on the end of the
plug, the said cap being convex on its external face. The end of the solid
plug is flat, so as to leave a space under the convex face of the cap. On the
explosion of the cartridge the pressure upon the convex face of the cap flattens
it and causes it to expand and prevent the escape of gas. After the explosion
the cap resumes its normal shape. The improvements which I have described
with reference to fire-arms may also be applied to ordnance.
My improvements in projectiles consist in making in the fore end of the
projectile, and in the axis thereof a hole or depression. This hole or depres-
sion constitutes a wind centre, about which the projectile rotates in its flight,
and gives great precision to the flight of the projectile.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Carr in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on the 20th
October 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
CARR, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Carr, Her special licence that 1, the said James Carr,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
James Carr, 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 FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said James Carr, my executors or admi-
nistrators, 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...

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Carr, 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 :-
My improvements in breech-loading fire-arms consist of the arrangements
of parts herein-after explained for opening the breech of the gun for loading
and securely closing it for discharge. At the rear or breech end of the barrel.
I form a chamber or trough, open at top, in which chamber a plug is made
to slide. By the sliding of this plug in one or other direction the breech of
the barrel is opened or closed. To the top and forward end of the plug a
plate or cover is hinged, which plate or cover when shut down closes the top:
of the chamber. On the under side of this plate or cover is a bolt or wedge,.
situated at right angles to the plate. The plug has a slot, through which
when the plate is shut down the bolt or wedge passes and engages in a slot
made in the bottom of the chamber. By the engagement of the bolt in the
last-named slot the plug is securely fixed and the breech closed for firing.
The bolt or wedge is connected to the plate by its top end being screwed
thereto by a screw having a little play or by being inserted in a depression
on the under side of the plate, and secured by a pin or screw.
By this
arrangement all pressure is borne by the wedge itself instead of by the hinge
and the junction of the wedge. The cover of the chamber is kept in position
by a spring set flush in the plug, and pressing laterally on the wedge; or the
spring may be set in the wedge and made to press on the plug. In order to
prevent the plug from being drawn wholly out I employ a stop formed by a
screw pin. The end of this screw pin passes through the side of the gun and s
bears against a flat surface, filed or otherwise, formed on the under side of the
plug. When it is wished to remove the plug the stop must be unscrewed.
In order to make the chamber water-tight, and thereby to protect the action
from water or damp, I fix a washer of india-rubber under the head of the
screw by which the bolt or wedge is fixed to the plate or cover.
Instead of
making the bolt or wedge in the manner described it may be modified in the
following manner :-The wedge is fixed to the plate transversely, that is, it
crosses the axis of the plug, and when the cover is shut down the wedge bears
against the end of the plug instead of passing through a slot in it, and takes
into a slot in the bottom of the chamber; or the wedge may engage with the a
chamber by entering slots cut in opposite sides of the chamber. In order to
fix down the lid securely during firing I employ a spring bolt, which shoots
through the hind part of the lid into the end of the plunger or chamber. This
fastening may be applied to fire-arms in which the opening and closing of the

page_text: breech is effected by a box, tho lid of which is jointed at its fore part to the
chamber or barrel.
In applying my Invention to needle guns I make a needle or striker pass
through the top of the fore part of the cover, and through the fore part of the
plug or plunger, so as to strike on the descent of the hammer upon it the self-
igniting cartridge in its rear end. The needle or striker may either be acted
upon by the hammer of the lock or by a piece of metal attached to the
hammer. In order to prevent the escape of gas on firing I fix a cap on the
end of the plug, the said cap being convex on its external face. The end of
the solid plug is flat, so as to leave a space under the convex face of the cap.
On the explosion of the cartridge the pressure upon the convex face of the
cap flattens it, and causes it to expand and prevent the escape of gas.
the explosion the cap resumes its normal shape. The improvements which [
have described with reference to fire-arms may also be applied to ordnance.
After
My improvement in projectiles consists in making in the fore end of the
projectile and in the axis thereof a hole or depression. This hole or depression
constitutes a wind centre, about which the projectile rotates in its flight and
gives great precision to the flight of the projectile.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe,
with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in which the samo
is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section the breech end of a
breech-loading gun constructed according to my Invention, the parts being in
position for firing. Figure 2 is the same in the position which the parts
respectively assume when the plug has been withdrawn and the gun made
ready for the introduction of the charge; Figures 3, 4, and 5 represent parts
of the same separately, as herein-after explained. The same letters indicate the
same parts in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
a is the barrel, and b, the breech chamber, open at the top ; c is the plug
sliding in the said chamber, and by which the said chamber is opened and
closed. To the top and forward end of the said plug c a plate or cover d is
hinged at , in the manner represented, which plate or cover, when shut
down after the plug has been advanced in the breech chamber closes the open
top of the said chamber. The plug c and cover d are shown separately in
plan of upper side in Figure 3, plan of under side in Figure 4, and side
elevation in Figure 5. On the under side of the cover d is a bolt e, situated
at right angles to the said cover, the said bolt e passing through a slot f made
in the plug c.
The bolt e is connected to the cover by means of a screw g
passing through a slot or hole h made in the cover, and engaging in the top

page_text: of the bolt, as represented in the several Figures of the Drawing. The
screw g has some play in the slot h, so that on the discharge of the gun all
pressure is borne by the bolt itself instead of by the hinge d and junction of
the bolt with the cover d. In the bottom of the chamber 6 is a slot i, in
which slot when the cover d is shut down after the pushing home of the
plug c the bolt e engages, and securely fixes the said plug c for firing. The
cover d is kept in position by a spring k set flush in the plug c, the free
end of the said spring pressing laterally on the bolt e (see Figures 4 and 5);
or the spring may be set in the bolt e, and made to press on the plug c. The
plug c is prevented from being drawn wholly out of the chamber 6 by a stop
formed by a screw pin passed through the side of the gun working in the cut-
away part made in the side of the plug (see Figure 4). In order wholly to
remove the plug c from the chamber b, for cleaning or otherwise, it is only
necessary to withdraw the stop 7, when the plug can be removed. The end
of the cover d is provided with a handle ³, by means of which handle the
cover d can be raised and the plug c moved backwards and forwards for
opening and closing the chamber b. The parts of the gun being in the
position represented in Figure I the gun is ready for discharge. In order to
open the breech end for reloading the cover d is lifted by the handle d³, so as
to raise the bottom of the bolt e out of the slot in the bottom of the
chamber b. The plug c can now be withdrawn from the breech chamber b,
and the said chamber opened as represented in Figure 2. The charge having
been introduced into the barrel a through the open top
the plug c is pushed home, and its end made to enter and
the barrel. This having been done the cover d is shut down and the bolt e
made to engage in the slot i in the bottom of the chamber b, as represented in
Figure 1 the plug c is thereby securely fastened down, and the gun is ready
for discharge.
of the chamber b
close the breech of
Instead of making the fastening bolt engage only in the bottom of the
breech chamber the upper part of the bolt may be expanded on either side,
so as to have the shape of the letter T, and the said upper part be made to
engage in the sides of the breech chamber. This arrangement of my Inven-
tion is represented in longitudinal section in Figure 6, transverse section in
Figure 7, and separate view of the bolt in Figure 8.
In the said Figures 6, 7, and 8 the bolt is marked m, and its expanded
upper end, which enters the sides of the breech chamber n, is marked m².
The action of the arrangement, Figures 6 and 7, is the same as that of the
arrangement represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5.
Figure 9 represents in longitudinal section the arrangement of my Inven-

page_text: tion in which the bolt is made to bear against the end of the plug instead of
passing through it, as previously described, and Figure 10 is a plan of the
plug separately.
p is the sliding plug, made somewhat shorter than the plug in the previously
described arrangements, fixed to the lid or cover q. Behind the plug p is the
bolt (of the construction represented in Figures 6, 7, and 8) the end of
which bolt enters a slot in the bottom of the breech chamber.
In shutting
down the cover 9 after the plug p has been pushed home the front of the
bolt enters a slot s in the end of the plug p, and the cross head bears
against the end of the plug and engages in the sides of the breech chamber in
addition to the ugagement of the end of the said bolt with the bottom of the
breech chamber
Figure 11 repre in longitudinal section an arrangement of my Inven-
tion in which the cover or lid to which the plug is fixed is jointed to the end
of the barrel, and the said cover held securely down during fire by means of a
spring bolt entering a recess in the solid end of the breech chamber. t is the
plug; t, the cover, jointed at t to the end of the barrel t; is the fixing
bolt; and u, the spring bolt urged forward by the coiled spring u³. On
shutting down the lid or cover the spring bolt u is made to engage in the
recess u³ in the solid end of the chamber, and thus securely hold down the
said cover during fire. In order to raise the cover t², and parts carried by it,
it is only necessary to pull the head u of the bolt u, when the said bolt is
liberated and the lid or cover can be turned on its joint and thrown back on
to the top of the barrel.
Instead of connecting the bolt to the lid, as in the arrangement last
described, the bolt may be connected to the plug, the said bolt being made to
bear against the solid end of the breech chamber, as represented in longitudinal
section in Figure 12. In this case the plug t (shown separately in Figure 18)
is a little shorter than the breech chamber, and in a slot in the end of the said
plug the fastening bolt t (shown separately in Figure 14) works. The bolt t³
is connected to the plug t by a pin v passing through the plug, the said pin
working in a curved slot w in the bolt. The manner in which the bolt and
plug are connected together is best seen in the transverso section of the plug
and bolt, Figure 15. When the cover is shut down the end of the bolt t
enters the slot in the bottom of the breech chamber, and the edge or side of
the bolt bears against the closed end of the chamber and thus firmly supports
the plug in position during fire. On raising the cover by its handle the pin v
moves in the slot w, and enables the said bolt to be readily raised from the
breech chamber.

page_text: gun,
applied to a needle
bolt, and Figure 17, a plan
part a of the cover, of the
Figures 16 and 17 represent my Invention
Figure 16 being an elevation of the plug and
of the breech end of the barrel. To the fixed
plug I connect a pin or striker c turning on a joint d. A vertical slot is
made in the cover a, through which the striker c passes. In the front end of
the barrel I make a slot e, through which the point of the striker c can pass
when it is struck by the hammer of the gun. After the self-ignition cartridge
has been introduced into the barrel, and the plug 6 has been pushed home in
the manner herein-before described, the end of the striker c comes immediately
over the slot e in the barrel, and when the hammer descends it forces the said
end of the striker through the said slot and makes it strike the rim of the
cartridge and discharge the gun.
Figure 18 represents an expanding plug for breech-loading fire-arms con-
structed according to my Invention. The said plug consists of a solid part f,
having a screwed cap g screwed on its end. The said cap is convex on its
external face, and the end of the screwed part f° of the solid plug fis flat, so
that when the said cap g is screwed on the screwed end f a space is left
under the convex face of the said cap. On the explosion of the cartridge the
pressure upon the convex face of the cap g flattens it and causes it to expand
and prevent the escape of gas. After the explosion the cap resumes its normal
shape.
The improvements described and represented in the Drawings may also bo
applied to ordnance.
Figure 19 represents a projectile made according to my Invention. In
the axis of the projectile I make a hole or dépression h, preferably of a conical
figure, as represented. The said hole or depression constitutes a wind centre,
about which the projectile rotates in its flight, and gives great precision to the
flight of the projectile.
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 in the
Drawings, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of
my Invention, but I claim as my Invention,
Firstly, the general arrangements or combinations of the parts herein-before
described and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 of the
accompanying Drawings for opening and securely closing the breech ends of
breech-loading fire-arms, and the application of the same to ordnance.
Secondly, the general arrangements or combinations of the parts hercin-
before described and illustrated in Figures 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of the

page_text: accompanying Drawings for opening and securely closing the breech ends of
breech-loading fire-arms and the application of the same to ordnance.
Thirdly, the arrangement of spring bolt described and represented in
Figure 11 of the accompanying Drawings for fastening down the lids or
covers or hinged boxes of breech-loading fire-arms and ordnance.
Fourthly, the improvements herein-before described and illustrated in
Figures 16 and 17 of the accompanying Drawings for converting breech-
loading fire-arms having sliding plugs into needle guns.
Fifthly, the improvement herein-before described and illustrated in
Figure 18 of the accompanying Drawings, in constructing expanding plugs
for breech-loading fire-arms for preventing the escape of gas on discharge.
Lastly, the improvement in projectiles herein-before described and illustrated
in Figure 19 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Carr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES CARR. (L.S.)