IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Youngs Parfrey, of Upper Belgrave Place, Pimlico,
in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Youngs Parfrey at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
March 1862.
I, YOUNG'S PARFREY, of Upper Belgrave Place, Pimlico, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows, that is to say:―
These improvements consist in applying to the ordinary false breech of a
gun a strong and at the same light sliding bar, on which the barrels are
arranged to slide longitudinally forwards sufficiently to admit of the in-
troduction of suitable cartridges at the breech ends of the barrels, which are
by a forward sliding action presented open, and which when loaded, are slid
back into close contact with the false breech, a small groove or notch being
left in each barrel, in order to admit the projection of the detonating pin of
the cartridge. In order to slide the barrels forward and backward with facility

page_text: and obtain power enough to make a close joint at the breech, I employ a
small lever or handle with a sector or pinion and a rack, the one attached to
the barrels, the other to the sliding bar; when the barrels slide home this lever
is brought up under the barrels, and secured by a catch pin. These improve-
ments are applicable to fire-arms having one or more barrels, which may be
joined together and actuated by one handle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Youngs Parfrey in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
September 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, YOUNGS
PARFREY, of Upper Belgrave Place, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Youngs Parfrey, Her special licence that I, the said Youngs Parfrey,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Youngs
Parfrey, 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," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Youngs
Parfrey, 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 Youngs Parfrey, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:

page_text: My Invention consists of improved arrangements for opening and closing
on a slide the breech ends of the barrels of fire-arms, especially such as are
loaded with cartridges having projecting detonating pins for withdrawing the
spent cartridges, and for securing the breech to the stock.
Fig. 1 is an outside edge view of part of a double-barrelled gun with the
stock removed, shewing the breech-piece and slide, the handle and sector. for
actuating the barrels, and the barrels which having been discharged and slid
forwards, a cartridge is shewn extracted ready to be released by the lifting
of the hammer; Fig. 2 is a section through the centre of the breech-piece,
slide, and one barrel, shewing the barrels. brought home to the breech by the
reversal of the handle below, which is now secured by the spring pin at the
end locking into the staple under the barrels; Fig. 3 is a cross section of
the barrels at the centre of the sector; Fig. 4 is à plan of the slide without
the barrels and breech-piece; Fig. 5 is a view of the same from the under
side, shewing the cheeks that guard the sector; Fig. 6 is an outside edge
view of a simpler arrangement, shewing a modification of breech-piece and
slide with a portion of the barrels slid forwards ready for loading; Fig. 7 is a
section of the same, taken through the centre of the breech-piece slide and
one barrel, shewing the barrel brought back to the breech, and secured by au
excentric recessed into the slide, and a small handle below; Fig. 8 is a. cross
.section of the barrels and slide at the centre of the excentric; Fig. 9 is
another cross section nearer the breech end; Fig. 10 is a plan of the breech-
piece and slide, shewing the small excentric in its recess; Fig. 11 is a view of
the under side of the slide; Fig. 12 is a side view of a stock shewing the
mode of securing the breech-piece, as in Fig. 7; Fig. 13 shews a portion of
a breech-piece and barrel with a small centring punch for assisting to retain
the cartridge. The same letters refer to the same parts in the Figs. 1, 2,
3, 4, 5.
a is the hammer; b,,b, the barrels chambered out so as to receive the
cartridges, and having grooves to admit the detonating pins; c, a slide with
V-shaped edges, strengthened by webs underneath, to which the barrels are
fitted; this slide may be formed in one piece with, or be. securely screwed, as
shewn, or otherwise attached to the breech-piece d, and to the stock by
screws s; e is a lever or handle, the boss at the end of which is cut as a sector
into teeth on its outer edge, so as to work into the teeth f attached to the
under side of the barrels; the groove in the slide, as seen at Fig. 4, admits of
the passage of these teeth; the handle e moves on the hollow pin or thimble g
fitted to the cheeks h of the slide, and secured by a nut, so as to give facility

page_text: for removal when it is desired to separate the barrels from the stock; by
lifting the hammer a the spent cartridge j-falls 'aside, then fresh cartridges
being inserted into the open ends of the barrels, the handle e is brought down
from the position shewn at Fig. 1, and up again, as at Fig. 2. The teeth in
the edge of its boss taking into the teeth. under the barrels will have brought
them back into close contact with the face of the breech-piece d, the taper
spring bolt shooting into the staple i, holding the whole securely; recesses are
formed in the face of the breech-piece d to receive the ends of the cartridges
and part of the detonating pins; these recesses are chambered out or under-
cut, in order that when the hammer strikes the detonating pin it may also
drive the enlarged part of the capsule of the cartridge downwards into the
undercut part of the recess, and by this and the hold-which the hammer has
upon the pin retain the cartridge case when the barrels are slid forwards.for
reloading. Instead of recessing the face of the breech-piece to receive the
cartridge, I sometimes employ a small punch projecting from its centre, as
shewn, Fig. 13, the recoil of the cartridge impales it upon this, and prevents
its being drawn forwards with the barrels.
Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, shew an arrangement in which the end of slide c is
formed with a hollow boss, into this there is fitted a piece of metal k, the
lower part of which is cylindrical, but the upper part, which is larger in
diameter and has a groove in the face, is shaped on the edge for one-half its
circumference, so as to form an excentric or incline. The handle m is securely
attached to this piece of metal or excentric k, and is shewn in Figs. 6 and 10
brought to the limit of its motion in that direction; the groove in the face of
the excentric being in a line with the barrels, the stop 7 on the barrel' can
pass freely through it as the barrels are slid forwards by hand preparatory to
loading. When the barrels are slid home, the handle m is turned, into a line
with them, as in section Fig. 7, and the excentric thereby made to impinge on
the stop 1, and lock the barrels securely against the breech-piece; a stop
screw n is inserted in the slide c, which catches the projection o on the under
side of the barrels, and prevents their being drawn. too far off the slide.
Instead of attaching the breech-piece to the stock in the ordinary way, as
Figs. 1, 2, with a transverse screw through the stock, I sometimes employ
a breech-piece, as shewn in Figs. 6, 7, strengthened by a vertical web p
at the back, and I secure it in place by the long screw q; shewn in Fig. 12,
which passes through the stock from the butt end.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion,

page_text: that I do not confine myself to the number of barrels or precise details before
described; but I claim combinations of the parts as herein described and
shewn for securing the barrels and breeches, and withdrawing the cartridges
of breech-loading fire-arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Youngs Parfrey, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two.
YOUNGS PARFREY. (L.S.).