Improvements in Breech-loading Bolt-guns.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1893-Accepted, 23rd Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Breech-loading Bolt-guns.
I, PAUL MAUSER, of Oberndorf on the Neckar, Württemberg, in the Empire
of Germany, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this 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 relates to that class of breech-loading bolt-guns which are provided,
under the cartridge rest, with a cartridge magazine, which is made in one piece
with the trigger-guard and is permanently fixed to the gun, and its object is to
simplify the construction of the magazine and the parts connected therewith, and to
obtain other advantages derived from the new construction.
The invention is applicable to various styles of breech loading bolt guns, but I
will illustrate and describe it, by way of example, as applied to that particular type
of gun which is known as the "Mauser" gun.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the breech portion of the gun in an open state and
partly in section. The magazine here shown is intended only for cartridges without
a projecting bottom rim.
Figure 2 is a vertical cross section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar cross section but showing the magazine filled with
cartridges.
Figure 4 is a plan of the bottom plate of the magazine removed from the
latter.
Figure 5 shows the shape of the magazine intended for cartridges with a
projecting bottom rim and a construction of the locking device of the bottom plate,
differing from that of Figure 1.
Figures 6 represent in detail a part of Figure 5.
Figure 7 is a front view of the bolt, showing the extractor turned 90° out of its
normal position and detached from the neck ring.
This latter figure is drawn to a scale double that of the other figures.
The magazine a is made in one piece with the trigger guard z and is of the same
inside width from top to bottom, without springs, ribs, projections or indentations.
The front portion is narrower than the hinder part, but is always wider than a
single cartridge, so as to give room, in the magazine shown at Figures 1, 2, 3, for
five cartridges lying one above the other in a zig-zag direction. It may here be
remarked that if more than five cartridges, for example, ten, are to be placed in the
magazine a, it is elongated correspondingly downwards, as shown in Figures 1, 2,
and 3 by dotted lines. The magazine is screwed to the breech case h so as to fit
snugly its under side. The inner space of the magazine leads into the opening of
the under side of the breech case I, which opening is formed with curved sides so
that only one cartridge at a time can pass into the cartridge rest.
The magazine a is closed below, either by a permanent bottom, which is not
shown in the drawings on account of the simplicity of the construction, or by a
separate removable plate or bottom as represented in the drawings and hereinafter
described.
The cartridges are arranged upon a carrier or plate 6 corresponding to the
interior space of the magazine. The said carrier b is pressed upwards by the action
of a spring made in a zig-zag form. It may be made of one piece of bent steel
or of a number of separate steel leaves rivetted together. The carrier b is provided
on one side of its upper face with a longitudinal rib b', which supports the last
cartridge but one and keeps the last one in its correct position as shown in Figure 3.

page_text: The uppermost cartridge is situated in the arched and suitably shaped space below
the opening in the underside of the breech case 1, sometimes on the left hand side
and sometimes on the right hand side. When the cartridge is pushed forward by
the bolt k, the point of its projectile is forced against the peculiarly hollowed out
and rounded lower portion of the boring of the head of the breech case h,
Figure 1 it thereby ascends through the opening in the breech case and comes
more and more into the axis of the barrel until it attains lastly the normal position,
i.e., with its hind part in the milled out front portion of the bolt k and with its
annular groove (or projecting rim) behind the claw of the extractor k and with the
projectile in the barrel, when it can be pushed entirely home. The head k¹ of the
bolt kis furnished on its underside with side projections to enable the bolt
head to catch always the cartridges lying alternately to the right or to the left
in front of it. The said projections work during the longitudinal movement
of the bolt k in corresponding grooves in the breech case h.
When the rear end of the rib b' of the carrier b is made square, as shown in
Figure 1 in full lines, the bolt k cannot be pushed forward when the last cartridge
has been fired and the bolt drawn back. This will be a warning that the magazine
is empty and should be refilled. When this need not be taken into con-
sideration the rib b¹ may be rounded at the rear end, as shown in Figure 1 by
a dotted line.
In the drawings the spring f is shown with its ends placed under suitable pro-
jections in the carrier band in the bottom plate c, but it may also be fastened to
these parts in any other convenient way, or it may be interposed loosely between
the parts, but the construction shown is considered the best one.
The magazine a, as shown, is closed below by a removable bottom c. Figures 1
to 4 show the construction of the arrangement allowing it to be removed without
the use of any tool merely by means of the projectile of a cartridge. The bottom
plate is furnished on the front and rear ends with hook shaped lugs entering into
corresponding grooves in the body of the trigger guard z when the bottom plate c
is pushed forwards. A vertical bolt cl situated in a boring of the trigger guard z,
and acted upon by a spring enters into a corresponding hole in the rear part of the
bottom plate c and secures the latter in its position. For removing the bottom plate c,
the bolt c is pressed upwards by the point of the projectile of a cartridge and
simultaneously the bottom plate c is drawn backwards until the hook shaped lugs
leave their grooves and the bottom may be removed. Sufficient space is provided
in the trigger guard to allow this movement to take place.
The construction above described cannot be used for the inclined magazine for
cartridges with projecting rims, as there is no room for the snap bolt c¹. For such
magazines the arrangement shown in Figures 5 and 6 is considered a superior one,
which may be also used for straight magazines instead of the arrangement herein-
before described. The bottom c fits with a projection on its rear end into a recess
in the trigger guard z and has a chamfered hook on its front end, which fits under a
plate sliding in and guided by a groove on the underside of the trigger guard
and is actuated by a spring. The plate is forced upwards by the hook while
the bottom c is being pressed home, after which the plate snaps back under the
hook and holds the bottom c in its closed position. When it is desired to remove
the bottom c, the plate is pushed forwards by the point of the projectile of a
cartridge inserted in an indentation c³ on the underside of the plate until the
hook is released, when the bottom c may be taken off.
As the projections of the head of the bolt k prevent the turning of the
extractor attached to it by the neck ring to the underside of the bolt k if the
extractor is to be taken off from the bolt k, part of the metal must be removed from
the upper side of the head at so that the extractor can be turned to the upper side
and removed from or attached to the bolt k at this place. For extractors constructed
in another manner the removing of the metal of the bolt head as just described may
not be required.
"
After the. description of the invention as applied to the "Mauser gun, any

page_text: expert in fire-arms will be in a position to apply the invention to bolt-guns of other
types.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In breech loading bolt guns, a cartridge magazine made in one piece with the
trigger guard and closed below by a permanent or removable bottom plate in
combination with a cartridge carrier acted upon by a spring possessing upon its
upper face a longitudinal one sided rib for forcing a cartridge alternately to the
right and to the left under the opening in the under side of the breech case, which
opening allows only one cartridge to pass at a time, and with a bolt carrying at
the underside of its head two projections by which each cartridge is caught and
pushed into the barrel, substantially as herein shown and described.
2. In a magazine as claimed in Claim 1, the locking device of the removable
bottom plate consisting in a spring catch which may be opened by means of the
point of the projectile of a cartridge, substantially as herein shown and described
with reference to Figure 1.
3. In a magazine as claimed in Claim 1, the locking device of the removable
bottom plate consisting in a spring catch which may be opened by means of the
point of the projectile of a cartridge, substantially as herein shown and described
with reference to Figure 5.
4. In a magazine as claimed in Claim 1, the one sided rib on the upper face
of the carrier or plate having a square rear end, substantially as herein shown
and described and for the purpose stated.
5. The improvements in breech loading bolt guns substantially as herein shown
and described.
| Dated this 12th day of August 1893.
Dated 018 12th day of August 1895.
PAUL MAUSER,
By Harris & Mills,
23, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents.