Improvements in Breech Loading Fire Arms.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 30th July, 1895-Accepted, 12th Oct., 1895
Improvements in Breech Loading Fire Arms.
A communication from abroad by COLT'S PATENT FIRE ARMS MANUFACTURING
COMPANY, of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, United States of
America.
I PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane in the County of
Middlesex Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Patent Agents, 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:-
In the practical use and operation of breech-loading fire-arms and especially of
rapid fire guns, it is obviously essential to the safe and efficient working of the gun
that the cartridge chamber of the barrel should be maintained clean during the
successive discharges, and to those who are accustomed to the handling of such
fire-arms the difficulty of keeping the chamber of the barrel clean so that there
shall be no interference with the insertion of cartridges therein is well known.
During the extraction of an empty cartridge case from the chamber any debris of
powder which remains in the case after firing is liable to fall into and be deposited
in the chamber and prevent the necessary free and easy insertion of a fresh
cartridge. The difficulty referred to is increased with the use of the modern nitro-
powders, which are less easily ignited than the ordinary gun powder; wherefore it
more frequently happens that unburned grains remain in the cartridge case and
become deposited in the chamber of the barrel by the withdrawal of the empty case
and moreover such grains are harder, tougher and less readily crushed than the
unburned grains of the ordinary gun powder.
It is the object of this invention to provide simple and efficient means whereby,
after each shot is fired and before a new cartridge is inserted in the chamber of the
barrel, any deposit in the chamber, whether of unburned grains of powder or of
other loose foreign matter, will be thoroughly removed so that there shall be no
obstruction to the insertion of a fresh cartridge. As this description proceeds it
will be obvious that the principle of this invention may be embodied in or carried
out by many different forms and arrangements of mechanical devices, although such
devices will all comprise means to compress air or gas operated by some moving
part of the gun mechanism and a conductor to lead the air or gas under pressure to
the chamber of the barrel and to permit and direct its discharge thereinto as the
empty cartridge case is being extracted or after it has been extracted and before
the insertion of another cartridge, thereby forcibly expelling the unburned grains
of powder or other foreign matter that may be therein. It will therefore be
understood that the invention is not to be limited to the precise constructions shown
in the accompanying drawings and hereinafter described, although such constructions
comprise novel and efficient applications thereof.
In the drawings,―
Figure 1 is a longitudinal vertical section of the breech of a magazine gun
showing one embodiment of the invention;
Figure 2 is a vertical cross-section of the same on the plane indicated by the line
- of Figure 1, looking rearward;
Figure 3 is a longitudinal vertical section of the breech of a machine gun
showing the application thereto of one embodiment of the invention;
Figure 4 is a vertical cross-section of the same on the plane indicated by the
liue y-y of Figure 3, looking rearward.

page_text: The application of this invention requires no modifications of the essential parts
of the mechanism of breech loading guns of any of the kinds heretofore constructed,
but the invention may be embodied in various forms of mechanical devices according
to the construction and operation of or as may be best adapted to the mechanism of
the particular fire arm to which the invention is to be applied. It will therefore be
understood that the ordinary parts of the gun mechanism are hereinafter referred
to only for the purpose of enabling the application of the invention to be better
understood.
C
In the construction shown in Figures 1 and 2 the barrel b is secured to and opens
at its rear into the receiver a in which the breech bolt is reciprocated by means
of the rod d and handle d', the locking brace e connecting the rod with the breech
bolt. These parts, together with the magazine tube f, cartridge stop, carrier i,
hammer h, and trigger j, are all of the usual construction. The breech bolt c also
contains as usual the firing pin k, but projects rearwardly beyond the latter, a
downward opening in the breech bolt enabling the hammer to strike the firing pin
when the breech is closed. In rear of this opening the end of the breech bolt is
cup-shaped and the open end thereof or the hole therein is closed by any suitable
means as by a screw plug which forms a closed seat for the firing pin. In this
particular construction the rear end of the breech bolt is adapted to act as a piston
hereinafter explained. As represented in Figure 1 of the drawings, an air
chamber m is formed in the receiver in the rear of the breech bolt and in line with
it, its outer extremity being closed by a suitable cap. The piston formed by the
end of the breech bolt is adapted to travel in this chamber and to compress the air
or gas therein, the air or gas under pressure being conducted from the chamber m
forward towards the chamber of the barrel by a suitable passage n which may be
formed in the top of the receiver as shown. It is obviously altogether unimportant
how or where the air chamber is formed and how the air is compressed therein. It
is merely a matter of convenience in construction that the piston is carried by or is
part of the breech bolt itself and as will be understood, the piston might as well be
connected thereto by an intermediate part, or it might be wholly independent
thereof, being thrust rearward by the breech bolt and forward by a spring or other
device, or it might be operated by or be or comprise a part of some other moving
or reciprocating part of the mechanism of the gun, it being necessary only that there
shall be means for compressing air or gas and for conducting the air or gas forward
and discharging it under pressure into the chamber of the barrel in a manner to
expel the particles which may have become deposited therein. It is therefore to be
understood that when the air compressing means are herein referred to as operated
by a moving part of the gun mechanism, such reference is made with the broadest
signification of its terms and includes within its scope any device or arrangement of
parts by which the desired result may be effected.
When in the operation of the particular mechanism which is shown in Figures 1
aud 2 herein referred to, the breech-bolt is moved to the rear to open the breech
after firing, it draws the cartridge shell from the chamber of the barrel rearward,
and at the same time compresses the air in the chamber m; as the cartridge-case
is somewhat reduced in diameter toward its forward end or made tapered, as soou
as the breech-bolt has moved rearward far enough to clear the downwardly inclined
forward end of the passage n, or as soon as it has drawn the cartridge-case rear-
wardly so as to permit the flange thereof to clear said opening, a strong stream
of air is forced through said opening into the space between the cartridge-case
and the chamber of the barrel and after the front end of the shell has passed this
opening the stream of air is forced directly into the breech or rear end of the gun
barrel and blows any powder or other matter which may be left therein out through
the forward end of the barrel. During the return or closing movement of the
breech-boit the passage n freely admits air to the chamber m.
As suggested above, the compression of the air may be effected by the move-
ment of any convenient part of the mechanism other than the breech-bolt and a
single example is shown in the machine gun which is represented in Figures 3 and 4, '

page_text: the difference in arrangement being that it is not the breech piece which operates
the air compressing means but the striker or hammer h. In the mechanism of the
gun which is here shown, the breech piece c is connected by the locking brace
with the actuating slide d from which it receives the reciprocating movement.
The rear of the receiver is closed by the tubular extension q, to which the
grasp o and the trigger j are attached and in which the stem h¹ of the hammer or
striker / fits and moves as a piston; the hammer h, moving in line with and in
rear of the breech piece, is forced back by the opening movement of the latter,
and, when released, is forced forward by the spring p; the trigger j serves to
retain the hammer in the rear or cocked position, as indicated by the dotted lines
in Figure 3. The stem ¹ is preferably made hollow and fits closely in the tube q.
A passage n formed in the top of the tube g leads from the chamber within it and
communicates with a small tube n' formed in the top of the receiver or seated
in a longitudinal groove therein, the front end of the tube n' inclining downward
toward the chamber of the barrel. The operation of the mechanical devices just
described is essentially the same as that of the devices previously described; the
opening movement of the breech piece also moves the hammer rearward and
compresses the air or gas in the tube g, forcing it through the tube n¹ into the
chamber of the barrel as soon as the cartridge case has been drawn rearwardly far
enough to pass the forward end of the tube n¹ or passage n, as explained above.
Forward of the passage n¹ the top of the breech piece has a shallow groove which
admits air freely to the tube when the hammer moves forward.
In view of the foregoing descriptions of the particular constructions shown it
will be readily understood that the invention is not limited to any particular form
and location of the air compressing means, and that it is also immaterial what
particular part of the gun mechanism is made to operate the air compressing means
as long as the air is compressed through the movement of some one of the parts
of the gun mechanism and a suitable conductor is provided by which the air under
pressure may be discharged into the chamber of the barrel to clear the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents I declare that what 1 claim is,-
1. In a breech loading fire arm, air compressing means adapted to be operated
by one of the moving parts of the gun mechanism and provided with a conductor
to direct and discharge the air under pressure into the cartridge chamber of the
barrel to expel particles of foreign matter therefrom.
2. In a breech loading fire arm, an air chamber, a piston adapted to move in said
chamber and to be operated by one of the moving parts of the gun mechanism and
a conductor to lead the air from said chamber and to discharge it into the cartridge
chamber of the barrel to expel particles of foreign matter therefrom.
3. In a breech-loading fire-arm, a chamber formed therein or attached thereto in
which air or gas is adapted to be compressed by the reciprocation of one or more of the
movable parts of the gun mechanism, and a conductor or passage leading from said
chamber so as to conduct air or gas therefrom and discharge it under pressure into
the cartridge chamber or rearward end of the gun barrel, for the purpose set
forth.
4. In a breech loading fire arın, an air chamber in the receiver or attached to
the receiver, a piston adapted to move in said air chamber, a reciprocating part of
the breech mechanism adapted to operate said piston and a passage leading from
said air chamber and opening into the receiver in rear of and in the direction of
the cartridge chamber of the barrel, whereby particles of foreign matter may be
expelled from the said cartridge chamber of the barrel.
5. In a breech loading fire arm, an air chamber in the receiver or attached to the
receiver in rear of the breech bolt, a piston adapted to move in said chamber and
to be operated by the movement of the breech bolt, means to reciprocate said
breech bolt and a passage leading from said air chamber and opening into the

page_text: receiver in rear of and in the direction of the cartridge chamber of the barrel,
whereby particles of foreign matter may be expelled from the said cartridge
chamber of the barrel.
6. In a breech loading fire arm, an air chamber in the receiver or attached to
the receiver, a breech piece for opening and closing the cartridge chamber, means
for reciprocating said breech piece, a hammer or striker in rear of said breech
piece, said hammer being provided with a piston adapted to move in said chamber,
and a passage leading from said air chamber and opening into the receiver in rear
of and in the direction of the cartridge chamber, whereby during the opening
movement of the breech piece air is compressed in said air chamber and is forced
into the cartridge chamber to expel particles of foreign matter therefrom.
Dated the 30th day of July 1895.
PHILIP M. JUSTICE.