IMPROVEMENT OF BREECH LOADING REPEATING FIRE REPEATING FIRE ARMS AND CARTRIDGES THEREFOR AND LOADING THE CARTRIDGES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bethel Burton of No 9. Bedford Place W.C. London for
an Invention of THE IMPROVEMENT OF BREECH LOADING REPEATING FIRE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bethel Burton at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th March 1883.
BETHEL BURTON of No 9 Bedford Place W.C. London THE IMPROVEMENT OF
BREECH LOADING REPEATING FIRE ARMS AND CARTRIDGES THEREFOR AND
LOADING THE CARTRIDGES
Letters Patent N° 884 dated March the 11th 1874. And No 4046. dated
October the 5th 1880, were granted to me for breech loading Repeating fire Arms
and cartridges therefor
The present is an improvement on the same. And a reference is hereby made
to said Letters Patent for a more full description of the parts that are not herein
fully described
In the specification of my said Patent a Hopper magazine is set forth. One
part of my present improvement relates to a box placed in the said Hopper, in
which there is a hellical Spring, and a follower, the box when entered into the
hopper magazine passes down and outside the cartridges, And the pressure of the
hellical Spring upon the follower acting against the cartridges, urges them down,
and on to the carrier, and prevents them from turning end for end in the Hopper
in case the hoper was only partially filled
The cartridges may be prevented from turning over in the hopper, by means of
a groove in which the rim of the cartridge enters, this groove is formed in the
Hopper, and of such a size that, the cartridges have sufficient play to prevent them
from sticking in the hopper.
An other of my improvements consists in corrugating the sides of the box,
which serves the purpos of preventing the box from rusting, fast in the Hopper,
And also strengthen the metal in the box. The boxes in which the cartridges are
packed, and served out to the soldier, I also corrugate for the purpos of

page_text: strengthening them, and prevent them from being. crushed, or brused, and the
cartridges jaming or sticking in the box
My next improvement consists in constructing the Hopper in such a manner,
that breech loading guns of various paterns may be converted into repeating arms,
at a trifling expence, this I accomplish by securing a plate of metal to the side of
the gun, and dovtailing the hopper into it, so that it can be removed at. will, by
and the
means of a spring stop, a dovtail may be formed in the metal of the gun,
hopper dovtailed into it, if prefered, the stop is raised or lowered by the pressure
of the finger, or by a slide on the spring, and the cartridges are fead to the barrel
by means of a thumb lever, upon a rock shaft, attached to which, is the feed
motion for the cartridges, the feed is kept in place by means of a spring which
acts on the thumb, lever, but which yealds to the pressure of the thumb and
releases the cartridges from the hopper, when they drop into the breech of the gun,
the thumb lever may be substituted by the direct action of the breech cloasing
piec. with the cartridge feed. and made to work automatically, and the hopper may
be made to stand up above the breech, feeding the cartridges down by gravity, or
by the pressure of a spring, or the cartridges inay be fead from below upwards by
a spring and follower, in an inner box. My next improvement is upon the
cartridge for use in repeating guns, or breech loading arms of any kind, and
consists in the means of preventing Primiture explosion of the cartridge either in
the magazine, or while they are convayed from the hopper, or the magazine to the
barrel, for this purpos I make use of a metal disk, perforated in the center to
allow the striker or firing pin to reach the cap, and deliver the blow to ignite the
fulminate, and it also consists in. the. formation. of a sholder, on the cartridges at
the base of the bullet, to prevent the cartridge from being driven to far into the
chamber of the gun by means of the blow from the striker or firing pin. when
cartridges are used which have no flange or head at the base of the cartridge, the
metal disk is placed in a recess in the base of the cartridge. And the cap in side
can only be struck by a small pointed striker through the hole in the disk, the
hole through the disk may be straight, or it may be beveled so the striker willnot
come in contact with the disk in case the centers are out of truth, or where the
strikers gives an oblique directed blow on the cap. And the disk may be removed,
and a new cap inserted, and the disk replaced
Cartridges for use in magazine guns when loaded requires to be of equal length,
and it is found desirable for acconomy, to relode them many times, for this purpos
I make use of 'a small instrument which may be carried in the but stock of. the
gun, it is constructed of metal and consists of two heads connected togeather by
two rods, one of those heads are stationery and is provided with a screw, and the
other head revolves and has on one side a finger the length of the cartridge it is
intended to reload, in this finger there is a wire rod inserted which passes up
through the finger and is held in place by a screw the end of the rod projects, and
when the cartridge is placed on the fingers the screw forces a hollow follower on to
the head of the cartridge-and forces out the spent caps, the wire rod is then
withdrawn within the finger, and a cap seater placed in the follower, a cartridge
is again placed on the finger and a cap placed on the cap seat. and brought under
the cap seater, the screw is turned and the cap is pressed on, and forced into the
cap seat, the cartridge is then loaded with powder and bullet, and the revolving
head turned, and the head of the cartridge placed in a grove in the revolving head,
and the bullet in the cartridge is brought under the follower, and forces the bullet
into the cartridge, brings them all to one length

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Bethel Burton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th August
1883.
BETHEL BURTON of N° 9-Bedford Place W.C London IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE
ARMS AND CARTRIDGES THEREFOR AND CARTRIDGE RELOADERS
Letters Patent N° 884 dated March 11th 1874 and N° 4046 dated October 5th
1880 were granted to me in Great Britain; the present is an improvement upon
the same and reference is hereby made to said Letters Patent for a more full
description of the parts that are not herein fully described
In my said Patents a cartridge is set forth in which a cannalure is formed
around the head by which the cartridge is extracted from the Barrel of the gun-
One part of my present improvement relates to a shoulder near the mouth of the
Cartridge said shoulder serves as a substitute for the usual rim round the head
to stop the cartridge from being driven too far into the chamber of the barrel by
the blow of the firing pin given to fire the charge.-Another part of my invention
relates to a Cap protector set in the base of the cartridge for the purpose of
shielding the cap containing the fulminate from being accidentally ignited, either
when in the magazine of the gun or when in transportation
The next part of my invention relates to the manner of constructing the
cartridge box in which the cartridges are packed in the factory and served to the
soldier for use in the hoppers of magazine guns-My next improvement relates to
a portable tool for reloading Cartridges.
In the drawings which I make part of my Specification:
Fig 1 is a view of the Cartridge shewing the shoulder a a for resisting the blow of
the firing pin
Fig: 2 is a sectional view of a Cartridge shewing the manner of constructing the
head for the reception of the cap protector.
Fig: 3 is a plan view of the disc or cap protector detached
Fig 4 is a section of the same through the centre.
Fig 5 is a view of the loaded cartridge
Fig 6 is a perspective view of the Cartridge box
Fig. 7 is an end view of the same
Fig 8. is a sectional view of the reloader
Fig 9 is an outer view of the same
Fig 10 is a plan view of the revolving head detached.
Fig 11 is a cap and disc seater..
Fig 12 is a sectional view of the cartridge holder
Fig 13 is a view of the same shewing the Cartridge in.
The Cartridge Fig: 1 is constructed with a shoulder a a the object of which is to
resist the blow of the firing pin and prevent it from driving the cartridge in tight
into the chamber of the barrel, thus causing the cartridge to stick fast when fired
off, when there is no rim on the head of the cartridge to resist the blow.
In order to prevent the premature explosion of the cartridges either in the
inagazine of a gun, or in transit, I construct a cartridge either with a rim or
cannalured head, in the manner shewn in Fig 2 or as in Fig: 1 in which the
pocket c for the cap c¹ is made to extend further into the cartridge than is usual,
to allow for the space required for the disc d in the head of the cartridge, the
disc d is made thick and unyielding to resist the external blow-and the disc is
further supported by the bottom of the recess formed in the head of the cartridge
for its reception-In order to secure the disc d firmly in place the disc d is by

page_text: preference made concave the convex side out when placed in the recess, the edge of
the recess made to receive the disc d may by preference be made a little under cut,
so that when the disc d is pressed into place, and flattened out, a dovetail is formed
of the edges, and the disc is held firmly in place; the disc d'is' perforated with a
bole e in its centre to admit the point of the firing pin to strike the cap c¹ the
hole e may be made cylindrical or it may be made to bevel towards the outside,
according to the direction of the firing pin:-By this method of making cartridges
the danger, of explosion either in transit or.in the magagine of the gun.where the
point of the bullet in one cartridge rests against the cap in the preceding cartridge
is avoided
I construct the cartridge box Figs: 6. 7. by making the square end double and
the other end I make round, and the sides of the box I corrugate; by this means I
obtain the maximum strength that it is possible to obtain with the material used,
and I prevent the metal in the box from being readily indented and the
corrugations bb serve to prevent the cartridges from turning over end for end
when the box is partially empty, a space being left at the square end at h* h*
Figs 6 and 7 for the head of the cartridge to pass through.
The reloading tool-Figs 8 to 13 is constructed with two heads h and g the
head his stationary, and the head g is made to revolve, the heads are attached to
two rods or slings g' and secured at h by two nuts k k and by a hole in the
slings h. in the other end of the slings in which the tenons on the head g revolve
The moveable head g² moves up and down on the slings g' and in the stationary
head ha screw bolt j is made to work; the end of the screw j works in a groove f
in the sliding head g², the head g² is hollowed out as shewn at m n Fig 8. the
space n is made to receive the head of the cartridge and the space m is made to
receive the bullet-The cap seater fig: 11 is made to fit in the space m of the
head g² and is secured in place by a screw p in the head g²- the point of the
screw p.enters the notch q¹ in the cap seater Fig: 11 and keeps the cap seater in
place, the space n in the head 21 is intended to guide the head of the cartridge
under the cap seater, and in the event of the cap exploding by the pressure of the
screw forcing it in, it cannot injure the operator-the revolving head is made as
shewn in Figs 8. 9. 10 in which a groove q is made to take the head of the
cartridge and a finger o is made on the head g Figs 8. 9 to place a cartridge on,
in the finger-o a pin i is placed having a screw support o-a space is left in the
finger to allow the screw o' to enter and project the pin i up out of the finger o as
seen in fig 9 the tenons h¹ on the head g working in the holes in the ends of the
slings g¹ enables the head g to revolve from the position shewn in Fig: 8 to the
position shewn in Fig 9
In order to reload a cartridge the spent shell is placed on the finger of the
screw is turned by the lever j¹ and forces the head g on to the cartridge head and
the cartridge head down on the finger o-this pin enters the cup c through the
vent hole in the cup c and forces the disc and cap out of the head of the
cartridge-the cap seater is then put in place in the, recess m and retained in place
by the point of the screw p the pin i is then lowered within the finger o and a
cap c¹ put in the cup c and pressed down into the cup by the action of the screw j
upon the head 92 the cap seater forcing it down flush with the bottom or bed of
the disc when the cap is in its proper place, the shoulders on the cap seater
prevents the screw from pressing the cap further in.-The disc is then pressed into
place either by the cap seater or a similar piece flat on the face, the cartridge is
then loaded and placed in the holder x Fig: 13, the cap seater is then removed the
head of the cartridge is placed in the groove q of the head g the bullet placed in
the mouth of the cartridge and the head 92 pressed down on the bullet and forces
the bullet into the cartridge. The collar a¹ on this screw ; serves as a stop and
regulates the length of the cartridge. By the use of a loose washer between the
collar & and the head h cartridges of different lengths may be reloaded and their
length adjusted. In case the bullet sticks in the recess m, the head of the
cartridge being held fast in the groove a pulls the bullet out of the recess m by the

page_text: reverse action of the screw j-The holder Figs 12 13 is intended to prevent the
cartridges from bulging or expanding in pressing in the powder and bullet and to
protect the hand in the event of an explosion
I claim as my invention:-
First. The Cartridge Fig: 1 as specified and set forth.
Second. The Shoulder a a, and inner groove, the combination of a sunken cup c.
disc d the cap c¹ with the cartridge Figs 1. 2. as and for the purposes set forth.
Third The Cartridge box Figs: 6. 7. in combination with the hopper magazine
as and for the purposes set forth.
"
Fourth. The improved portable Cartridge reloader as and for the purposes
set forth
In witness whereof I the said Bethel Burton have hereunto set my hand and seal
this twenty seventh day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and eighty three.
BETHEL BURTON (L.S.)