Improvements in or connected with Breech Loading Guns or Ordnance.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Dec.. 1891-Accepted, 9th Jan., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with Breech Loading Guns or
Ordnance.
I, CHARLES GUSTAV MELLSTROM, of 32, Victoria Street, in the City of
Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to an improved safety appliance for preventing the
premature opening of the breech of a gun in case of miss or hang-fire, and is
applicable to guns having either wedge or screw breech-blocks and opening by the
rotation or partial rotation of a lever or handle.
In carrying out my invention I form upon or attach to the axis or shaft of the
hand-lever for operating the breech block, a camn shaped collar having a projecting
lug or tooth, and to the breech of the gun I suspend a pendulum having a lug or
tooth adapted to engage with the lug or tooth on the collar. I also pivot to the
breech a spring-stop or catch which normally engages in a notch upon the pendulum
but which when the pendulum moves backwards under the impulse due to the
discharge of the gun serves to hold the said pendulum so that its lug is out of
engagement with the lug on the collar, thereby allowing of the movement of the
lever for opening the breech.
To enable my invention to be fully understood, I will describe the same as applied
to a gun having a vertically moveable wedge block.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 represents so much of such a gun as is necessary to illustrate the
application of my invention thereto.
Figures 2 and 3 are views which illustrate the operation of my safety
appliance.
a indicates the breech of the gun and 6 the lever through the medium of which
the breech block is operated.
c is the collar secured to the same shaft as the lever b, and d is the lug
thereon. This collar is provided with a cam surface for a purpose hereinafter
described.
e, is the pendulum pivotted to the breech at f and having the weight g, at its
lower end; and h is the lug with which the lug d upon the collar c engages.
i is the stop or catch for holding the pendulum e so that the lugs d and f are out
of engagement, the said catch being pivotted to the breech at ; and having its free
end k engaging in a notch in the pendulum e.
m is the spring in connection with the said catch, the said spring being secured
to the catch at one end and with its free end bearing against a projection n upon
the upper end of the pendulum e, so that the said spring not only serves for
depressing the catch, but also tends to move the pendulum e to cause its lug h to
engage with the lug d.
The operation of my safety device hereinbefore described is as follows:-Assume
the parts to be in the position shewn in Figure 1, which is the position they occupy
when the gun is fired. Should the charge not explode the parts will remain in the
same position. Should, however, the discharge take place, the impulse due to the
explosion will cause the pendulum e to swing back and move its lugh out of
engagement with the lug d and at the same time the catch i will drop to the position
shewn in Figure 2 to retain the pendulum in this position. The lever b, can now
be freely moved to open the breech. During this opening movement, which, in the
case of the gun shewn in the drawing, is in the direction of the arrow Figure 1, the
cam shaped surface of the collar indicated by dotted lines acts upon the catch i and
[Price 6dl

page_text: lifts the same so as to bring its free end opposite to the notch thereby allowing
the pendulum to assume its original position as shewn in Figure 3. On the return
of the lever b to its normal position the lug d will engage with the lug h.
The notch is of such depth that when the pendulum is slightly displaced during
the closing of the breech by the impingement of the back of the lug d against the
back of the lug h the catch i will not be disengaged from the said notch.
It is to be understood that my invention although specially designed for guns
having no recoil, is equally applicable to guns which are adapted to recoil upon
their carriages.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Apparatus for preventing the premature opening of the breech of a gun in
case of miss or hang-fire comprising a lug or tooth, in connection with the operating
shaft or lever of the breech block, adapted to engage with a lug or tooth upon a
swinging pendulum and a stop catch for holding the pendulum so that the said lugs
or teeth are out of engagement substantially as described.
2. The manufacture and use of the improved safety appliance for breech-loading
guns or ordnance substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawing for the purpose specified.
Dated the Third day of December 1891
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.