IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE GUNS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thorsten Nordenfelt, of No. 1, St. Swithin's Lane, in
the City of London, Civil Engineer, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINE GUNS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thorsten Nordenfelt at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th April 1881.
THORSTEN NORDENFELT, of No, 1, St. Swithin's Lane, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE GUNS."
This Invention has for its object improvements in machine guns. I construct
a gun which is similar in many respects to that described in my Provisional
Specification, dated the 30th day of November 1880, No. 4991.
This gun consists of any number of barrels lying in a horizontal plane, the
breech ends being screwed into a cross piece which stretches across the centre of a
frame; the muzzle ends pass through and are supported by a cross piece at the
fore end of frame. The frame is continued to the rear of the centre cross piece and
carries the cartridge carrier and action block. The cartridge carrier is fixed to the
frame immediately behind the centre cross piece, the action block with spring bar
attached is behind the carrier and fills the space between the carrier and rear end
of frame; it has a transverse intermittent motion communicated to it by the tail
of lever.
The plungers are U shaped and run in corresponding grooves in the action block
and carrier, they have a longitudinal and intermittent motion communicated to
them by a friction roller on lever working in a cam shaped slot in a plate to which
they are attached; the plungers carry the firing pins and extractors.
The hammers and spiral springs run in channels in the action block, they are
cocked by projections on the cam plate and released by a trigger comb, which raises
the cocking at the moment the hammers are brought in line with axes of
barrels.
The cover is pivotted to the centre cross piece and carries the feed plate;
openings in the cover allow the cartridges, which are placed in a hopper above, to
pass into the carrier.

page_text: Instead of the action block being in one piece, as described in No. 499150, it is
divided into two parts, the fore part remaining stationary whilst the rear part
alone has the sideway motion. The motion of the plungers instead of being
obtained by a slotted lever engaging a friction roller attached to the plate carrying
the plungers is obtained by a friction roller attached to the lever working in a slot
in the plate carrying the plungers, and the motion of the action block, which in the
former was obtained from the slotted lever, is obtained by the tail end of the lever
engaging a slot in the spring bar.
-
Instead of the firing pin being within the hammer I now separate these parts
and carry the firing pin in the plungers, and the hammer in the action
block.
Instead of giving motion to the feed plate by a slot in plunger engaging a
friction roller on plate, I drive it by a projection on action block working direct in
a slot in feed plate.
Instead of allowing the cartridges in a hopper to lay on the top of one another
freely, or to be guided only by their rims running within a slot for each column,
in either of which cases (in consequence of the taper of cartridge towards the
bullet) the upper cartridges in a hopper generally get a more vertical position than
the lower ones, and in all of which cases the cartridges while within the hopper
hang on their rims with the bullets on a lower level than the rims. I now propose
to gain a more regular feed by supporting the bullet points (while still retaining
the slots for the rims) in such a manner that the cartridges during their run
through the whole of the hopper (or through the upper hopper as well as the
lower distributor, when I use double hoppers) except in the very lowest part of the
hopper are always guided downwards in a position with the bullet held at a higher
level than the rim. I support the points of the bullets by bringing the front plates
of an enclosed hopper nearer to the rear plate than the actual length of the
cartridge, which by its own weight has its blunt rear side of the base pushed
against the rear plate, and runs along this rear plate without fear of the sharp
corners of the rim causing the cartridge to hang or to indent the guiding edges of
the slot.
At the lowest portion of the hopper I allow the front plate to recede forwards
so as not to support the bullet point any longer, and this at a point sufficiently
high above the base of the hopper to allow the bullet, which is heavier than the
base of the cartridge case, to fall down in time for the cartridge to enter the
mechanism in a position parallel with the surface of the cartridge receiver at
whatever angle I may be firing at the time.
By this means the cartridges within the hopper are all in regular positions, and
a cartridge does not touch the cartridge next below it except at one place near the
rim, so that two cartridges cannot jamb one another, and any unevenness on
the cartridge (such as may be caused by folded up cartridge cases) cannot cause
one cartridge to stick to another one.
At or near the base of any hopper (upper or lower) I insert a bar from side to
side through the rim slots with a small handle or crank at the end of it. This bar
is faced off on one side just enough to allow the rims to pass; but when I turn the
bar by means of the handle round a portion of the circle this movement brings the
thicker part of the bar which has not been faced off into the rim slots, and thus
prevents cartridges to pass. By thus turning the handle to the one side I can
retain all cartridges that may be within the hopper, so that I can lift off the
hopper without the remaining cartridges falling out of it; and by turning the handle
back again after putting the hopper on to the gun again give a supply of
cartridges to the mechanism of the gun.
The handle can be held in the position desired by means of a pin or a
catch,
With a view to make the mode of extraction more simple and effective than
before, I make my extractor and its spring in one piece let in to the breech plug
along its surface, the forward end having either a single or a two pronged extractor

page_text: hook (depending upon the strength of the extractor required and the arc of the rim
over which I want to pull), the other end of the extractor rests upon the solid part
of the breech plug, the part of the extractor between the hook in front and the
rear end is tempered, and acts as a spring either direct or pivotting upon the pin
which I insert to hold the extractor in position. Near the rear end of the extractor
is a lug which enters into the breech plug so deeply that it either presses upon the
firing needle or reaches into an indent in the needle so as to prevent the needle from
falling out rearwards, and so as to hold it steadily in position and prevent
unnecessary wear and tear when used for drill purposes. This extractor can be
taken out by simply driving out or unscrewing the pin which holds it, as the
extractor need not enter into the action block. Although the needle is held by the
lug on the extractor the needle can be taken out without unscrewing the extractor
pin simply by pushing the pin rearwards hard enough to raise the lug out of the
indent in the needle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Thorsten Nordenfelt in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th
October 1881.
THORSTEN NORDENFELT, of No. 1, St. Swithin's Lane, in the City of London,
Civil Engineer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE GUNS."
'This. Invention has for its object improvements in machine guns. I construct
a gun which is similar in many respects to that described in the Specification of
my Patent dated the 30th day of November 1880, No. 4991.
Instead of the action block being in one piece, as described in No. 49918, it is
divided into two parts, the fore part remaining stationary whilst the rear part alone
has the sideway motion. The motion of the plungers, instead of being obtained by
a slotted lever engaging a friction roller attached to the plate carrying the plungers,
is obtained by a friction roller attached to the lever working in a slot in the plate
carrying the plungers, and the motion of the action block, which in the former was
obtained from the slotted lever, is obtained by the tail end of the lever engaging a
slot in the spring bar.
Instead of the firing pin being within the hammer I now separate these parts
and carry the firing pin in the plungers and the hammer in the action block.
Instead of giving motion to the feed plate by a slot in plunger engaging a friction
roller on plate, I drive it by a projection on action block working direct in a slot
in feed plate.
Instead of allowing the cartridges in a hopper to lay on the top of one another
freely, or to be guided only by their rims running within a slot for each column, in
either of which cases (in consequence of the taper of cartridge towards the bullet),
the upper cartridges in a hopper generally get a more vertical position than the
lower ones, and in all of which cases the cartridges while within the hopper hang
on their rims with the bullets on a lower level than the rims. I now propose to
gain a more regular feed by supporting the bullet points (while still retaining the
slots for the rims) in such a manner that the cartridges during their run through
the whole of the hopper (or through the upper hopper as well as the lower
distributor, when I use double hoppers), except in the very lowest part of the
hopper, are always guided downwards in a position with the bullet held at a higher
level than the rim. I support the points of the bullets by bringing the front
plates of an enclosed hopper nearer to the rear plate than the actual length of the
cartridge, which by its own weight has its blunt rear side of the base pushed
against the rear plate and runs along this rear plate without fear of the sharp
corners of the rim causing the cartridge to bang or to indent the guiding edges of
the slot.
At the lowest portion of the hopper I allow the front plate to recede forwards,
so as not to support the bullet point any longer, and this at a point sufficiently
high above the base of the hopper to allow the bullet, which is heavier than the
base of the cartridge case, to fall down in time for the cartridge to enter the
mechanism in a position parallel with the surface of the cartridge receiver at
whatever angle I may be firing at the time.
By this means the cartridges within the hopper are all in regular positions, and
a cartridge does not touch the cartridge next below it except at one place near the
rim, so that two cartridges cannot jamb one another and any unevenness on the
cartridge (such as may be caused by folded up cartridge cases) cannot cause one
cartridge to stick to another one.
At or near the base of any hopper (upper or lower) I insert a bar from side to
side through the rim slots with a small handle or crank at the end of it. This

page_text: bar is faced off on one side just enough to allow the rims to pass; but when I turn
the bar by means of the handle round a portion of the circle, this movement
brings the thicker part of the bar which has not been faced off into the rim slots
and thus prevents cartridges to pass. By thus turning the handle to the one side
I can retain all cartridges that may be within the hopper, so that I can lift off the
hopper without the remaining cartridges falling out of it; and by turning the handle
back again after putting the hopper on to the gun I again give a supply of
cartridges to the mechanism of the gun.
The handle can be held in the position desired by means of a pin or a catch.
With a view to make the mode of extraction more simple and effective than
before, I make my extractor and its spring in one piece let in to the breech plug
along its surface, the forward end having either a single or a two pronged extractor
hook (depending upon the strength of the extractor required and the arc of the
rim over which I want to pull); the other end of the extractor rests upon the solid
part the breech plug; the part of the extractor between the hook in front and the
rear end is tempered and acts as a spring either direct or pivoting upon the pin
which I insert to hold the extractor in position; near the rear end of the extractor
is a lug, which enters into the breech plug so deeply that it either presses upon the
firing needle or reaches into an indent in the needle, so as to prevent the needle
from falling out rearwards and so as to hold it steadily in position and prevent
unnecessary wear and tear when used for drill purposes. This extractor can be
taken out by simply driving out or unscrewing the pin which holds it as the
extractor need not enter into the action block. Although the needle is held by the
lug on the extractor, the needle can be taken out without unscrewing the extractor
pin, simply by pushing the pin rearwards hard enough to raise the lug out of the
indent in the needle.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and readily
T
Janika the D..
Figures 1 and 2 are longitudinal sections of a machine gun constructed in
accordance with my Invention; Figure 3 is a plan; Figure 4 is a back view with
some of the parts in section; and Figure 5 is a cross section on the line A, A,
in Figure 3. In the gun shown by these Figures the rear ends of the barrels are
screwed into a cross piece B forming part of a frame A.
The fore end of the divided breech block is marked e; this I call the carrier; it
is fixed to the frame immediately behind the centre cross piece B; the rear end E
(which I call the action block) with the back plate E³ attached to its rear end for
forming an abutment for the springs of the hammers fills this space (end ways)
between the carrier e and the frame. The part E has a transverse intermittent
motion communicated to it by an arm H' extending backwards from the hand
lever H. Separate views of this lever and the arms which are connected with it
are shewn at Figure 6.
The lever H pivots upon a bracket on the trunnion frame. An arm H³ of this
lever has a friction roller attached which works in a cam shaped slot in the plate G,
and imparts to it a longitudinal movement to and fro. The arm H¹ enters a notch
in the plate E2 which is fixed to the rear end of the action block E, and carries the
action block to the right or left as required.
Separate views of the action block are shown at Figures 7, and of the carrier
or fore end e of the breech block at Figures 8, also separate views of the moving
plate G at Figures 9.
The plungers F which slide in the recesses in the two parts of the breech block
are carried on studs on the plate G, and they carry strikers I¹ and extractors F¹, as
shewn at Figures 10.
The hammers I (separate views of which are shewn at Figures 11) and spiral

page_text: springs J run in channels in the action block E, and are not in line with the
strikers I until the proper moment for firing.
The cartridge feeder P, separate views of which are shown at Figures 12, is
actuated by a projection upon the action block E; the projection enters but does not
fit within a slot P¹ in the bottom of the feeder, so that the feeder moves with the
action block during a portion of its traverse.
The cartridge feeder is a traverse slide with longitudinal arms P2 carrying
pegs P³, which project into the passages B4 in the cover B3, down which the
cartridges descend from the magazine. The pegs P³ project through holes in the
sides of these passages and support the cartridges. The cartridge beneath the pegs
rests on the plungers F which supports them until the plungers recedes and permit
the cartridges to fall down into position to enter the barrels when the plungers
return.
The action is cocked by studs or projections G³ upon the moving plate G, which
carrying the hammers I backward compress the spiral springs J. The hammers
are held back during the forward movement of the plunger plate by the catches K
pressed downwards by springs L, shown separately by Figures 13. The hammer
catches are raised at the proper moment by inclines on a trigger comb M, shown
separately by Figures 14. The hammers are released as described in my former
Specification by the lateral motion of the comb on the action block which carries
it, caused by its being brought into contact with the stop O when this is placed
for automatic action, and in the same way the gun can be fired by hand at any
time when the stop O is pressed inwards.
The extractor, as shewn in Figure 10, consists of one piece comprising the hook a,
the boss b, the spring c, the needle stop d, and in some cases (in guns in which the
plunger is screwed into a carrier) of a tail e as dotted to serve as a key. It is let
into the slot in the plunger and fastened by a pin through a hole in the boss b.
To avoid taking up too much power in loosening all the cartridge cases at once, the
hole in the boss b is in one or more of the extractors round, but in the others oval
and of different lengths, allowing the plungers to be moved a little backwards
before the extractors with oval holes commence their pull on the cartridge cases.
The spring c is the shank of the extractor and ends at the rear with a lug & which
goes through an opening in the plunger into the firing pin to prevent this from.
being blown out backwards. The hook a of the extractor is widened out to nearly
a quarter of a circle so as to get a good grip of the cartridge rim, but it is slotted
through in the middle for giving the rim more surface to resist the cutting force.
If this extractor is used on plungers which are screwed into the breech block, the
rear end should be lengthened to a tail e, as shown in dotted lines; this tail when
the extractor, which is fixed after the plunger, is screwed home, is pushed into
corresponding slots in the breech block, acts as a key and prevents the plunger
from unscrewing itself.
The magazine or cartridge hopper is shewn in Figures 15, 16, and 17. Figure 15
is a vertical section; Figure 16, a horizontal section; and Figure 17, an outside view.
It consists of as many cartridge holders c as there are barrels in the gun, and each
cartridge holder is widened out at the rear end with recesses on both sides to
receive and guide the cartridge rims.
The upper part of the hopper is shorter than the length of the cartridges g, but
at the front side the lower end is lengthened to allow the cartridge to fall down to
an horizontal position on the feed plate when the point of the projectile has passed
the cover f. At the rear lower end in the wall of the hopper there is a through
shaft a, which on the part where it is in the cartridge holders is slotted out to the
same depth and width as the passage for the cartridge rim. At one end of this
shaft on the outside of the hopper is fixed a lever d, which can be turned a quarter
of a circle, and it has a stud catching in notches in the bow e, or by other arrange-
ments is stopped in the required position.
The cartridges g are put into the hopper, so that when this is placed on the gun
they slide down with the points of the projectile raised and supported by the front

page_text: wall of hopper and the base or rim of the cartridge inclined. In this position the
cartridges descend freely without the sticking or hanging up which often occurs
when the cartridges are laid horizontally one over the other. When the shaft a is
placed with the slots horizontally the rim of the lowest cartridge is stopped against.
it, and the cartridges are retained in the hopper, but by turning the lever d
downwards the sides of the slots become flush with the sides in the cartridge
holders. The passages for the cartridges are thus free, and the cartridges fall in
their turn on to the feed plate. If the hopper is to be taken off before all the
cartridges are fired it is only required to turn the lever d up again, and the
unfired cartridges which have not fallen on to the feed plate are retained in the
hopper.
->
The action of the gun is as follows:-The backward stroke of lever H first
carries the breech block E to the left, at the same time cutting off a layer of
cartridges. It then withdraws the plungers F and empty cases, and it compresses
the springs J and cocks gun. During this time the empty cases have fallen
through the openings in the carrier, and the layer of cartridges which were lying
upon the plungers F have fallen into the recesses. The lever now being reversed
pushes the cartridges into the chamber; next it carries the action block E over to
the right, at the same time moving the cartridge plate P, and allowing another
layer of cartridges to fall and rest upon the plungers; afterwards it releases the
hammers I and fires the cartridges.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that claim,-
First. The divided breech block, consisting of carrier and action block, and con-
taining plungers and firing mechanism, substantially as described.
Second. The lever handle H, arm H², and slotted plate G actuating the plungers,
substantially as described.
Third. The means, substantially as described, for imparting motion to the action
block, viz., the lever handle H, the arm H', and notch in the spring plate forming
the back of the carrier block.
Fourth. The arrangement of the firing pins I¹ within the plungers and the
hammers I within the transversely moving action block, substantially as described.
Fifth. The improved cartridge feeder P with its arms P¹ and laterally pro-
jecting pins Ps, substantially as described, also the means for imparting motion to
the feeder.
.
Sixth. The extractor in one piece with its spring, and serving as a stop for the
firing pin, substantially as described.
Seventh. The magazine or cartridge hopper, in which the cartridges are held
and descend in an inclined position, with the bullet end raised until the cartridges
reach the lower end of the said magazine or hopper, where the cartridges assume
an horizontal position, substantially as described.
Eighth. The means by which the descent of the cartridges in the magazine or
hopper can be controlled at pleasure, viz., the application of the transverse bar a
and parts in connection therewith, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thorsten Nordenfelt, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
THORSTEN NORDENFELT. (L.S.)