IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Whitworth, of Manchester, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND CARTRIDGES."
Sealed the 28th June 1867, and dated the 30th March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Whitworth at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1867.
I, JOSEPH WHITWORTH, of Manchester, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND
CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-arms and cartridges.
In constructing breech-loading rifles I arrange the barrel to slide to and fro
longitudinally. The stock has fixed to it a body or outer barrel, into which
the true barrel fits and in which it slides. The body encircles the barrel,
except that there is an opening on its under side with stiffening flanges pro-
jecting downwards from its edges, in between these flanges toggle levers for
actuating the barrels are contained. One of these levers, which is moved by
the hand of the operator, is jointed to the body near the front end of the
opening already mentioned, and it lies along on the under side of the piece, so
as when the breech is closed to form a trigger guard. To this hand lever at a
distance behind its fulcrum a link is jointed, which at the other end is attached
to a lump on the chamber at the rear end of the barrel close up against the

page_text: breech plate. These three joints are so made as not to depend on their pins
alone, but the head of each piece is fitted accurately into a corresponding
recess in the part with which it is connected, thus making knuckle joints.
The breech plate forms part of the body, and has a piston or striker to explode
the cartridge passing through it in the line of the axis of the barrel. On the
right-hand side of the body immediately in front of the breech plate there is
the opening for the insertion of the cartridge. The hammer works in the
centre line of the piece, and its comb projects through a slot in the tang of
the body; the chamber of the barrel may be made in one piece with it, or
may be screwed on to it. If a polygonal projectile is to be used the polygonal
bore of the barrel is continued in the chamber, but the bore of the chamber is
larger to the extent of the thickness of the cartridge case. For a cylindrical
projectile the bore of the chamber is cylindrical. The extractor to draw out
the cartridge case when the breech is opened consists of a little spring tooth
carried by the body, and fitting into a notch at the rear end of the chamber;
this tooth enters a ring groove in the back of the cartridge, and holds it back
when the barrel moves forward in opening the breech. When the breech is
opened and the hammer is raised the case falls out by the opening at the
bottom of the body. In loading when the breech is closed the incline of the
extractor tooth causes it to yield to let the base of the cartridge pass it until
it is able to spring forward into the ring groove formed for it. The cartridge
I prefer to employ has a solid metal back without any projecting flange, as
heretofore, the ring groove already mentioned being a substitute for it, and
more cheaply produced. The case of the cartridge I form of a copper tube
cut off to length, it is (if for a polygonal projectile) blocked to the form of
the chamber, and so that internally it exactly corresponds with the bore of the
piece, and is connected with the base of the cartridge by fitting into a groove,
which is then filled in with paper pulp or similar material; the percussion
arrangement in the base of the cartridge is of the ordinary central fire
description. After the powder has been introduced the cartridge case is
closed by the insertion of the bullet. The end of the cartridge case comes
against the shoulder where the chamber meets the barrel, and is so stopped in
its place. Fowling pieces and their cartridges may be constructed in a similar
manner.