IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Rowland Richards and Samuel
Clement Willetts at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 7th December 1868.
We, ROWLAND RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Manufacturer, and SAMUEL CLEMENT WILLETTS, of Birmingham aforesaid,
Gun Action Filer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
Our Invention has reference to breech-loading fire-arms of the kind in
which the barrels turn in a vertical plane upon a joint on the body, the open
breech ends of the barrels being held firmly against the face of the break-off
on the said body during discharge, and lifted from the said break-off for
loading.
Our Invention consists in arranging or constructing in the manner berein-
after explained mechanism for working the bolt by which the breech ends of
the barrels are fastened to the body for discharge, and released from the said
body for loading. Immediately behind the break-off of the fire-arm a vertical
lever is situated, the said lever turning on a horizontal joint or axis at
the bottom of the body. The said lever lies in a recess formed in a rib at
the back of the break-off, and the free end of the said lever passes through
and works in a rectangular slot or opening in the tang of the break-off. The
said free end of the lever is provided with a thumb plate by which the lever
can be moved. At about the middle of the lever the sliding horizontal bolt
by which the breech ends of the barrels are locked to and released from the

page_text: body is jointed. The said bolt passes through an opening in the break off,
and the acting end of the said bolt is bevilled on its upper side. The free
end of a spring in the body of the fire-arm bears against the lever and
presses it against the back of the break-off and projects the bevilled end of
the bolt when it is at liberty to move into the space occupied by the breech
ends of the barrels when the barrels are shut down for discharge. On
shutting down the barrels, after charging, the lump on the under side of the
barrels forces back the bevilled end of the bolt until the slot or recess in
the lump comes opposite the said bolt, when the bolt springs forward by the
action of the lever and its bevilled end enters the said recess in the lump and
securely locks down the barrels, To release the barrels when the breech ends
are required to be raised for charging, the end of the lever above the tang is
pressed from the barrels and the bolt thereby withdrawn from the lump, and
the said barrels can then be raised for charging. The breech ends of the
barrels having been lifted from the body and the hand removed from the end
of the lever, the bolt again springs forward into the open space in the body
and is forced back on shutting down the barrels in the manner before
explained. When the barrels are fastened down a small plate connected to
the upper end of the lever closes the rectangular slot or opening in the tang.
When the lever is pressed from the break-off to release the barrels the said
plate bears against an inclined shoulder in the tang. The thumb plate of the
lever may be made into a sight either of the kind called a barleycorn sight, or
of the kinds called a V sight, or an orthoptic or other sight.
Our Invention may be applied both to single and double barrelled breech-
loading fire-arms.