IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lionel Gyc, late Royal Artillery, of Hampton,,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-ARMS.'
"
Sealed the 1st January 1874, and dated the 15th July 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lionel Gye at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th July 1873.
:
I, LIONEL GYE, late Royal Artillery, of Hampton, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for..>
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct the locks of breech-
loading fire-arms in such a manner that the piece may be fired by
pressing upon a thumb piece on the upper side of the stock in place of
by pulling a trigger below the stock as is now usual.
By the present mode of pulling the trigger with the finger there is a
tendency to pull the arm off to the right hand, but by placing the trigger
.

page_text: in such a position that it can be pressed by the thumb, the loosening of
the grip is prevented, and the line of fire remains unaltered. To effect
this I place at the rear of the breech action and lock a lever to act upon
the tail end of the sear, and to pass up to the upper side of the stock,
where it is formed into a thumb piece to be acted upon directly by the
thumb, or it may be there acted upon by a second lever having the
thumb piece upon it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Lionel Gye in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 15th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LIONEL
GYE, late Royal Artillery, of Hampton, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Lionel Gye, Her special license that I, the
said Lionel' Gye, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Lionel Gye, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to
time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Lionel Gye, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent
Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE. that I. the said Lionel Gve. do hereby declare

page_text: performed, to be particularly described. and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The object of this Invention is to construct the locks of breech-
loading fire-arms in such a manner that the piece may be fired by
pressing upon a thumb piece on the upper side of the stock in place of
by pulling a trigger below the stock as now usual.
By the present mode of pulling the trigger with the finger there is a
tendency to pull the arm off to the right hand, but by placing the
trigger in such a position that it can be pressed by the thumb the
loosening of the grip is prevented, and the line of fire remains unaltered.
To effect this I place at the rear of the breech action and lock a lever
to act upon the tail end of the sear, and to pass up to the upper side of
the stock, where it is formed into a thumb piece to be acted upon directly
by the thumb, or it may be there acted upon by a second lever having.
the thumb piece upon it.
In order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and.

page_text: the latter is altered in form, its arm being inclined upwards in place of
projecting horizontally.
-
H is the sear spring.
J, J, is the lever which opens and closes the block C; it works on 5
the pin 2. The form of this lever, as the Drawing shews, is varied in
consequence of the absence of the trigger; it is made to terminate in a
finger loop.
K is a lever working on the pin 3; one end of it acts upon the sear,
and the other projects through a slot formed for it in the tang, and 10
receives the pressure of the thumb to discharge the piece.
It is obvious that in place of a single lever, two levers may be inter-
posed between the sear and the point at which the pressure of the thumb
is applied.
I would remark that the breech mechanism may be much varied, and 18
in place of its being of the "drop block" class, it may be of the bolt or
other class. The method of acting on the sear or catch which retains
the hammer or striker remaining substantially unchanged.
What I claim is, the construction of breech-loading fire-arms, so that
the piece may be fired by pressing on a thumb piece arranged on the 20
upper side of the stock, by means substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Lionel Gye, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of January, in the year of.
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
TTANTT AVT