IMPROVEMENTS IN WHAT ARE KNOWN AS SELF-COCKING OR HAMMERLESS' FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dickson, tertius, of Edinburgh, in the County of
Midlothian, North Britain, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHAT ARE
KNOWN AS SELF-COCKING OR HAMMERLESS' FIRE-ARMS."
'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dickson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 23rd January 1880.
JOHN DICKSON, tertius, of Edinburgh, in the County of Midlothian, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHAT ARE KNOWN AS SELF-COCKING OR HAMMERLESS'
FIREARMS."
The said Invention relates to improvements in what are known as self-cocking
or "hammerless" fire arms, and has for its objects to effect the self-cocking of such
fire-arms in an easy and efficient manner by means of an arrangement which
renders the fire arm capable of being put together or mounted and dismounted
with ease, requiring no key or similar mechanical contrivance to put the gun in
order for mounting.
According to the said Invention a bar is capable of sliding longitudinally under
the lump in the body or action, the said bar being in contact at its fore end with a
projection upon the fore part iron, which projection when the barrels are raised for
loading moves round the axle or joint pin, and bearing upon the said sliding bar
forces it back. The said sliding bar is extended transversely at its back end, and
is there provided with horns, or projections, or recesses, between or in which engage
the tails of cams or tumblers, the other ends of the said cams or tumblers bearing
upon the tails of the hammers; thus, when the breech is opened to receive the
charge, the projection on the fore-part urges back the sliding bar under the lump
in the body, so that its other end acts upon the cams or tumblers aforesaid, and
raising their back ends which bear upon the tails of the hammers effect the raising
of the said hammers to full cock.
Although the Invention is hereinbefore described with reference to a double-
barrelled firearm, yet it may be applied also to firearms with single barrels.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said John Dickson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 21st July
1880.
JOHN DICKSON, tertius, of Edinburgh, in the County of Midlothian, North
Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN WHAT ARE KNOWN AS 'SELF-COCKING' OR 'HAMMER-
LESS FIREARMS."
,
My said Invention relates to what are known as self-cocking or "hammerless
fire-arms, and has for its objects to effect the self-cocking of the internal hammers
of such fire arms on the opening of the breech in an efficient manner by mechanism
which is of simple construction, little liable to get out of order, and which at the
same time allows of the parts being readily put together or separated, and the barrels
mounted and dismounted with readiness and ease.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
to describe the manner in or under which the same is or may be used or practically
carried into effect, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal section a portion of the action of a fowling
piece, in which are shewn such parts as are necessary for the illustration of my
Invention; Figure 2 is a view similar to that which is given in Figure 1, but
shewing the hammer in the cocked position and the barrels tilted for opening the
breech. The said sections, Figures 1 and 2, are false sections, that is to say, they
are not taken in one straight line, but are taken in lines such as are best suited to
shew clearly the mechanism which they illustrate; Figure 3 represents a plan of
the underside of the body in section, in order to show the parts of the mechanism
enclosed within it; Figures 4 to 9 represent details and modifications, as herein-
after described.
My said Invention is applicable to both single and double barrel fire arms. I
describe it with reference to the accompanying Drawings in connection with the
operation of one of the hammers of a double barrel fire arm, as from this descrip-
tion its application to both double and single barrel fire arnis will be readily
understood.
In a recess under the body a is a bar b capable of sliding longitudinally in the
said recess. Figure 4 represents a plan of the said bar b, the said bar being secured
in position by the strap piece a³, the slotted hole be in the said bar being for the
passage of the screw which secures the said strap piece to the body. The bar bis
extended transversely at its back end, so that it has a T form, and at each of the
ends of this transversely extended part are horns or projections b³ forming recesses
between them, in which engage the tails of cams, levers, or tumblers, or projections
from such tails, as at c, the horns 63 at one end of the cross piece of the bar b being
for effecting the cocking of the hammer of the one barrel, and the horns 63 at the
other end of the said cross piece being for effecting the cocking of the hammer of
the other barrel of a double barrelled gun, it being understood that in double barrel
fire arms the mechanism upon which the said horns 63 act is duplicated on the
other side of the action for operating upon the other hammer of the fire arm, so that
an action similar to that which I describe as taking place in regard to the mechanism
shewn in Figures 1 and 2 simultaneously takes place upon the said duplicate
mechanism for cocking the hammer of the other barrel. Each of the tumblers or
levers e is of a bell crank form, and turns upon a pivot at e², the one end of the
said tumbler engaging, as before described, between the horns 63, and the other end
of the said tumbler being preferably provided with an anti-friction roller which
bears upon the portion of the hammer fat f2. The hammer f turns upon a pivot
or axis at f³. The sear which engages with the detent or bont f* to hold the
hammer in its cocked position is marked g, and the scar spring is marked g². The

page_text: main spring, by which the hammer f is returned when the trigger is operated to
release the sear from the detent in the said hammer, is marked h. The fore-part
iron i has upon it at the back part (that is, at that part which bears upon the
body a) a projection i³, as shewn also in Figure 5, which represents the back part
of the said fore-part iron. When the breech is opened for loading, the barrels and
fore-part iron turn upon the axle or joint pin k, and the said projection i³ presses
upon the bar b and urges it forward in the groove or recess under the body a, so
that the tails of the tumblers or levers e held between the horns b³ of the said bar b
are pressed back, and the other ends of the said tumblers press upon the parts f
of the hammers f, and force the said hammers back against the action of the main
springs into their cocked position, as represented in Figure 2, in which position
they are held by the sears g. On closing the breech of the fire-arm after loading
the projecting portion on the lump engages in the recessed part 6 of the bar b,
and draws the said bar back to the position Figure 1. The sear g is released by
the trigger (the trigger not being shewn in the Drawings) to discharge the cartridge
in the ordinary way, the hammer on being released returning by the tension of the
main spring h to the position Figure 1, and causing the needles or strikers to
explode the cartridges.
As shown in Figures 1 and 2, both the axis of the levers or tumblers e and the
axis of the hammers f have their bearings in the lock plate, the other side of their
bearings being in a plate 7 (Figure 3), fastened to the lock plate by screws passing
into holes at (Figures 1 and 2), so that by removing the screws which secure the
lock plate to the gun the said lock plate and the tumblers e and hammers fand
other mechanism carried by the said lock plate can be readily removed and after-
wards replaced with ease without requiring a key or similar instrument to put the
gun in order for mounting.
The bearings for the axis of the levers or tumblers e may be in the body a, as
shewn in longitudinal section in Figure 6, and in plan in Figure 7, in which
Figure 7 the body is shewn in section, the recesses a³ in the said body being for
the reception of the said tumblers or levers e. The other parts are or may be
similar to those hereinbefore described, and those shown are marked with the same
letters of reference.
The tumblers or levers e, Figures 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, of double barrel guns, may not
only be operated by one bar b having a cross piece at its rear end, as shewn at
Figures 3 and 4, but the two tumblers e may each be operated by independent bars
b, b, as shewn in Figure 7, each sliding in a recess formed for it in the body a, there
being two projections 1, 2, on the fore part iron i, so situated as to press upon the
said bars b, b, on opening the breech, and cause the cocking of the hammers in the
same manner as that described with reference to Figures 1 and 2. The bars b may
be returned to their normal position by the recoil of the hammers or by a spring
specially provided for the purpose, or they may be returned to that position by the
action upon them of projections x, as herein before described with reference to
Figures 1, 2, and 4.
In place of the hammers, sears, and mainspring being fixed on ordinary lock
plates, as in Figures 1 to 7, they may be fixed to the trigger plate, which is furnished
with lugs, as shewn in Figure 74, to carry the centre pins, and for the hammer and
sear and the supports for the main spring, which in the arrangement here shewn
also acts as a sear spring. In this case the ordinary side locks are done away with.
The sliding bar (b) and lever (e) and the hammer (f) are otherwise arranged, as
already described with reference to the preceding Figures, the said lever e being
fixed in the body or action. In double barrelled fire arins thus arranged there may
be one sliding bar similar to that shewn at Figure 4, or there may be two sliding
bars, as in Figures 6 and 7.
In place of the intervening tumblers e being employed to transmit the movement
to the bar or bars in the body to the hammers, the said bar or bars may be situated
so that it bears or they bear directly upon the hammer or hammers. Figures 8 and
9 illustrate in the uncocked and cocked positions respectively a portion of a fire-

page_text: arm, the hammer f of which is operated by the direct bearing of the bars b there-
upon. The said bar bis situated at an angle, and its ends bear respectively upon
the projection on the fore-part iron i and upon the hammer f. On the breech
being opened for charging the said projection is urges back the bar b, which by
bearing on the hammer f presses it back into the cocked position, as shewn in
Figure 9. In double barrelled guns the bar b under this arrangement may be single
with a cross head after the manner of the bar, Figure 4, for bearing upon both
hammers, or there may be a bar for each hammer.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may
be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do
not limit myself to the precise details hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my said Invention; I would also observe that I do not lay a general claim
to the actuation of the hammer or hammers by a rod or rods sliding in the body, as
the hammers and strikers of "drop down" guns have been constructed so that a
sliding rod or rods is or are actuated by a projection on the underside of the barrels
or on the lump, so that the said rod or rods is or are caused to slide in a groove in
the body to cock the hammer or hammers; but what I consider to be novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in
part recited Letters Patent is,—
First. The herein before described improvements in what are known as self-
cocking or "hammerless" fire-arms, whether single or double barrelled, the said
improvements consisting in an arrangement of mechanism wherein the cocking of
the hammer or hammers is effected by a projection or projections (i³) on the fore-
part iron so acting on a bar or bars (b), or its or their equivalent, as to cause the
cocking of the hammer or hammers on opening the breech, essentially as herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, whether the said
cocking be effected through the intervention of a tumbler or lever (e) or its equiva-
lent, or through the direct action of the said bar or bars upon the face of the
hammers or strikers.
Second. Connecting the bar (b) and the lever (e) (or its equivalent) essentially as
hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to
Bay, providing the said bar with horns (63), in which the tail of the tumbler or
lever (e) (or its equivalent) or a projection therefrom engages, so that when the
said lever or other mechanism are carried by the lock plate the said connection will
allow of the said plate and mechanism being readily remove from and replaced upon
the body or action.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dickson, tertius, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord Onc
thousand eight hundred and eighty.