CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16, Castle
Street, Holborn (City), London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."-A commu-
nication.
Sealed the 9th March 1855, and dated the 18th October 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard Lora-
doux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, ou the 18th October 1854.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn
(City), London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
communication, to be as follows, viz. :-
"
The nature and intention of my said Invention relates to, and consists in,
an improved formation and construction of the barrel, the stock, and the
breech of fire-arms, & in fitting and connecting them together, so formed
and constructed as to afford new facilities in the loading or placing the charge
therein and in discharging the same. My said Invention also extends itself
(as connected with, and forming part of, such improvements) to a new mode
of supplying, delivering, and affixing percussion caps to the nipple of the

page_text: lock from a magazine of the same, formed in the stock of the piece. These
constructions & operations I perform by placing side pieces on the stock, a
short distance forward from the breech of the barrel, & suspending the barrel
thereon by trunnions or centre pins, on which it is at liberty to be moved
vertically on an axle, allowing its rear end to be raised until the bore presents
itself in a position to receive the charge. The charge being placed, the barrel
is returned to its ordinary position in the stock, whereby the form of its rear
end and that of a corresponding form given to the front of a false breech,
affixed to the stock by a collar common to both, it is secured in its position for
discharge. Such forms of the rear end of the barrel, and that of the front
of the face of the false breech, are both of them cylindrical, & of concentric
curvature, the axis of the cylinder giving the curvature to these faces being
identical with that on which the barrel moves, to elevate the rear end of the
barrel, as above described.
The magazine is a straight longitudinal passage made in the stock, extend-
ing from the butt end to a point at a small distance behind the nipple. The
width and depth of the magazine passage is made to suit the dimensions of
the caps, and they are urged forward to the nipple by the movement of a
ratchet & a supporting spring, which being so connected with the tumbler of
the lock as to act simultaneously with it, and advance a cap to the nipple,
and fix it thereon, with each descent of the hammer in the act of discharging
the piece.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th April 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London,
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, Her special licence that I, the
said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the .said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,

page_text: 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 of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS," a communication, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, 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 Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say):-
This Invention relates, firstly, to a certain method of constructing the barrel,
and connecting it with the stock and breech, for the purpose of allowing it
to swing, and present the rear end of the bore for the reception of the
charge.
It relates, secondly, to certain means of making a secure and perfect con-
nection between the rear of the chamber and a fixed breech.
It relates, thirdly, to a certain arrangement whereby the caps are caused
to be supplied from a magazine in the stock to the nipple, as required, by the
movements of the hammer in cocking and discharging the piece.
The accompanying Drawing exhibits a gun containing: the above improve-
ments. Fig. 1 is a side view, Fig. 2 a top view, with one of the side plates
B, B, which attach the barrel to the stock, partly in section; Fig. 3 shows a
longitudinal section of the stock, breech, and magazine, with a side view of
the barrel; Fig. 4 exhibits a section of part of the stock and barrel, and a side
view of the breech; Fig. 5 is a transverse section, immediately in front of the
breech; Fig. 6 is a back view of the cock and tumbler, with a transverse
section of the magazine, showing the manner in which the feeding rack, by
which the caps are supplied, is operated; Fig. 7 is a transverse section of the
magazine; Fig. 8 is a side view, and Figs. 9 and 10, top views, of the front
part of the magazine, showing the arrangement of the springs which hold the
caps at the mouth. Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts
in the several Figs.
To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my Invention, I will
proceed. to describe its construction and operation.

page_text: A is the barrel of the gun; and B, B, are two side plates, which are firmly
secured to the stock C, for the purpose of attaching the barrel thereto in
such a way that it may raise up the rear end of its bore, as shown in Fig. 4,
to receive the charge. The barrel is attached to the side pieces by means of
two projections a, one on each side, opposite each other, cach entering a
recess 6 in one of the side plates. The front part of each projection forms
more than half a circle, from which it extends backwards in the form of a
wedge, or in two tangential lines, which meet and form an angle at the back
end, as shown in Fig. 3. The front part of each recess corresponds in form
with the front of the projection, but it extends backwards in two parallel
lines to the same length as the projection. The form of the recess is shown
in dotted outline in Figs. 1 and 3, and partly dotted and partly in bold outline
in Fig. 4. These forms of the projection and recess admit of a limited
swinging motion of the barrel, allowing it to change its position from that
shown in Figs. 1 and 3 to that shown in Fig. 4; in the former of which
positions the bottom of the projection rests on the bottom of the recess, and
in the latter the top of the projection is in contact with the top of the recess.
The thickness and depth of the projections and recesses is shown in Fig. 2,
where one of the side plates is shown partly in section.
The rear end of the barrel is in the form of an arc, described from the
imaginary axis, passing through the circles of the projections and recesses,
which constitutes the axis of oscillation of the barrel, and it fits close up to a
stationary breech D, having a face of corresponding form. The front part c of
the breech is made cylindrical, and the rear end of the barrel has a conical
termination d; and to the cylindrical part c of the breech and conical part d
of the barrel is fitted the loose breech collar D', which is bored to fit the
breech, and conically enlarged in front, to receive the rear end of the barrel.
This collar secures the barrel in position for firing. A spring S, applied as
shown in Fig. 5, or otherwise, may be used to force the collar D' forward, and
make a tight joint with the cone c of the barrel. The collar has two studs e,
one on each side, which pass through slots e, e, in the side plates, and are
furnished outside with knobs, by which to draw the collar backwards by the
hand to set the barrel free. The vent passes through the centre of the breech
to the nipple g, which is in a recess in the upper part of the rear of the
breech.
The magazine or receptacle for the caps 1, 1, consists of a tube E, extending
straight through the stock from the butt end to a point above, but a little in
rear of the nipple, as shown in Fig. 3. The transverse sectional form of this
tube is shown in Fig. 7, where it will be seen that its length is equal to

page_text: the height of the caps and its width to their diameter, and where it is shown
that there is a slot h in the bottom, which extends its whole length. The caps
are kept and urged towards the front of the tube by a follower or piston i, sce
Figs. 3 and 6, which fits to the tube, and has an elastic tongue j, which passes
through the slot h into a recess below the tube within the stock, and engages
with a ratchet rod k, which extends as far as the rear of the tube, and is con-
nected by a stud 7 with the tumbler m. Above its axis, the teeth of the ratchet
are of a pitch corresponding with the diameter of the caps, and thus every
time the gun is discharged, the descent of the hammer o brings forward the
ratchet, and thus urges forward the follower a distance equal to the diameter
of the caps, and thus forces one cap from the front of the tube; and every
time the hammer is drawn back in cocking, the receding of the ratchet bar
causes the spring tongue to pass over a tooth in advance of that by which it
was last moved.
Each cap, as it emerges from the tube E, is brought directly over the nipple,
and is driven on the nipple by the same blow of the hammer that explodes it;
but previously to its being struck by the hammer it requires to be held in the
proper position outside the tube. This is effected by means of two springs
n, n, which are attached to the sides of the tube near the front end, and act
like nippers, so that when a cap t is expelled from the tube they hold it, as
shown in Fig. 9, until it is struck, as shown in Fig. 3, by the hammer, which,
as it drives down, the cap passes between the jaws of the nippers. The springs
are each formed with a slight bend at u, behind the parts v, v, which hold the
cap outside the mouth, in order that when there is no cap outside the tube,
they may retain those which are within, as shown in Fig. 10. Slots x, x, are
provided in the sides of the tube for the springs to work through.
When the gun is required for service, the follower i is worked by the ratchet
out at the front end of the magazine, which is then filled with caps from the
rear end, and the follower inserted behind them. When it is desired to load
the piece, it should be held in the left hand, near the front of the stock, and the
collar D requires to be drawn back by the right hand far enough to free the
cone e, when the greater weight of that portion of the barrel in front of
the axis on which it oscillates causes it to descend, and throw up the rear end
to the position shown in Fig. 4, when it is ready to receive the charge, which
is, preferably, employed in the form of a cartridge. After the charge is
inserted, the rear end of the barrel may be forced down into its place by the
left hand, and the collar D¹ moved forward with the right; or if a spring S is
applied behind the collar, it will be thrown forward by the spring. As the
hammer is drawn back to cock it, the ratchet bar moves back, and one tooth

page_text: passes the spring catch ; of the follower; and when the trigger is drawn and
the hammer set free, the early portion of the descent of the latter moves
forward the ratchet bar and the follower i, and forces forward all the caps in
the tube E, forcing out the foremost one, which is prevented falling by the
action of the springs n, n, which hold it till the hammer strikes it down over
the nipple, and explodes it.
Having thus described the nature of this Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood.
that what I claim is,
1rst, connecting the barrel with the stock and stationary breech by means of
projections a, a, on its sides, one part of each of which is circular and another
part of wedge form; said projections fitting within recesses b, b, in plates B,
or their equivalents, attached to the stock, which said recesses correspond in
form with the circular part of the projections, but are wider than the wedge-
shaped parts thereof, substantially 'as described, and thereby admit of a limited
swinging movement of the barrel, for the purpose of exposing its rear end, as
herein set forth.
2d, the sliding collar D', sliding over the stationary_breech and the rear end
of the barrel, substantially as described, for the purpose of making a close joint
between the barrel and breech.
3d, though I do not claim the tube E, the piston i, ratchet bar k, and
springs n, n, separately, or irrespective of the particular arrangement shown, I
do claim the particular arrangement shown and described, whereby the follow-
ing results are obtained, viz.:-1rst, a sure forward movement of the caps
without the assistance of a spiral spring; 2d, convenience for replenishing the
tube without removing it from the stock; and, 3d, the explosion of a cap
already on the nipple without bringing another from the magazine.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the
year of our Lord 1855.
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)
A. E. LORADOUX BELLFORD. (L.S.)