IMPROVE- MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux
Ladougne, of Rue du Jour, No. 8, Paris, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES."
Sealed the 14th January 1868, and dated the 25th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Guillaume Laurent Barens
and Jean Fractueux Ladougne at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 25th July 1867.
We, GUILLAUME LAURENT BARENS and JEAN FRUCTUEUX LADOUGNE, of Rue
du Jour, No. 8, Paris, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS AND IN CARTRIDGES," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists, first, in a breech piece having a double chamber
applicable to sporting or other guns, one of the chambers being used for the
cap and the other for the cartridge; the breech piece also acts as a cartridge

page_text: extractor, and permits, in conjunction with the cartridge, of regulating the
carrying power of the gun.
Our Invention has also a new arrangement of action to tilt the barrels. The
barrels have a lump on the under side of the breech, which lump has a hole
in it to receive a bolt free to slide in the stock, which bolt is kept in place by
a spring; a spring is also fitted to the stock underneath the lump to tilt the
barrels on the bolt being withdrawn. A catch protruding from the under
side of the barrels in front of the hinge has a notch in which a spring hook
takes; this hook is actuated by a rod.
The barrels can be removed from the stock in the following manner :-
The lump or enlargement is freed by withdrawing the bolt, the hinge pin
is removed and the rod is pressed, which liberates the hook from the notch
in the catch. The exterior of the breech piece is slightly conical to fit into
a recess formed for it in the rear of the barrels. This breech piece is made
of two parts, first a ferrule or flat ring into which the cartridge is inserted,
and of a plug screwed into the rear end of the ring, which plug is pierced
with a hole; this hole is enlarged at its back end to form a chamber to receive
the cap and allow the fire to explode the charge on percussion taking place.
When the arm is discharged, and it is required to reload it, the barrels are
tilted by drawing back the locking bolt, when the breech piece comes partly
out of the breech by the aid of a spring placed in front of its flange. The
breech piece is then fully drawn out by hand, the empty cartridge case
removed, and another full cartridge inserted, and the breech piece replaced
in the breech; the spring prevents the breech piece being pushed quite into
its place until the barrels are brought back into position, when the breech
piece adjusts itself. This system of breech piece obviates the use of an
extractor, does not weaken the barrels, and admits of regulating the carrying
power of the arm.
The chief features of our Invention in fire-arms are the double chambered
breech piece and parts connected therewith for obviating the use of a separate
extractor and permitting the use of paper cartridges and the arrangement
above described for locking the barrels, also the facility of varying the forms,
dimensions, and materials of the several parts. The cartridge cases we
prefer to make entirely of paper without a copper base.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux Ladougne
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GUILLAUME
LAURENT BARENS and JEAN FRUCTUEUX LADOUGNE, of Rue du Jour, No. 8,
Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux Ladougne, Her special
licence that we, the said Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux
Ladougne, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we,
the said Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux Ladougue, our
execurs, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with and no
others, rom 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 BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
AND IN CARTRIDGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean Fructueux Ladougne, or one of us, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or one
of our 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 mouths next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Guillaume Laurent Barens and
Jean Fructueux Ladougne, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
Our Invention consists, first, in a breech piece hereafter described,
baving a double chamber, and applicable to sporting and other guns, one of
the chambers being used for the cap and the other for the cartridge; this
breech piece also acts as a cartridge extractor and permits of regulating the
carrying power of the gun, at the same time it prevents all escape of gas
and gives more security for the fire.

page_text: Our Invention also consists in a new arrangement or action to tilt-and
secure the barrels or barrel.
The improvements will be fully understood by the annexed Drawings and
the following description.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a sporting gun; Figure 2 shows the
barrel detached from the stock; Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a side view
and an end view of the breech piece.
b
.
The barrel a has a lump b on the under side of the breech, which lump.
has a hole in it to receive a bolt c free to slide in the part d of the stock; e
is a spring fitted behind the bolt c to keep it in the hole of the lump b; fis
a spring fitted underneath the lump 6 to facilitate the disengagement of the
barrel from the stock and to tilt it; this spring also serves as a stop to the
bolt c when the barrel is tilted. When the barrel is returned to position the
lump bearing upon the spring f disengages the bolt c, which actuated by
its spring then enters the hole of the lump. A catch or lug 9 protruding
from the under side of the barrel in front of the hinge has a notch into which
a spring plate h takes; this plate is actuated by a button k which is pressed,
and the action of which is to cause the plate h to enter and withdraw from
the catch g. The barrels can be removed from the stock in the following
manner-The button k is pressed to disengage the catch, then the barrel is
drawn to free the prolongation of the plate h¹ from the lump 6. The hinge j
is formed by the front portion of the stock. The breech piece is slightly
conical and fits into a recess formed for it in the rear of the barrel; it is
made of two parts, first a ferrule or ring into which the cartridge is inserted
as indicated in dotted lines in Figure 1, and of a plug screwed into the
rear end of the ring; in a chamber or recess in the plug is a nipple on which
the cap m is placed, and this nipple corresponds with the hole n which
communicates the fire to the powder when the percussion takes place. The
two parts and being screwed together they may be separated if necessary.
The chamber of the breech piece is closed by a door or flap o pierced with a
hole, which leaves the cap exposed for the percussion. After firing the
barrel is tilted by drawing back the bolt c by its handle c, the breech piece
is withdrawn, a fresh cartridge is placed therein, the breech piece is then
replaced in the barrel, and the parts are returned to position for firing. Our
breech piece obviates the use of an extractor, does not weaken the barrel, and
We make the cases of
admits of regulating the carrying power of the arni.
cartridges for these arms entirely of paper without a copper base or socket.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim,―

page_text: First, the construction and employment in breech-loading fire-arms of the
double chambered breech piece arranged and acting substantially as herein-
before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the arrangements of parts, substantially as herein-before described
and represented in the accompanying Drawings for locking and unlocking the
barrel or barrels of breech-loading fire-arms, and for facilitating the disengage-
ment of the barrel or barrels from the stock.
Third, the manufacture of cartridges for our fire-arms as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Guillaume Laurent Barens and Jean
Fructueux Ladougne, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this
Eleventh day of January, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
15 Witness,
CH. ARMENGAUD, Jeune,
Civil Engineer,
Boulevard de Strasbourg, 23,
Paris.
G. L. BARENS.
(L.S.)
J. F. LADOUGNE. (L.S.)