IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING RIFLES & OTHER GUNS, & IN CARTRIDGES TO BE USED WITH SUCH LIKE FIRE-ARMS, ALSO IN SHOT USED WITH RIFLED GUNS
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Palliser at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th March
1860.
I, WILLIAM PALLISER, of Comiagh, in the County of Waterford, Captain
H. M. 18th Hussars, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING RIFLES & OTHER GUNS, & IN CARTRIDGES TO
BE USED WITH SUCH LIKE FIRE-ARMS, ALSO IN SHOT USED WITH RIFLED GUNS,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, first, to improvements in breech-loading fire-arms,
and although principally adapted for rifles, it is also applicable to other fire-
It consists in the peculiar mode of applying breech-pieces which are
jointed o& swing out of the line of the barrel; also in the method of closing
the junction by the particular insertion of a copper or other metal ring or tube
and the method of forcing up and sustaining the breech-piece in position for
firing. The breech-piece is received in a recess made for it in the metal of
the barrel at its rear, and in rifles and other small arms the joint on which it
is mounted is at the fore end of the breech-piece and on the top of the barrel, so
that when the breech is opened this piece lies on the barrel towards the muzzle.
In order that it may be inclined to the barrel, I carry the joint knuckles some
height above the barrel; and which are sufficiently appart to be clear of the
sights in aiming. The breech-piece comprises the chamber for receiving the
cartridge or charge, which is readily introduced by dipping the muzzle of the
gun a little; this, with the inclined position before mentioned of breech-piece,
brings it somewhat near a vertical position, which is very convenient for

page_text: loading. The breech end of the bore of the barrel is coned to form a seating
for a short copper tube fitted into and forming part of the breech-piece; this
copper tube is conical, and terminates in a sharp edge in the line of the bore.
The conical part projecting from the breech-piece enters the conical seating,
and is forced therein when placed in position. To force up the breech and
sustain the shock of the discharge, I apply a cylinder across the back part and
behind the solid end of the breech-piece, this cylinder has a solid bearing in
the metal behind the breech, which is of a piece with the barrel, it rotates on
its axis, and is furnished with a lever disposed at the side of the rifle, whereby
to effect such rotation, the cylinder for the most part fits into a recess across
the back end of breech-piece, but has a flat produced at one part which frees
the breech-piece, and allows of its rising; when the cylinder is turned from its
position the motion causes it to bear hard against the breech-piece, thereby
forcing and holding it up firmly to its seating, and preventing any tendency to
recoil or rise while firing. The lever of this cylinder is so formed, that if the
breech-piece is not secured, or imperfectly so, the hammer of the gun strikes
it, and renders the locking perfect before the discharge takes place. This
cylinder piece, instead of being cylindrical, may be slightly eccentric. In
large guns the breech-piece may swing out sideways instead of rising, or it may
be otherwise disposed.
;
י
The second part of my Invention relates to cartridges used in connection
with breech-loading fire-arms, and which, consists in making cartridges with
small precussion tubes; these project from the side of the cartridges, and the
projecting part is struck by the hammer in firing.
The last part of my Invention relates to iron shot used with rifled guns,
which consists in forming shot cylindrical in the body to fit the bore of the
gun; & in order to give effect to the riffling, I fix one, two, three, or more
pins, of brass by preference, in the shot, and so as to project radially beyond
the body, these projections are fitted to the rifled grooves, and therefore impart
the rotatory motion to the shot in passing out of the gun. These projections
extend but a very short length of the shot, and therefore permit of the use of
rifling of a very increasing pitch.