IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH- LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Crofts, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gunmaker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-
LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
Sealed the 3rd October 1866, and dated the 11th April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Crofts at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th April
⚫ 1866.
I, JOHN CROFTS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gunmaker,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
My Invention refers to breech-loaders constructed upon the break-down
principle, and consists of improvements in the locking and unlocking action
which is effected by means of a lever-spring grip. A pin passes through the
false breech vertically, this pin has formed upon its lower end, solid with itself,
a cam which engages in the grip or lump on the under side of the barrels,
the upper end of the pin is provided with a lever working in a horizontal
plane on the back strap; the under side of the lever where it fits on the
pin is furnished with a collar which fits into a countersinking on the false
breech where the pin passes through; a distance pin or stud is fixed on the
under side of the body to regulate the play of the cam, and a spring at the
back of the false breech operates upon the back of the cam to throw it into
the catch of the lump or grip on the bottom of the barrels. Instead of a cam

page_text: a bolt may be employed working horizontally, and in the arc of a circle passing
into or through the lump. The inside of the under part of the body is made
perfectly flat instead of with the usual projecting flange or ribs which enables
mo to cover the whole of the under action with the stock.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Crofts in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 11th
· October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN CROFTS,
of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gunmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of April, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Crofts, Her
special license that I, the said John Crofts, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said John Crofts, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Crofts, 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 John Crofts, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
This Invention refers to breech-loaders constructed upon the break-down
principle, and consists of improvements in the locking and unlocking action
which is effected by means of a lever-spring grip. A pin passes through the
false breech vertically, this pin has formed upon its lower end, solid with itself
a cam which engages in the grip or lump on the under side of the barrels
the upper end of the pin is provided with a lever working in a horizontal plan

page_text: on the back strap, the under side of the lever where it fits on the pin is
furnished with a collar which fits into a countersinking on the false breech
where the pin passes through; a distance pin or stud is fixed in the under side
of the body to regulate the play of the cam, and a spring at the back of the
false breech operates upon the back of the cam to throw it into the catch of
the lump or grip in the bottom of the barrel. Instead of a cam a bolt may
be employed working horizontally, and in the arc of a circle passing into or
through the lump. The inside of the under part of the body may be made
perfectly flat instead of with the usual projecting flange or ribs which enables
me to cover the whole of the under action with the stock.
Referring to the annexed Drawings, which represent only such parts of the
gun as are affected by my improvements, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section
through the action of a double breech-loading gun; Figure 2 a plan of the
under side of the action; Figure 3 a plan of the upper side of the action; and
Figure 4 a tranverse section of the same upon the line X, Z.
(a) is the pin passing vertically through the false breech, and having formed
solid upon its lower end a cam (6) engaging in the grip or lump (c); (d) is the
lever fitting on the pin (a) by the collar and countersinking at (e); (f) is
the distance pin regulating the play of the cam; (g) is the spring operating
upon the back of the cam to throw it into the catch of the lump or grip in
shutting down the barrels, after which a slight horizontal and circular motion
of the lever bringing it home upon the back strap completes the locking of the
parts by forcing the cam (6) into the jaw of the lump or grip (c), turning the
lever into the position shewn in dotted lines; Figure 3 releases the parts and
throws the breech end of the barrels up for charging.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I claim the improvements in the construction of
the locking parts of grip action breech-loaders in manner herein more fully
set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Crofts, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
2
JOHN CROFTS. (L.B.)