IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Newark, of the City of Coventry, in the
County of Warwick, Engineer and Gunsmith, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 8th February 1868, and dated the 22nd August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Newark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd August 1867.
- I, JOHN NEWARK, of the City of Coventry, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer and Gunsmith, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention.
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to those kinds of breech-loading fire-arms in which
the breech end is openened for loading and closed for discharge by.a block or
closer hinged to the breech end of the barrel; and my said Invention consists
of the arrangement or combination of parts herein-after described for fastening.
down the hinged blocks, and actuating the discharging pins or strikers of the
said fire-arms.
In constructing a breech-loading gun or rifle according to my Invention, I
arrange or combine the parts in the following manner :-The block or closer
by which the breech chamber or shoe of the gun or rifle is opened and closed
may be hinged to either side of the breech chamber or to the end of the
barrel, and in the axis of the said block is a pin or striker by which the gun
is discharged.. I introduce into the tail pin or rear end of the breech
chamber or shoe a piston or sliding bolt, the said piston or bolt being of the

page_text: size of and situated in a line with the pin or striker in the axis of the hinged
block; this piston or bolt is pressed inwards so as to lie flush with the face
of the tail pin by means of a coiled spring. On about the middle of the axis
of the tumbler of the lock, and behind the head of the piston or bolt described
a cam or arm is fixed; or the said cam or arm may be made in one piece with
the said axis. When the cartridge has been introduced into the barrel of the
gun or rifle, and the hinged block has been shut down into the breech chamber
by pulling the trigger of the lock, the cam or arm described on the axis of
the tumbler is made to act upon the head of, the piston or bolt in the tail pin
and project it towards the muzzle of the gun or rifle. On the advance of
the piston or bolt it is made to strike the pin or striker in the hinged block,
and explode the cartridge and discharge the gun or rifle, and at the same
time by entering the hole in the block in which the pin or striker works to
effectually fasten down the block during the discharge of the gun or rifle.
When it is wished to reload the gun or rifle the can or arm is lifted from
the head of the piston or bolt in the tail pin by means of a lever fixed on
the axis of the tumbler, and situated in front of the lock plate. On removing
the cam or arm from the piston or bolt the latter is withdrawn from the
hinged block into the tail pin by means of its coiled spring; the hinged
block may now be raised for reloading. The exploded cartridges may be
removed from the barrel on opening the breech by means of an extractor
attached to the joint of the hinged block or worked in any other convenient
manner.
-By my improvements great simplicity, strength, and security. in the dis-
charge of the gun or rifle are obtained and the breech parts and barrels are
left clear from any obstruction to the sight. The working parts are also
protected from wet and dirt.
My improvements may be employed. in the conversion of the ordinary
muzzle-loading Enfield or other guns or rifles into breech-loading guns or
rifles, or in the construction of new guns or rifles..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Newark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
NEWARK, of the City of Coventry, in the County of Warwick, Engineer
and Gunsmith, send' greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of August, 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 me,
the said John Newark, Her special licence that I, the said John Newark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
John Newark, my executors, administrators, 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 Newark, my executors or administrators, by an instru
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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 months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that the said John Newark, '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 thereof, that is to say :-
"My Invention relates to those kinds of breech-loading fire-arms, in which
the breech end is opened for loading and closed for discharge by a block or
closer hinged to the breech end of the barrel; and my said 'Invention' consists
of the arrangement or combination of parts herein-after described for fastening
down 'the hinged blocks and actuating the discharging pins or-strikers of-the
said fire-arms.
.. ¡
In constructing a breech-loading gun or rifle according to my Invention I
arrange or combine the parts in the following manner :-The block or closer
by which the breech chamber or shoe of the gun or rifle is opened and closed
may be hinged to either side of the breech chamber or to the end of the
barrel; and in the axis of the said block is a pin or striker by which the gun
is discharged. introduce into the tail pin or rear end of the breech chamber
or shoe a piston or sliding. bolt, the said piston or bolt being of the size of
and situated in a line with the pin or striker in the axis of the hinged block,
this piston or bolt is pressed inwards so as to lie flush with the face of the tail
pin by means of a coiled spring; on about the middle of the axis of the
tumbler of the lock and behind the head of the piston or bolt described a cam

page_text: or arm is fixed, or the said cam or arm may be made in one piece with the
said axis. When the cartridge has been introduced into the barrel of the
gun or rifle, and the hinged block has been shut down into the breech chamber,
by pulling the trigger of the lock the cam or arm described on the axis of the
tumbler is made to act upon the head of the piston or bolt in the tail pin and
project it towards the muzzle of the gun or rifle. On the advance of the
piston or bolt it is made to strike the pin or striker in the hinged block and
explode the cartridge and discharge the gun or rifle, and at the same time by
entering the hole in the block in which the pin or striker works to effectually
fasten down the block during the discharge of the gun or rifle. When it is
wished to reload the gun or rifle, the cam or arm is lifted from the head of
the piston or bolt in the tail pin by means of a lever fixed on the axis of the
tumbler and situated in front of the lock plate. On removing the cam or arm
from the piston or bolt, the latter is withdrawn from the hinged block into
the tail pin by means of its coiled spring; the 'hinged block may now be
raised for reloading; the exploded cartridges may be removed from the
barrel on opening the breech by means of an extractor attached to the joint of
the hinged block or worked in any other convenient manner.
By my improvements great simplicity, strength, and security in the discharge
of the gun or rifle are obtained, and the breech parts and barrels are left clear
from any obstruction to the sight, the working parts are also protected from
wet and dirt.
My improvements may also be employed in the conversion of the ordinary
muzzle-loading Enfield or other guns or rifles into breech-loading guns or rifles,
or in the construction-of new guns.
Having explained the nature of my Invention I will proceed to describe
with reference to the accompanying Drawing the manner in which the same is
to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2.in plan,
the breech end of a breech-loading gun containing my improvements, the
parts of the gun being in the positions which they respectively occupy after
the
gun has been discharged; Figure 3 represents the same with the breech
block or closer opened and the gun ready to be loaded; Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
and 9 are parts of the gun as herein-after explained. The same letters
of reference are employed to indicate the same parts in each Figure of the
Drawing.
a is the barrel of the gun, and 6 the breech chamber or shoe; c is the breech
block or closer turning on the pin d at the side of the said chamber or shoe b in
the ordinary way. The block or closer cis shown separately in end elevation in

page_text: 3.
the said axis. On the axis p of the
lever r, by means of which the cam
of the sliding bolt k, as represented
Figure 4, side elevation in Figure 5, and plan of under side in Figure 6; e is the
pin or striker in the axis of the block or closer c, the acting end of which pin or
striker is forced inwards by means of the coiled spring f;, the pin or striker e is
shown separately in Figure 7. Rotatory motion of the said pin or striker is pre-
vented by the stud 9 engaging in the slot h in the pin or striker. In the tail
pin i and in a line with the pin or striker e is a piston or sliding bolt k urged
towards the butt end of the gun and made to lie flush with the face of the said
tail pin by means of the coiled spring as seen in Figure 3. Rotatory motion
in the sliding bolt k is prevented by the stud m engaging in the slot n; the
sliding bolt kis shown separately in Figure 8; the diameter of the outer end
of the bolt k is a little less than that, of the rear end of the opening in the
block in which the pin or striker e works. Fixed on the axis p. of the
tumbler of the gun lock and situated behind the head k of the bolt k, is a
cam or arm q, carried by a disk q²; the said cam or arm 9 is represented
separately in Figure 9, and the construction of the said cam or arm will be
readily understood by an examination of the said Figure 9. Instead of making
the said arm or cam separately from the axis p of the tumbler, the said arm
or cam may be made in one piece with
tumbler and outside the lock plate is a
or arm q may be lifted from off the bead
in Figure 3. The said lever r also serves to cock the gun as herein-after
explained. The tumbler and other parts of the mechanism of the lock of the
gun are of the ordinary kind, I therefore do not consider it necessary either
to represent or describe the said parts of the lock. The parts of the gun
being in the positions represented in Figure 3, a cartridge is introduced into
the barrel a through the open breech chamber b; by shutting down the block
or closer c the breech chamber 6 is closed in the manner represented in
Figures 1 and 2, and the gun is ready to be discharged, the said block being
held in its place by the round-beaded spring bolt s snapping into a recess in
front of the tail pin i (see Figure 1). To discharge the gun it is first brought
to full cock by raising the lever r and the trigger t is then pulled. On pulling
the trigger t the cam or arm q on the axis p of the tumbler strikes against the
head of the bolt k projecting the said bolt towards the muzzle end of
the gun; on the advance of the bolt k it is made to strike and advance the
pin or striker e in the block c and cause the said pin or striker to explode the.
cartridge and discharge the gun, the front end of the said sliding bolt k
entering the hole in the block c in which the pin or striker e works, and
during the discharge of the
thereby securely fastening down the said block
gun. After the discharge of the gun the parts assume the relative positions

page_text: represented in Figures 1 and 2. To reload the gun the lever r is first raised
so as to lift the arm or cam 9 from the head of the bolt k, when the said
bolt is forced inwards by its spring 7 and withdrawn from the block e and
made to lie flush with the face of the tail pin 'as illustrated in Figure 3,
the hinged block c may now be raised into the position represented in the said
Figure 3 and the gun is again ready for loading; by the raising of the lever r
the
gun is brought to -half-cock. The cases of the exploded cartridges are
removed from the barrel by means of an extractor u on the joint pin of the
block c. The said extractor constitutes no part of my Invention, other extractors
may however be used with my improvements. Instead of jointing the block
or closer ca to the right-hand side of the breech chamber or shoe bas
represented in the Drawing, the said block may be jointed to the left-hand
side of the chamber or to the end of the barrel. By an examination of the
Drawing it will be seen that the breech parts and barrel are left clear from
any obstruction to the sight and that the whole of the working parts are
protected from wet and dirt by being concealed in the stock of the gun. .
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but
I claim as my Invention the improvements in Breech-loading fire-arms
herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing, that is
to say, the arrangement or combination of parts described and illustrated for
fastening down the hinged blocks or closers and actuating the discharging
pins or strikers of the said fire-arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Newark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN NEWARK. (L.s.)