US11198A - Improvement in breech-loading fire-arms - Google Patents

Description

A. N. NEWTON.

' Breech-Loading Fire-Arm Patented June 27,. 1854.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ABNER N. -NE\VTON, OF'RIOHMOND, INDIANA.

IMPROVEMENT IN BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.

S ecification forming part of Letters Patent No. ll,'l98., dated Jnnc27, 1854.

To all whom it may concern.-

v3e it known that I, ABNER N. NEWTON, of Richmond, in the county of \Vayne and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Breech-Loading Fire- Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is aside viewof apistol constructed according to my invention, having one sideof the shank which unites the barrel with the stock removed, to show the lock and the mechanism by which the breech-pinand the cock are operated. Fig. 2 is a similar view, showing only the mechanism for operating the breech-pin, and that in a different position to Fig. 1. Fig.3 is a section in the red line :0 as shown in Fi 1. Fig. 4 is a top view of the breech-pin. Fig. 5 is a back view of the fork and thumblever employed to draw back the breech-pin. Fig. -6 is a back viewof the cock. I

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

This invention consists in certain improvements in the method of arranging and operating a sliding breech-pin, and in the arrangement and means of operating the cock, whereby the repetition of charging and firing is enabled to be performed with great rapidity, and the arm can be carried and handledwith a very great degree of safety.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and 'use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

The barrel A is united with the stock by means of a hollow iron shank made in two parts, B C, of which the part B is capable of being readily detached, for the purpose of exposing the interior, and in each part or side of this shank is a groove, a, to receive a tongue, I), on either side of the sliding breech-pin D, and direct the movements of the said pin in a line with the barrel.

The construction of the breech-pin is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4. It has a part, d, capable of fitting closely in the back part of the chamber, and when that part c is in the chamber the part behind d fits to the rear of the cham- '.load the piece.

either-side, to receive one of the prongs of a forked lever, e e, which is firmlyattached to an arbor, E,'which corresponds with the tumbler-shaft of an ordinary fire-arm, and protrudes through the side 0 of the shank far enough to receive, outside the shank, the lever F, which I term the thumb-lever, and which is firmly attached to the arbor, for the purpose of drawing back the breech-pin to The arbor E has a spring, f, attached to it and to the side 0 of the shank in such a way that afterv the breech-pin has been drawn back by the action of the forked lever e e, and the lever F has been released, it will be returned to its place (as shown in Fig. 1) by the action of the spring. The charge, which is employed in the form of a cartridge, is placed .upon a shelf, 9, which is fixed close in the rear of the chamber and is left uncovered when the breech-pin is drawn back. The breech-pin is covered, when in place, as shown in Fig. 1, by a plate. h, which is attached to it by a screw-pin, i, so as to slide back and forth in grooves provided to receive it. The breech-pin has two other recesses,'j jone on each side-to receive the two sides of the lock-piece 7.1 7., which is of forked form and slides in upright grooves Z I in the sides B (J of the shank. This lockpiece is drawn down far enough to set free the breech-pin when it is desired to be drawn back, and is raised to lock it, when thrown forward, by the act-ion of a slotted plate, G, attached to or forming a portion of the forked lever c e, and a small lever, 11, which swings on a fixed fulcrum, m. The greater portion of, the slot n in the plate G is in the form of an are described from the center E, but a short piece at the back part is straight, as shown in Figs. 1, 2. One arm of the lever II. is furnished -with a pin, 0, which plays freely in the slot, and its other arm, m, which is curved, plays between the bottom of the lock-piece and a transverse pin, 17, attached to the same. \Vhen the drawing back of the thumb-lever commences, the action of the straight part of the slot upon the pin is such as to raise it and throw down the part which acts upon the lock-piece, thus throwing down the latter and unlocking the breech-pin. \Vhcu the arc-formed part of the slot receives the pin, no further motion of the her with a shoulder. .It has a recess, a, in lock-piece takes place, but the breech-pin is the breech-pin is in place.

- kept unlocked. In drawing back the thumbform, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, that they may act as'wedges in driving home the breech-pin.

The cartridge to be employed in this firearm is of that kind which is exploded by be- .ing pierced with a needle in the rear, which contains some detouating composition. The needle q is fitted to slide freely through the breech, and is held back by a spring, 3 so that its point does not protrude through'the breech-pin until the head at its back end is struck by the cook. the needle in other fire-arms. Thecock I is substantially like the rock of other guns, except that it is attached directly to the tumbler and is within the shank B 0, instead of outside the piece. It is fitted to work loosely on the 'arbor E, and is cocked by drawing back of the thumb-lever, preparatory to the loading of the piece, being thrown back simultaneously with the forked lever c c by means of a pin, 8, which is inserted transversely through the lower part of the .forked lever, and which comes in contact with the tumbler. The tumbler is represented as composed of two plates, tt, which both fit the shaft and receive between them the hub of the forked lever e e and plate G. The coekis held back by a catch, a, and feather-spring w in the usual way, which are set free by'the trigger J,-and it is made to strike when set free by a .mainspriug, '0, substantially like that commonly employed. (See Fig. 1.) The loading and discharging of the piece is performed in the following manner: The piece is held in the right hand in-the usual way, and the thumb-lever F, which occupies the place usually occupied bythe cock, is drawn back byth'e thumb until the tongues b b on the sliding breech-pin arrive at the back of the grooves f Y a a, as shown in Fig. 2,, and the lever can move no farther. During the early part of the move- "ment from the positionshown in Fig. 1,'the straight part of the slot n in the plate G is in operation on the stud o in drawing down the locking-piece 70 late unlock the sliding 'breeehpin, and by the time that is free the prongs of the forked lever e e have reached theback of the recesses c c and will commence moving This is substantially like back the breech-pin. The cock at the time the drawing back of the thumb-lever commences is in the position represented in red in Fig. 1; but about the same time as the breechpin commences moving the pin 3 comes in contact with the tumbler t t, and commencesthrowing back the cock, which issecured by the fallin g in of the catch it before thebreech-pin stops.

The cartridge is placed on the shelf 9 with the left hand, and the thumb-lever then setfree, when the sprin'gf'quicklydrives forward-the breech-pin and drivesthe charge into the barrel. .The piece is now ready to be discharged,

which is done by pulling the trigger in the or-- dinary way and setting free the ,hammer to strike and drive the needle forward.

Agun constructed on this plan may be loaded and fired from twenty to thirty times in a minute. It is more free than a gun ofordinary construction from" any liability to acciental explosion of the charge, as if the thumb lever is accidentally caught and moved while the gun is cocked, it does not affect the cock in any way.

\Vhat I claim as myinvention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The method herein described of operating the sliding breech-pin D by means of the lever c e, the thumb-lever F, and the spring f, all applied or attached to the arbor E, which forms the tumbler-shaft, and operating substantially as set forth.

2. Locking and unlocking the sliding breechpin by means of a locking-piece, k k, which slides in grooves in the stock or shank of the gun, and a lever, H, having a stud, 0, working freely in a slot of suitable form in a plate, G, attached to the same arbor as the levers by which the breech-pin is operated, the whole being arranged and operating substantially as set forth.

3. Fitting the cock and tumbler, or other equivalents usually secured to the tumblershaft E, loosely to the said shaft within the stock or shank of the piece, and causing the cock to be driven back, to cock the piece, by

means of af-pin, ,8, attached to the lever e e, by

which the sliding breech is moved back and forth,-whereby the slidingbreech is allowed to return afterthe cartridge is introduced and leave the piece cocked, substantially as herein described. ABNER N. NEWTON.

W itnesses! JOHN K. BOSWELL, Y

J OHN FINLEY.

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