USA 15167
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
FORDYCE BEALS, OF NEW HAVEN, CONNECTICUT.
IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 15,167, dated June 24, 1856.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, Fordyce Beals, of New Haven, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Constructing and Operating Revolving Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters marked thereon.
The nature of my invention consists in the combination and arrangement in which an arm pivot or axis is employed, passing through the hammer at its center of motion, moving or vibrating with it, it being connected at the arm to the pawl by which the cylinder is rotated, thus operating on the chambered breech or cylinder at a point remote from its center, thereby giving great force to its rotary movement, and also by this arrangement placing the working parts most liable to friction, requiring attention and frequent lubrication, in a position easily accessible.
To enable others skilled in the arts to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.
I construct my firearms in any of the known forms as to length, width of caliber, revolving a cylinder of any number of chambers that may be desired by the use of a pawl and ratchet; but to rotate the chambered breech A, as shown in accompanying drawings, I use the arm pivot or axis B, to which the pawl C is connected, the arm pivot or axis B being so connected with the hammer D (all of which are shown in accompanying drawings) as to move or vibrate with it, and thus by means of the arm pivot or axis B and its connection with the hammer D and the pawl C the chambered breech or cylinder A is operated upon by the pawl C at a point near its periphery, as shown at C in Figures 1 and 3, thereby giving greater force to the rotating movement of the chambered breech or cylinder than is obtained by others now in use. Another advantage in the use of the arm pivot or axis B and its connections is in the practicability of locating some of the working parts most liable to friction and disorder, requiring frequent lubrication, in a position of easy access, thus giving new facilities to the operator and more accuracy and reliability in the movement of the various parts.
I do not claim as my invention the use of a metallic frame connected with a chambered breech or cylinder by means of a pin passing through the frame and cylinder. Neither do I claim the invention of rotating the chambered breech by means of a pawl and ratchet in connection with the hammer; but
What I do claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is—
The arrangement and combination of parts, using the arm pivot or axis in its connection with the pawl and hammer, for the purpose of rotating chambered breech or cylinder, all of which are in the manner and for the purpose as herein described, using the arm pivot or axis in its combination and arrangement of parts, or any other contrivance substantially the same and producing the same effect.
FORDYCE BEALS.
Witnesses:
Robt. P. Beals,
Charles Iwes.