Britain 1119
A.D. 1870, 16th April. № 1119.
Revolving Fire-arms.
(This Invention received Provisional Protection only.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Paul Jean Xavier Gunther and
Jacques Antoine Creuze de Latouche at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 16th April 1870.
We, Paul Jean Xavier Gunther and Jacques Antoine Creuze de Latouche of 2, Rue Sainte Appoline, Paris, Empire of France, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Improvements in the Construction of Revolvers,” to be as follows:—
This Invention has for its object improvements in fire-arms of the revolver class, and consists in the following:— To allow of easy cleaning and lubricating of the working parts of the mechanism we fix both ends of the pins or screws forming the fulcrums of the various moveable pieces in the two plates forming the, sides of the case or body of the pistol, gun, or rifle, and we form in one of these plates an opening or openings so as to lay said mechanism, and especially its working parts, open, and thus enabling us to inspect, get at, clean, and lubricate them. Au outer plate serves to cover the said openworked inner plate.
The object may be attained in various ways. The openworked plate may for instance be in one piece with tbc rest of the frame, and the covering plate attached to it by means of screws or catches; or it may be in form of braces fixed or attached to the rest of the frame. The screws for attaching the covering plate may be the fulcrum screws for the moveable parts of the mechanism. The covering plate may be hinged to the frame of the pistol and fixed by a bolt or catch, or fit in grooves in the cheeks of tbc frame. For military arms we prefer however to make it in one piece with the trigger guard, which at one end is hinged to the frame, fits into a groove on the under side of the same, and is fixed in that position by a pin or catch.
Our second improvement refers to the lever which causes tbe cylinder to revolve. This lever is generally difficult to put into its place, but, by forming the slot in which it moves in the openworked plate before mentioned, it is easy by bringing the lever in position to insert it in the slot, with the outside surface of which it is level or flush; it is held in its place by the covering plate. The trigger guard may be used to compress the trigger spring and rear spring, and a rear prolongation of the trigger guard in that case, having its fulcrum at the rear, may be used to compress the mainspring and bring it into action. The said springs, the trigger, sear, and other parts of the mechanism may be attached to the trigger guard, and hence be exposed to view when it is turned down In that case we prefer to make the moveable covering plate independent of the trigger guard, so that the mechanism may be visible whilst in working order. If a V spring be used we prefer the following arrangement:— A cross bar is put between the top and bottom. member of the rear part of the frame; part of the upper member is moveable on a hinge, and when open the spring is inserted and attached. to the tumbler; the bottom of spring rests on the lower member of the frame. The hinged top compresses the spring in being closed, and is fixed by a screw or catch. The insertion and removal of said spring is hereby rendered easy, and does not interfere with the woodwork of the arm. The cross bar also tends to stiffen the frame, and the wood checks are attached to the frame by means of one or more screws passing through the said cross bar.
The next part of our improvements refers to the cartridge extractor rod and to the means for attaching it to the pistol, and keeping it in place when not in use. In the end of the extractor rod we insert a screw with a head of a larger diameter than the rod. When at rest the royal is pushed home into a, semi-cylindrical cavity made to receive its end; the head of the screw then fits in the cavity formed in the breach plate in the recess in which the loading door enters when closed, the loading door in this case opening laterally. A cavity in the loading door covers the other half of the rod and screw head. When the door is closed the head of the screw cannot pass through. The rod may be either in the upper or lower part of the frame. D the loading door opens backwards a segment is cut off the head of the screw. When the door is closed the rod is turned slightly round, whereby it keeps the door and itself in a, fixed position, preventing accidental opening of the door. We prefer to attach the rod lo the pistol by a ring fitting on the barrel so that the axis of the rod comes in a line with the opening of the door; or we employ a flat riband spring of steel with eyes or lugs carrying the rod; these eyes being crossed the rod keeps the spring bent around the barrel, and a knob fixed on the barrel and working in a sot in the spring limits its rotation. On removing the screw the rod may be withdrawn. The rod when not returned is brought against the upper part of the frame and pressed against the breach plate. By inserting the rod in one of the chambers the same may be locked.
Another improvement consists in fixing on the wood the eyes through which the screws that serve for attaching the wood to the frame, thereby preventing the loss of the eyes when the pistol is taken to pieces; the screw any then be screwed outside in the eve and used as a handle to detach the wood from the frame. We thereby prevent the wood from being damaged, which is ordinarily the case, because of the necessity of using a knife or blade for detaching he wood.