USA 713
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.
MIGHILL NUTTING, OF PORTLAND, MAINE.
IMPROVEMENT IN MANY-CHAMBERED-CYLINDER FIRE-ARMS.
Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 713, dated April 25, 1838.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, Mighill Nutting, of Portland, in the State of Maine, have invented certain Improvements in Many-Chambered Fire-Arms; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows the appearance of the main portion of the gun when the whole is put together. In Fig. 2 the stock and the case which incloses the grooved cylinder are removed to exhibit the principal operating parts. Fig. 3 is a section of the chambered cylinder, the grooved cylinder, and a part of the barrel, and shows the bolt also, which serves as an axis to the cylinders, and which is so constructed that it can be readily taken out when it is desired to remove the chambered cylinder to substitute a charged one in its place or for any other purpose.
The many-chambered cylinder A and the grooved cylinder B are in distinct parts; but they are made to revolve together by means of the bolt or axis C, which passes through the former and into the latter. E F are two head-pieces, between which the chambered cylinder A is embraced, and through which the bolt C passes. This bolt is square at the parts a and and b, but is round elsewhere. The square portions fitting into corresponding parts in the two cylinders, they must necessarily revolve together when the bolt C is in place; but upon removing this bolt and withdrawing the pin upon the catch which holds the chambered cylinder, so that the chambers shall coincide with the bore of the barrel, the cylinder A may be removed. A sliding catch, d, is to be with drawn in order to the removal of the bolt C. There is an axis, e, on the rear end of the cylinder B, with a corresponding hole in the plate G.
The trigger His firmly attached to the setting-bolt or hammer I, which has on its lower side a pin, f, which slides back and forth in the zigzag grooves of the grooved cylinder, carrying it and the chambered cylinder so far round as to present each chamber successively to the bore of the barrel, the spiral spring g g and the shank which it surrounds being of such length as to allow the play requisite to enable the pin f to pass from one line of the zigzag groove to another. The small sliding bolt h falls into holes prepared to receive it in the rear end of the chambered cylinders, by which said cylinder is held in its place, excepting in the act of resetting. The catch i is on the end of a spring. Which is attached to the bolt h, and the projecting pin at j on the upper end of the trigger H draws the bolt h back to such distance as is necessary to disengage its pin from the chambered cylinders. This spring passes through a hole or mortise in the plate G, and it is consequently forced down toward i^2 as the trigger H is drawn back, this being caused by its bearing against the upper side of the mortise, thus disengaging the catch i from the pin j when the bolt his forced forward by the spring k acting upon its back end.
Upon the bolt or hammer I there is a plate of metal, which is pressed upon by the spiral spring l, for the purpose of keeping the pin f against the bottom of the zigzag grooves, so that the sliding of the hammer may be easy, and that the pin may act in the grooves with facility and certainty. When the trigger H, carrying the catch n, is drawn back to a sufficient distance the catch n is caught and held by the latch m in a way which will be clearly understood by the drawings, and the discharge is made by means of the trigger K. When it is desired to make the discharges in rapid succession the latch m is removed out of the way of the catch n by pressing upon the head o of the joint-piece p and allowing it to catch upon the stock-strap. This, it will be seen, will raise the latch m and throw it out of action, when, by drawing the trigger H back and allowing it to escape from the finger, the discharges may be made in rapid succession.
Having thus fully described all those parts of my gun which have anything new in their construction and combination, together with parts which are not claimed as new, but which it was necessary to notice in their connection with their general arrangement, it is to be understood that I do not claim the setting or revolving of the chambered cylinders by means of zigzag grooves, this having been previously done; but I do claim the manner of combining together the separate chambered and grooved cylinders by means of the bolt which forms the axis of the chambered cylinder and in part of the grooved cylinder, in the manner set forth, by which arrangement they are made to cooperate, while the clambered cylinder may be removed and another substituted for it. I do not claim the mere removal of the chambered cylinder by the withdrawal of a bolt; but, as above stated,
I claim only—
1. The particular manner invented by me of constructing and combining it with the accessory parts.
2. The combination and arrangement of the parts, as described, for holding back the hammer and its trigger, or for throwing the latch out of action, in the manner and for the purpose set forth.
MIGEHILL NUTTING.
Witnesses:
W. Thompson,
Nathaniel Marr.