Britain 2167
A.D. 1886, 15th February № 2167.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fire-arms with Movable Cartridge-chambers.
I, Henry Pieper, manufacturer, residing at Liege, kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:—
My invention relates to fire-arms having cartridge-chambers that are separate from and movable in respect to the barrel, such as revolvers and others, and its object is to prevent an escape of gas through the joint between any chamber and the barrel by means of the cartridge-case.
For this purpose the chambers are made of such length relatively to the cartridges that the case of the cartridge being in a line with the barrel, will project a short distance into the said barrel when the chamber is in contact therewith, or that the case will be caused to so project at the moment the shot is fired off, and the weapon is provided with means for producing a clearance between the cartridge case and the end of the barrel when the chamber is to be moved sideward, or to be rotated.
The said means may consist in arranging the barrel to be shifted forward and backward relatively to the cartridge-chambers, or the latter relatively to the former, by the medium of a suitable mechanical device. Or the arms are fitted, in rear of the cartridge-chambers, with a movable breech piece by which the cartridge. case may, after firing, be drawn back into the chamber by as much as is required for its clearing the barrel, or by which it may be entirely withdrawn from the chamber.
With paper cartridges loaded with shot, and in which the rim of the case is folded down inward, it is but requisite that the said rim on being expanded by the firing, overlaps the joint between the barrel and the chamber for efficiently closing the same.
Dated the thirteenth day of February 1886.
HENRY PIEPER.
By his Agent, Carl Pieper.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Fire-arms with Movable Cartridge-chambers.
I, Henry Pieper, manufacturer, residing at Liege, Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My invention relates to fire-arms having cartridge-chambers that are separate from and movable in respect to the barrel, such as revolvers and others, and its object is to prevent, at the moment of discharge, an escape of gas through the joint between any chamber and the barrel by means of the cartridge-case.
For this purpose the chambers are made of such length relatively to the cartridges that the case of the cartridge being in a line with the barrel, will project a short distance into the said barrel when the chamber is in contact therewith, or that the case will be caused to so project at the moment the shot is fired off, and the weapon is provided with means for producing a clearance between the cartridge-case and the end of the barrel when the chamber is to be moved sideward, or to be rotated.
The said means may consist in arranging the barrel to be shifted forward and backward relatively to the cartridge chambers, or the latter relatively to the former, by the medium of a suitable mechanical device. Or the arms are fitted, in rear of the cartridge-chambers, with a movable breech-piece by which the cartridge-case may, after firing, be drawn back into the chamber by as much as is required 20 for its clearing the barrel, or by which it may be entirely withdrawn from the chamber.
On the annexed two sheets of drawings Figs. 1, 2 and 3 are sectional elevations of a gun involving my improvement, and provided with rotating cartridge-chambers, the movable parts of the gun being shown in different positions. Figs. 4 and 5 represent to a larger scale a cartridge-chamber of the said gun containing 4 ball-cartridge, and a portion of the barrel in different positions. Figs. 6 and 7 are like views of a cartride-chamber of the same or a similar gun containing a paper cartridge loaded with shot, Fig. 6 showing the cartridge before firing and Fig. 7 the empty cartridge-case after firing.
In Figs. 1, 2 and 3, b is the rear portion of the barrel, c the revolving cylinder containing the cartridge-chamber, f the hammer,d the trigger-guard pivoted at a, e the bar serving to cock the hammer and connected to the arm g of the guard d by a short link, and h a link connecting together the guard and the barrel, the latter being arranged to slide lengthwise with its rear portion in the frame i, a a are cartridges loaded with balls. The cases of these cartridges have such length that, when the barrel b is in contact with the rotating cylinder ¢, the case of the upper cartridge will project to a small extent into the barrel and thus cover or obturate the joint between the barrel and the chamber registering therewith; the said obturation being rendered complete by the expansion of the cartridge-case brought about by the discharge of the gun.
Fig. 1 shows the gun loaded and the cock set at rest. The guard d, being in normal position, keeps the barrel b against the cartridge-chamber by weans of the link h, (See also Fig. 4). When, subsequent to the discharge, the guard d has been brought into the position shown by Fig. 2, it has pushed the barrel far enough away from the cylinder c as to produce a clearance between it and the empty cartridge-case, so that the cylinder c may then commence to rotate. The guard being thereupon turned down further, the said clearance will become larger, so as to allow a loaded cartridge, with the ball projecting, to be brought in a line with the barrel by the rotation of the cylinder c, produced automatically in any known manner, This position of the parts is shown by Figs. 3 and 5. The guard at the same time causes the hammer f to be cocked through the medium of the rod e. If thereafter the guard is raised, so as to close against the stock of the gun, the barrel will be pushed upon the projecting end of the cartridge, while simultaneously the rod e is withdrawn from the hammer. The gun is then ready for firing.
With paper cartridges loaded with shot, and in which the rim of the case is folded down inward, as shown: by Fig. 6, it is not necessary that the case should project into the barrel previous to the discharge, provided the aforesaid chambers and the cartridges have such relative length that the said rim on being expanded by the discharge, overlaps the joint between the barrel and the chamber and thus closes the same, as in Fig, 7.
The described mode of obturation may be applied to any other system of repeating-arms having 4 cartridge-receiver separate from the barrel, whether the said receiver is arranged to rotate or to be moved otherwise, and it may also be used with pieces of artillery, such as mitrailleuses.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature and object of my said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I hereby declare that what I claim is:
1. In fire-arms having cartridge-chambers separate from and movable in respect to the barrel, the employment of the cartridge-case as obturator of the joint between the barre! and the chamber, in combination with means for producing a clearance between the cartridge-case and the barrel, substantially as and for the purpose described.
2. The combination, with the rotating cylinder c containing a number of cartridge-chambers, of a barrel b movable lengthwise in respect to the said cylinder, and of mechanism for thus moving the barrel, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Dated the ninth day of November 1886.
HENRY PIEPER.
By his Agent, Carl Pieper.