FIRE-ARMS 



381 



which work the safety studs or pins are placed ; F is the shield of the false breech ; o 

 triggers ; H the lock-plate ; and i the hammers : all of which are constructed as usual ; 



a a are the safety studs or pins, which protrude before the shield r, and work through 

 guide pieces on the under side of the false breech. The button piece is placed 



878 



in the position for the thumb of the right hand to act upon it ; but when the pressure 

 of the ball of the right thumb is to produce the movement of the safety studs, it 

 must be placed in or near the position K ; and when the heel of the right hand is to 

 effect the movement of the safety studs, the button piece must be placed at L, or 

 nearly so. 



In these last two positions, the lover (which is acted upon by the button piece to 

 work the safety studs through a slide) would require to be of a different shape and 

 differently mounted. When the hammers are clown upon the nipples after discharging 

 the gun, the ends of the safety pins press against the inner sides of the hammers. 

 When this invention is adapted to single-barrelled guns, only one pin, a, one lever and 

 button piece will be required. 



Mr. Kichards, gun-maker, Birmingham, patented a modification of the copper cap 

 for holding the percussion powder, as represented in fg. 879 ; in which the powder is 

 -removed from the top of the cap, and brought nearer the mouth ; a being the top, b 

 the sides, and c the position of the priming. The dotted lines show the direction of 

 the explosion, whereby it is seen that the metal case is opened or distended only in a 

 small degree, and not likely to burst to pieces, as in the common caps, the space be- 

 tween a and c being occupied by a piece of any kind of hard metal d, soldered or 

 otherwise fastened in the cap. 



George Lovell, Esq., Director of the Royal Manufactory of Arms at Enfield, intro- 

 .duced an improvement upon the priming chamber. He forms it into a vertical 

 double cone, joined in the middle by the common apex ; the base of the upper cone, 

 being in contact with the percussion cap, presents the most extensive surface to the 

 fulminate upon the one hand, while the base of the under one, being in a line with the 

 interior surface of the barrel, presents the largest surface to the gunpowder charge, 

 upon the other. In the old nipple the apex of the cone being at its top, afforded very 

 injudiciously the minimum surface to the exploding force. 



Guns, Rifling of the Barrels. The outside of rifle barrels is, in general, octagonal. 

 After the barrel is bored, and rendered truly cylindrical, it is fixed upon the rifling 

 machine. This instrument is formed upon a square plank of wood 7 feet long, to which 

 is fitted a tube about an inch in diameter, with spiral grooves deeply cut internally 

 through its whole length; and to this a circular plate is attached about 5 inches 

 diameter, accurately divided in concentric circles, into from 5 to 16 equal parts, and 

 supported by two rings made fast to the plank, in which rings it revolves. An arm 

 connected with the dividing graduated plate, and pierced with holes, through which a 

 pin is passed, regulates the change of the tube in giving the desired number of grooves 

 to the barrel. An iron rod, with a moveable handle at the one end, and a steel cutter 

 in the other, passes through the above rifling tube. The rod is covered with a core of 

 lead one foot long. The barrel is firmly fixed by two rings on the plank, standing in 

 a straight line on the tube. The rod is now drawn repeatedly through the barrel, from 

 end to end, until the cutter has formed one groove of the proper depth. The pin is 



