2G7 



NEEDLE GUNS. 



Several plans have been invented, in which a cartridge is 

 exploded by means of a blow from, a needle given to a cap 

 in the line of the axis of the barrel, and not at right angles 

 to it. The celebrated Prussian needle rifle is an example; 

 but the arrangement is defective, from allowing a conside- 

 rable escape of gas through the aperture for the needle into 

 the works of the lock. In this country two plans on this 

 principle have obtained considerable support one patented 

 by Mr. Needham, and the other by Mr. Lancaster. There 

 is, however, a considerable difference in the two modes of 

 carrying out the details, and each must be separately 

 described. 



MR. NEEDHAM'S NEEDLE GUN. 



The advantages of this gun are stated to consist in the 

 greater simplicity of the gun itself, in the more perfect 

 closure of the breech, in the cheaper cartridge which is used 

 with it, and in the absence of the necessity for loss of time in 

 extracting the case, the residuum left after the discharge being 

 pushed forward by the next cartridge as it is introduced. 

 But in order to make a comparison in these respects between 

 this and the Lefaucheaux gun, it will be necessaiy to examine 

 that of our English maker as carefully as we have investi- 

 gated the construction of the French invention. 



FIG. 39. NEEDHAM'S NEEDLE GUX, CLOSED. 



In external appearance Mr. Needham's gun differs greatly 

 from any of those which have already been described. 

 Owing to the nature of the lock, there is no hammer rising 

 up on each side, so that there is a nakedness to the eye long 



