284 



VARIETIES OF SHOT-GUNS, ETC. 



The following cuts show the prin- 

 ciple of this gun. Fig. 59 is a half- 

 size representation of the chambers 

 d a opened to receive the cartridges, 

 by raising the lever b. This acts on 

 the plugs c c in the same way as in 

 the Bastin gun, both being included 

 in the same patent. In referring to 

 the plans of the latter, which are 

 given at pages 2 J4-5 (figs. 37 and 

 38), it will be at once apparent that 

 there is very little difference in the 

 principle of these two levers. Both 

 are compound, and act nearly in the 

 same way; but in the one now under 

 examination 

 the lever it- 

 self is not 

 fixed direct- 

 ly to the gun at all, but has one 

 extremity free (see 6), and the other 

 attached to the two plugs c c, which 

 slide backwards and forwards with 

 it, the fulcrum being the two hinged 

 props plainly shown in fig. 59. In 

 raising the lever from its closed posi- 

 tion, shown in fig. 58, the sliding 

 plugs c c in some measure become 

 a fulcrum by which the props before 

 alluded to are lifted from their beds, 

 and in closing the breech they are 

 again used in the same way in de- 

 pressing these props. 



Such is the principle of the lever. 

 It is now necessary to describe the 

 nature of the plugs, and of the locks 

 which strike the needles within 

 them. They will be found described 

 and illustrated on the opposite page. PIG 59 THE CHATEAUVILLIER 



GUN, OPEN. 



