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[Transcriber's Note: The ^ character is used to signify a superscripted
number]


[Illustration:

_3.Sheets._

_Sheet.1_


_S. Colt._

_Imp-t in Fire Arms._

    _No 1304._       _Patented Aug 29. 1839._

Figs. 1-10]


[Illustration:

_3.Sheets._

_Sheet.2._


_S. Colt._

_Imp-t in Fire Arms._

    _No 1,304._       _Patented Aug 29. 1839._

Figs. 11-18]


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_3.Sheets._

_Sheet.3._


_S. Colt._

_Imp-t in Fire Arms._

    _No 1304._       _Patented Aug 29. 1839._

Figs. 19-26]




UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SAMUEL COLT, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY.

IMPROVEMENT IN FIRE-ARMS AND IN THE APPARATUS USED THEREWITH.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1,304, dated August
29, 1839.


_To all whom it may concern:_

Be it known that I, _Samuel Colt_, of Paterson, in the county of
Passaic and State of New Jersey, did obtain Letters Patent of the
United States for an Improvement in Fire-Arms, which Letters Patent
bear date on the 25th day of February, in the year 1836, and that
I have made certain improvements in the construction of the said
fire-arms, and also in the apparatus for loading and priming the
same; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact
description of my said improvements.

My first improvements appertain to rifles, guns, and pistols; my second
to the construction of a cap-primer for containing the percussion-caps
and placing the same upon the nipples, and my third to a flask and
other apparatus for loading the rifle or gun.

For the general construction of my fire-arms, as originally patented I
refer to the Letters Patent first above named, the same being necessary
to a perfect understanding of the improvements thereon, which I am now
about to describe.

Figure 1 in the accompanying drawings represents a section through
the lock and breech of my rifle or gun and two of the chambers of
the revolving receiver, B being a part of the barrel of the gun. The
mouths of the chambers and the end of the barrel have their edges
chamfered or beveled, as shown at _a a_ in the drawings. In all guns of
this description there is necessarily a lateral discharge between the
receiver and the barrel, and this lateral discharge may endanger the
ignition of the powder in the loaded chambers not in contact with the
barrel; but the ignited matter, by coming into contact with the beveled
edge as it crosses said chamber, is effectually reflected off, and does
not enter them. The beveling of the end of the barrel is not a thing of
importance, it being intended merely to prevent its scraping or cutting
the ball in its passage from the chamber.

Fig. 2 shows a part of the arbor upon which the receiver turns. _b_
is the portion thereof which is immediately below the chamber in
contact with the barrel, and in this part a channel or groove is made
descending from the point _b_ in both directions, so as to form two
inclined planes meeting at the point _b_. These planes or sections of
the grooves may form an angle at forty-five degrees with each other.
This groove or channel serves as a chimney to conduct off the smoke
of the lateral discharge, so that it shall pass directly between the
receiver and the barrel and prevent its spreading, so as to pass in
between the receiver and the arbor and the barrel and the arbor, and
consequently from condensing there and rendering them foul. The barrel
is connected with the receiver and with the stock of the gun by the aid
of the arbor which at the rear end, is a solid piece with the shield
or solid piece of metal which receives the recoil and constitutes a
component part of the metallic frame-work or foundation of the lock and
its appendages. The part C of the arbor is that upon which the receiver
revolves, and the part C′ enters a cylindrical cavity in a mass of
iron, D D, to which the barrel is brazed or otherwise attached.

Fig. 3 shows the piece of iron D D and a part of the barrel B which
is attached to it. The dotted lines in this represent the cylindrical
cavity which receives the outer end of the arbor C′. The two are keyed
together