IMPROVEMENTS IN CART- RIDGES
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Millar, of Bethnal Green, in the County of
Middlesex, Physician, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CART-
RIDGES."
Sealed the 8th May 1866, and dated the 11th November 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Millar at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th November
1865.
I, JOHN MILLAR, of Bethnal Green, in the County of Middlesex, Physician,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers to those cartridges which contain their own ignition,
and I make them as follows:-I take a paper, metal, or compound cartridge case
and first insert a disc or wad upon which I cause chlorate of potash and emery
powder to adhere, or I simply coat the inside of the base of the cartridge with
the same materials. I next cut a disc or wad to the circumference of the
cartridge case, make notches in it, and a slight recess into which I drop spirit,
varnish, or other like suitable holding agent, and upon it I pour, sprinkle, or
apply amorphous phosphorus alone or mixed with sulphuret of antimony. I
then charge the case in the usual manner.

page_text: Upon a piston or plunger being driven against the centre of the back of the
cartridge case the chlorate of potash and the amorphous phosphorus are driven
into contact and explosion takes place.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Millar, in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 11th
May 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MILLAR, of Bethnal Green, in the County of Middlesex, Physician, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said John Millar, Her special licence that I, the said John Millar, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Millar, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Millar, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in
the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and im-
mediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
t
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Millar, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My Invention refers to those cartridges which contain their own ignition, and
I make them as follows :-I take a paper, metal, or compound cartridge case, and
first insert a diso or wad, upon which I cause chlorate of potash and emery powder
or charcoal to adhere; or I simply coat the inside of the base of the cartridge with

page_text: the same materials. I next cut a disc or wad to the diameter of the inside of the
base of the cartridge case, make notches or perforations in it, and a slight recess
which I nearly fill with varnish or other like suitable holding and protecting
agent mixed with amorphous phosphorus alone, or combined with sulphuret
of antimony or emery powder, or both. I insert the disc so prepared above
the first mentioned, so that the compounds are opposite and face, but are not
in contact with each other. I then charge the case in the usual manner.
Upon a piston or plunger being driven against the centre of the back of the
cartridge case the chlorate of potash and the amorphous phosphorus are
driven into contact, and explosion takes place.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a section of a cartridge
constructed according to my Invention.
a is the cartridge case made of paper with a metal base b. The inside of
the base is supplied with chlorate of potash and emery powder at c, and
caused to adhere thereto, or introduced upon a disc or wad. d is another
disc or wad, shown detached in Figure 2; this disc is dished or recessed, and
into the recess e I drop varnish or other like suitable holding agent mixed
with amorphous phosphorus, either alone or combined with sulphuret of
antimony or emery powder, or both. The disc d is formed with holes for
with notches, as in Figure 4; is a compressed paper ring to fill up the
annular space between the disc d and the case a. Upon a piston or plunger
being driven against the centre of the base 6 the chlorate of potash c is driven.
into contact with the phosphorus in the recess e, and explosion takes place and
ignites the powder through the holes for notches in the disc d.
Figure 3 shews a cartridge in which the case.a is of metal, and in which
the disc d is of the same diameter as the inside of the case. In this cart-
ridge also I sometimes form the disc d with notches n, as in Figure 4, instead
of with the holes f.
Figures 5 and 6 shew a cartridge in which the disc d is flat, the chlorate
of potash and amorphous phosphorus being kept apart by a paper ring h.
Figures 7, 8, and 9 represent a cartridge case, the case a of which is
entirely of paper; the chlorate of potash instead of being applied directly to
the inside of the base of the cartridge or on a flat disc is carried in a cupped
disc i.
Figure 10 represents a cartridge in which the chlorate of potash is carried
on the front of a plug j fitted into a tubular aperture in the rear of the
cartridge. The tubular aperture is turned in at k, and an aperture is left
in this part as shown. The amorphous phosphorus is applied to the rear of
the part .

page_text: Although I have described the chlorate of potash as being at the rear of
the amorphous phosphorus, the position of these two materials may be reversed
in any of the arrangements described.
Figure 11. represents my Invention applied to a pin cartridge; here the
chlorate of potash is carried on the inner end of the pin 1, and the amorphous
phosphorus in the inside of a cap m.
Figure 12 represents another pin cartridge, in which the pin does not
carry either of the chemical substances, but in which one of them is carried
inside a cap m, and the other inside another cap n, so that they face each
other.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, forming cartridges
substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings, in which chlorate of potash and amorphous phosphorus are placed
in such relative positions that. they do not come in contact until a piston or
plunger is driven against the cartridge case when they are forced together and
explosion takes place.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Millar, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of May, One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-six.
JNO. MILLAR. (L.S.)