CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOMBS AND OTHER EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES WHOSE CHARGES ARE TO BE FIRED BY PER- CUSSION
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexandre Tolhausen, of No. 7, Duke Street, Adelphi,
London, County of Middlesex, Sworn Interpreter at the Imperial Court
of Paris, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN BOMBS AND
OTHER EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES WHOSE CHARGES ARE TO BE FIRED BY PER-
CUSSION." A communication from Horace P. Herdman, of the City of
New York, United States.
Scaled the 18th April 1856, and dated the 22nd November 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexandre Tolhausen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd November 1855.
I, ALEXANDRE TOLIAUSEN, of No. 7, Duke Street, Adelphi, London, in the
County of Middlesex, Sworn Interpreter at the Imperial Court of Paris, do
bereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN BOMBS & OTHER EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES WHOSE CHARGES ARE TO BE FIRED BY
PERCUSSION," being a communication from Horace P. Herdman, of the City of
New York, United States, to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to certain means of providing for the explosion of the
projectile by percussion, & in giving to the shell a certain form, whereby its
flight is so directed that it must strike or fall in the proper part to produce
explosion by percussion, & is caused to explode laterally in all directions, &

page_text: thus be more destructive than the common spherical shell, which explodes in
the form of a cone. Projectiles constructed according to this Invention are to
be called "Herdman's percussion laterally explosive projectiles."
The external form of my projectile is that of a cylinder, with an oblate
semi-spherical or other convex base, & with the front end terminating in a
truncated conoid, at. the truncated end of which there is turned a small
cylindrical neck to receive a metal cap, which may be termed the priming
cover. The neck is bored out slightly conical to about three-fifths of its
external size; at the back of this conical bore smaller cylindrical cavity is
made of just sufficient size to receive a percussion cap, & at the back of the
cavity is a touch-hole, running straight into a long passage communicating with
the chamber of the shell. This chamber extends cylindrically almost the full
length of the outer cylindrical portion, leaving only a sufficient thickness of
metal at the sides to confine the powder sufficiently to give great force to the
explosion, & a rather greater thickness at the base. The priming cover fits
the slip quite easily, & is provided with an internal center pin of such size as
to work freely in the priming receptacle. One part of the pin next the head
of the cover is slightly taper, & rather larger than the part nearest the
extremity, in order that it may be pushed lightly into an 'india-rubber collar,
that fits tightly into a taper cavity in the neck of the shell, so that when the
cap is put over the neck it serves as an efficient packing or protection to the
priming & the charge.
The shell is to be charged at an opening in the base, which opening is
closed by an iron screw plug; a percussion cap is used which only differs from
common caps in being very shallow. To prepare the shell for use, the screw
is removed, & the charge inserted in the usual way. The piece of ordnanco
from which this shell is fired will require to be longer than the mortars used:
for ordinary shells, by reason of the greater length of the shell.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexandre Tolhausen in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30
19th May 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALEXANDRE
TOLHAUSEN, of No. 7, Duke: Street, Adelphi, London, County of Middlesex,
Sworn Interpreter at the Imperial Court of Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters. 35
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our..

page_text: Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said Alexandre Tolhausen, Her special licence that I, the said Alexandre Töl
hausen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said!
Alexandre Tolhausen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
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 CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOMBS AND OTHER EXPLOSIVE PROJECTILES WHOSE CHARGES ARE TO BE
FIRED BY PERCUSSION, a communication from Horace P. Herdman, of the
City of New York, United States, upon the condition (amongst others)?
that I, the said Alexandre Tolhausen, 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 causo
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent. Office within six calendar.
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alexandre Tolhausen, do hereby declare!
the nature of the 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:-
This Invention consists in certain means of providing for the explosion of
the projectile by percussion, and in giving to the shell a certain form, whereby
its flight is so directed that it must strike or fall on the proper part to produce
explosion by percussion, and is caused to explode laterally in all directions, and:
thus to be more destructive than the common spherical shell, which explodes
in the form of a cone.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is an exterior view of a shell!
constructed according to the principles mentioned; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal?
section through the axis, showing the charge and priming; Fig. 3 is an end
view of the projectile with the priming cap; Fig. 4 is an interior view of the
cap, showing the hammer by which the priming is fired; and Fig. 5, a view!
of a caoutchouc collar, which serves equally as a spring for keeping the
hammer raised till the shell falls down and explodes, and as a packing for
protecting the charge of powder against water or dampness. Similar letters.
of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figs..
A is the body of. the shell, cast in one piece, whose external shape. is
cylindrical; the two. ends are semi-spheroidal surfaces. One of these bases. is

page_text: oblate; the other, on the contrary, is elongated; its extremity terminates in
a truncated conoid. At this latter extremity there is a small neck a, a,:
cylindrical, or of any other shape, for receiving a metallic cap B, which may.
be called the priming cover. The cylinder a, a, has a slightly conical bore.
b, b, Figs. 2 and 8; its depth is about one inch and a half; it has at its bottom
a cylindrical hole c, of a suitable size for receiving the shank of the head and
the fulminating substance, or any other percussion priming; and at the bottom
of the cavity c there is a small tube or touch-hole d, which puts the cavity 6 of
the cylinder a into communication, with a long narrow passage e, which ends
in the chamber C of the shell. This chamber C extends in a cylindrical form
almost the whole length of the outer cylindrical portion of the shell, leaving
only a sufficient thickness at the sides for enclosing the powder or other,
explosive mixture, and a greater thickness at the bottom. The conoid end of;
the projectile and also the adjacent. cylindrical portion are solid, except the
passago e, as seen at f, Fig. 2. The priming cover B fits loosely in the neck
a; it is provided with an internal centre pin 9, which forms the hammer for pro-
ducing the explosion. This pin of the head B is of such a diameter as to allow
it to move in the passage c, alread mentioned. The part of the pin g nearest
the head B is slightly conical, and of greater diameter than the other extremity,
for allowing to place more easily the caoutchouc collar h. This collar fills
exactly the conical space b, b; in the neck of the projectile, in such a manner.
that the head B, being placed over the neck, this caoutchouc ring should
protect the priming and charge, but this ring is not wide enough to extend to
the bottom of the said cavity.
The projectile is loaded by an opening at the base of the projectile, which
opening is closed by an iron screw plug i screwed into the bottom of the shell.
The best arrangement of the priming for a percussion arm is indicated in n,
Fig. 2; it differs from those generally used for the nipples of firo-arms by its
being very shallow. This small depth is intended for insuring the fall of the
projectile in the required position when y falls in the cavity c.
In order to prepare the shell, the screw must be taken out of the base,
and the cover B from the neck'a, a; the charge is then introduced by the
opening at the base as usual, and the screw i is again put in. The shell is
then reversed, and the head is put in the cavity c; after having first introduced
the priming into the nipple and placed the caoutchouc ring h on the shank g
of the cover B, it is pushed in till the caoutchouc has entered in the cavity b, b,
and the part c is within one-sixth, or one-eighth of an inch from the priming.
This distance may be determined by the position of the exterior part of the
cover placed on the neck. The projectile thus prepared is ready to be fired.

page_text: The piece of ordnance from which this shell is fired will require to be longer
than the mortars used for ordinary shells by reason of the greater length of the
shell.
When the projectile is fired, the heaviest part leaves the gun first, in virtue
of a well-known law, and that part remains in advance till the shell has attained
the summit of its flight, and from that moment the heaviest part descends
foremost till it falls on the ground, or strikes a body that produces a shock on
the cover B of the shell; then the weight of the shell exceeding the resisting
power of the caoutchouc ring, the shank or hammer g knocks at the bottom of
the cavity, and by that shock lights the priming which fires the charge. The
thinness of the sides as compared with the base causes the explosion to take
place laterally.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said Invention, I
desire it to be understood that I do not confine myself to the precise details
herein described; but I claim,-
1st, making the shell with a neck a, and priming cover B, which carries
a hammer g, causing the explosion by striking the bottom of a passage c in
which the priming is placed.
2nd, filling the empty space between the hammer and the interior of the
neck by a caoutchouc collar, which seals hermetically the shell against the
entrance of water or dampness; which collar serves at the same time as a
spring to prevent the hammer striking the priming except at such time as the
projectile touches the ground or any other body, and by its weight and
momentum produces the explosion.
3rd, the construction of the shell substantially as herein described, i. e.,
making it thinner at the cylindrical portion than at the extremities, having a
projection for placing the charge, and a priming cover; and also the general
arrangement so that the shell must fall on the proper part and the explosion
take place laterally in all directions.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexandre Tolhausen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
A. TOLHAUSEN. (L.s..)