IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Elias Howe, the younger, of Oxford Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROJECTILES," A communication from abroad by John Webster Cochran,
at Now Vork
-
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 6th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Elias Howe at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 6th November
1860.
I, ELIAS HOWE, the younger, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PROJECTILES," (communicated to me from abroad by John Webster
Cochran, of New York,) to be as follows:-
The first part of the Invention consists in a means of constructing shells. I
take a length of tubing, by preference of wrought iron, and insert in one end
plug with a central aperture; I then drop into the tube, until it is full, a
number of cast-iron blocks or discs, which fit the interior of the tube accu-
rately, which are all formed with a central aperture, and which are divided
segmentally from the periphery towards the centre, but not so entirely sepa
rated as to prevent the parts holding together until after the shell is fired.
When the tube is full, a plug similar to that at the bottom of the tube is fixed
Price 1

page_text: into the top, and a conical or other face is screwed or otherwise attached to the
fore end of the tube; the rear of the projectile is secured to the back end of
the tube. The central aperture through the tube is charged with powder,
which may be fired in any usual way, or in the manner described in the Spe-
cification of Letters Patent No. 2517, granted to R. A. Brooman, on the 4th
November 1859, for an Invention communicated to him by the said Jobu
Webster Cochran.
The second part of the Invention consists in fitting on the rear and fore part
of elongated projectiles, or ou the rear or fore part only, a ring of corrugated
malleable metal.
In some cases, for the purpose of lubrication, 1 forin
apertures in the rising parts of the corrugations, and place grease or other
suitable lubricating material inside the ring. I sometimes compress or upset
the corrugations on the fore part of the projectile by means of a ramrod; the
corrugations on the rear of the projectile become upset and forced into the
grooves of the rifling of the bore if the arm be rifled or become upset, and
prevent windage in smooth bores.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Elias Howe, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 6th May
1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ELIAS
Howe, the younger, of Oxford Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Elias Howe, the younger, Her special licence that I, the said Elias
Howe, the younger, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Elias Howe, the younger, my executors, administrators, aud
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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES," (communicated to me from abroad by John
Webster Cochran, of New York,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
'he said Elias Howe, the younger, my executors or administrators, by an instru-

page_text: ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par_
ticularly 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Elias Howe, the younger, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, 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 :-
The first part of the Invention consists in a means of constructing shells. [
take a length of tubing,by preference of wrought iron, and insert in one end a
plug with a central aperture; I then drop into the tube, until it is full, a
number of cast-iron blocks or discs, which fit the interior of the tube accurately,
which are all formed with a central aperture, and which are divided segmen.
tally from the periphery towards the centre, but not so entirely separated as to
prevent the parts holding together until after the shell is fired. When the
tube is full,a plug, similar to that at the bottom of the tube, is fixed into the
top,and a conical or other face is screwed or otherwise attached to the fore end
of the tube; the rear of the projectile is secured to the back end of the tube.
The central aperture through the tube is charged with powder, which may be
fired in any usual way, or in the manner described in the Specification of
Letters Patent No. 2517, granted to Richard Archibald Brooman on the 4th
November 1859, for an Invention communicated to him by the said John
Webster Cochran.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a longitudinal, and Figure 2, a
vertical section through the line x, y, of the same Figure of a projectile con-
structed in this manner.
a is the wrought-iron tube; b is the plug inserted at its end, having an
aperture d formed in it; c, c, c, are the cast-iron blocks or rings, each of which
is made with an aperture corresponding with that in the plug b and divided,
or nearly so, into segments, as seen in Figure 2; e is the plug at the other end
of the projectile, similar to the one marked b; fis the conical face or point
screwed (or it may be otherwise connected) to the tube a. The bursting
charge is inserted in the central aperture d, and is exploded in the ordinary
manner; or, as before stated, when the explosion takes place the rings c, c, c,
become completely divided into sections, and are dispersed with fragments of
the outer tube a and plugs b and e.
The second part of the Invention consists in fitting on the rear and fore part

page_text: of elongated projectiles, or on the rear or fore part only, a riug of corrugated
malleable metal. In some cases, for the purpose of lubrication, I form aper-
tures in the rising parts of the corrugations, and place grease or other suitable
lubricating material inside the ring. I sometimes compress or upset the
corrugations on the fore part of the projectile by means of a ramrod; the
corrugations on the rear of the projectile become upset and forced into the
grooves of the rifling of the bore if the arm berifled, or become upset and prevent
windage in smooth bores.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a projectile made in this manner. a, a,
is the body of the projectile; b,b, are rings connected to the corrugated malle-
able metal c, c. These rings with the corrugations are placed at the fore and
rear parts of the projectile, as shewn; the spaces between the corrugations are
filled with some lubricating composition, which, when the explosion takes
place is free to run into the grooves of the gun through holes formed in the
corrugations for that purpose; d is the space for containing the explosive com-
position, and e is the fuse hole.
b
Figure 4 is a section of the rear end of a similar projectile, fitted with a
cup instead of a ring; in other respects it is similar to the one illustrated
at Figure 3. The forward ring is forced back first by a socket ramrod, which
also centres the shot in the gun,and second by the action of the shot in over-
coming the inertia of the ring, and also by the pressure of air. When the
rear ring is forced forward by the discharge, the corrugations close up and the
lubricating matter is forced out through the holes before mentioned, which
lubricates the entire surface of the bore. The ring grips and holds itself
firmly to the shot at the same time, for the corrugations have the same ten-
dency to act or expand inwards as outwards. The pressure in the grooves
ceases as soon as the ring is forced sufficiently forward to shut up the corruga-
tions. The action of the gas on the cup or ring is in a line with the advancing
projectile,and does not force it out against the wall of the bore. The forward
ring takes the grooves in a similar manner to the one at the base, but some-
times the projectiles are fitted with one ring only. Another important result
in the use of the corrugated ring is, that when they are screwed on as shewn,
or when the grip of the ring is only dependent on the shot itself, effects the
same thing as a game twist in the rifle grooves when fired with a regular
twist. When the ring or cup is screwed on a little slack is left, so that when
the shot starts, the ring takes the grooves at once, but slightly turns on the
shot until the thread in the ring is hard up against the shoulder, or the corru-
gations pinch or grip'sufficiently tight to the shot to compel it to rotate with
the ring. It will be seen that during the time the ring is closing on the shot

page_text: it gives time to overcome the rotary inertia, which saves the packing ring from
stripping or riding the lands and grooves. The same effect is produced in over-
coming the direct inertia of the shot during the facing forward and closing
up the corrugations, for just in proportion to the force and time required to
force the ring packing forward, the barrel is easing the starting of the shot.
The arrows indicate the direction in which the ring closes up. I make the
rings or cups of any malleable metal, such as lead, copper, brass, tin, &c., but
I prefer copper. They are applied with equal facility to solid shots and shells
as well as to projectiles for small arms.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal outside view of a shell or hollow shot in a some-
what modified form to that just described, and Figure 6 is a central longitu-
dinal section of the same. The body of this projectile is made in three pieces,
videlicet,a hollow cylinder A, composed of wrought iron tubing,such as is used
for boiler flues and gas pipes, a cast iron or wrought iron head B constituting
the front end, and a wrought iron cup C constituting the base or butt. The
rear end of the cylinder A is swaged down or otherwise reduced in size exter-
nally, to receive the cup C,the exterior of which is of no larger diameter than
that of the cylinder A. The cup C is fitted neatly on to the cylinder. The
head B is represented as being screwed into the cylinder, but the latter may
beshrunk upon the head by being placed on hot and allowed to cool. Thecup
when put on fits up to a shoulder c on the cylinder, but its length or depth
must be such as to leave a considerable space between its bottom d and the
rear end of the cylinder A, as shown at e, e, in Figure 6. a, a, are two hollow
beads or fillets, formed to project from and all around the exterior of cylinder
A, by swaging or other mechanical manipulations, one near the front, and the
other near the rear of the cylinder; and b, b, are two similar beads or fillets
formed upon the cup C.
Projectiles for muzzle-loading ordnance or fire-arms may be made of such
size that the projecting beads or fillets a, a, b, b, will fit easily to the lands
of the bore of the gun, and those for breech-loading pieces may be made of
a similar size, in which case the chamber will not require to be tapered or
enlarged, but those for breech-loading pieces with tapered or enlarged cham-
bers might be made somewhat larger if it should be found of any advantage.
The operation of these beads a, a, b, b, is as follows:-When the gun is fired,
the force of the explosion of the charge of powder acts principally against the
base or bottom d of the cup C to some extent upon the rear sides of the beads
or fillets a, a, and b, b, more especially of the rearmost one, and before the
inertia of the projectile can be overcome the hollow beads or fillets a, a,
b, b, yield to this force, and as it were, close up or are "upset" in the direction

page_text: of the length of the projectile, and are consequently expanded in a lateral
direction towards the bore and rifle grooves, and thereby made to fit tightly
into the bore, and forced into the grooves in such a manner as to fill them, or
at least to such a depth as to ensure the rotary motion of the projectile being
produced by its being driven forward through the gun. The above action of
the beads or fillets is illustrated in Figure 6, where the cup is represented in
red color, as having its bottom or base driven forward and its hollow beads or
fillets a,a,upset lengthwise of the projectile and expanded laterally. In this
action of the hollow beads or fillets it is obvious the projectile is shortened. I
do not propose generally to use the cup C when the cylindrical portion A of
the hollow projectile has the hollow beads or fillets a, a, formed in or upon
both its front and rear, but propose generally in such case to make the rear
end or butt of the shell of a solid piece of cast iron. The cup C with its
hollow beads or fillets is more especially designed for solid shot, on which it is
to be fitted up to a shoulder c. The portion A of the shot or the cup Cinstead of
having only a small number of beads a, a, b, b, may be corrugated their whole
length. A cup constructed similar to C with the hollow beads or fillets a, a,
may, if made of copper or sufficiently ductile metal, be applied in combination
with bullets for small arms. The cup C, though fitted easily into the projec-
tile in the first place, is caused by the upsetting action to clamp the projectile
so tightly that when used alone it will cause the shot to rotate with it; it may
however, be screwed on to a short screw thread formed close to the shoulder c.
The rear end of the shot or projectile may be made solid, and in that case the
bottom of the cap may be omitted, so that it will have the form of a corru.
gated ring being screwed upon the shoulder, as just mentioned. The hollow
beads or fillets on the cup may be perforated, as shown in Figures 5 and 6,
and their inner cavities be filled with grease, which, by the upsetting, will be
forced out through the perforations to lubricate the gun, as herein-before
described with reference to Figures 3 and 4. The shell may be charged and
fired in any convenient manner.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same in to be performed, I declare that I claim as the improve-
ments in projectiles,-
First, the construction of shells substantially as herein-before described and
illustrated at Figures 1 and 2 of the accompanying Drawings.
Second, the fitting to the rear and fore part of elongated projectiles or on
the rear or fore part only a ring of corrugated malleable metal,substantially in
the manner and for the purposes herein-before described with reference to
Figures 3 and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: Third, the construction of projectiles with corrugations, made and applied
substantially in manner herein-before described with reference to Figures 5
and 6 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Elias Howe, the younger, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twelfth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
ELIAS IOWE, JR. (L.S.)