IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC CARTRIDGE SHELLS
Year: 1877

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by William Robert Lake at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents with his Petition and Declaration on the 15th
May 1877.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
METALLIC CARTRIDGE SHELLS." (A communication from abroad by James Herbert
Bullard, of Springfield, Massachusetts, United States of America.)
The object of this Invention is the production of a metallic cartridge shell having
an outer body of a metal particularly adopted to that purpose, as brass, and an
inner (preferably thinner) lining of another metal particularly adopted to that pur-
pose, as copper.
Such a cartridge shell may be produced as follows:-
Superpose a thin sheet of copper upon a thicker sheet of brass, and then work
the two together into a cartridge shell. In the United States of America this
would be done by submitting the sheets to the operation of a double-acting press,
which, at one operation, cuts the metals into disk forn, as shown in Figure 1, and
then "
cups the disk as shown in top and side views in Figures 2 and 3. By sets
of dies and punches the cup is drawn, by successive steps, into the shapes shown by
top and side views, in Figures 4 and 5, Figures 6 and 7, Figures 8 and 9, and
Figures 10 and 11, the "head" shown at the base of the shell being given last.
"
The metal is annealed during this process whenever it becomes too hard for prac-
tical working. The cartridge shell when at the stage shown in Figures 10 and 11
is completed, except as its form may be modified to fit the chambers of different
armis.
Figure 12 is a view of the shell, exteriorly shown in Figure 11, cut in vertical
central section, and considerably enlarged for the purpose of bringing out more
clearly the two layers of metal which go to form the one shell in this Figure. The
letter a denotes the outer brass body; b, the inner copper lining; and c, the "head"
of the shell.
Just within the head the copper lining is crimped so as to form a re-inforce b',
which adds to the strength of the shell and prevents the copper lining from being
detached from the brass body.

page_text: The method of making a cartridge shell just described leaves the two layers of
metal without continuous union co-extensive with their meeting surfaces; such
union can be attained, when desired, by turning the meeting surface of either or both
metals previous to beginning the making of the cartridge.
The annealing process will serve to solder the brass and the copper; without that,
the heat and pressure incident to the use of the dies and punches will effect the
soldering.
Another method of producing a cartridge shell, having an outer body of brass
intimately joined to an inner lining of copper, is to lay a plate of heated copper in
the bottom of a mould, and then run molten brass upon it, causing the two metals
to intimately unite along the surface of the copper by fusion or semi-fusion, the
ingot thus produced, outlined in Figure 13, d denoting the copper, and elthe brass, is
then rolled into sheets, of which one face will be brass and the other copper, and the
sheets worked into cartridge shells.
Still another method is to deposit copper by electro-magnetism upon one side of a
bar of brass, then roll the ingot thus produced into sheets, and finally work the
sheets into cartridge shells.
The inner lining of the cartridge shell should be of some metal, which, like copper,
isnot corrosive under the long continued contact of gunpowder.
The following I believe to be new :-
First. The process, method, or manufacture consisting in superposing one sheet of
metal upon another sheet of different metal, and then working the two, not co-
extensively united, into a cartridge shell.
Second. A cartridge shell composed of two layers or thicknesses of different metals
not co-extensively united.
Third. The process, method, or manufacture consisting in superposing one sheet
of metal upon another sheet of different metal, with a inceting surface of one or
both coated with a soldering metal, and then working the joined metal into a
cartridge shell.
Fourth. A cartridge shell composed of two thicknesses of different metals co-
extensively joined by a soldering metal.
Fifth. The process, method, or manufacture consisting in uniting copper and brass
by fusion in a mould, then rolling the duplex metal into sheets, and finally working
the sheets into cartridge shells.
Sixth. A cartridge shell having an exterior body of brass and an interor lining of
copper fused to the brass by the process of casting.
Seventh. The process consisting in casting a bar of brass with copper on one side
by electro-deposition, then rolling the bar into sheets, and then working the sheets
into cartridge shells.
Eighth. A cartridge shell made by the process last specified.
All substantially as herein shown and described, and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
W ROBT. LAKE. (LS)
W ROB™. LAKE. (L.S.)