IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR BREECH-LOADING CARTRIDGES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of New Bond Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR BREECH-LOADING CARTRIDGES."
Sealed the 16th July 1869, and dated the 15th February 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William
Lancaster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 15th February 1869.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR BREECH-LOADING CARTRIDGES,"
to be as follows:-
In making shot cartridges for breech-loading guns, and in order that
such cartridges may throw as closely as wire cartridges or nearly so,
I employ over the shot and under the ordinary terminal wad of the
cartridge a hollow cylindrical wad formed of a short piece of cylinder of

page_text: paper or other material closed at the end by the insertion of an ordinary
cloth or other wadding. This short cylinder I form to fit inside the
cartridge case, and I insert it after putting in the shot, so that it forms a.
cap or thimble over the front portion of the charge of shot. This hollow
wadding is then secured in its place by the ordinary terminal wad, over
which the cartridge case is turned.
By another method of filling the cartridge I invert this hollow wad,
and fit it in next the powder wad with the closed end of the cylinder
towards it, so that the charge of shot when placed in the cartridge is
partly contained in this hollow wad; or I employ two of these wads, onc
at each end of the charge of shot, substantially as described in each of
the above cases. The effect of employing these wads is to hold the
charge together for a short distance from the muzzle of the gun. In the
case of the use of the wad in the position first described the shot at the
moment of explosion of the charge is forced outwards against the sides of
the cylindrical portion of the wad and thus held together for a short
distance from the muzzle, when the cloth or other end portion being
driven forward the charge distributes to a certain extent.
PECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles William Lancaster in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in
the thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles William Lancaster,
Her special licence that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles William Lancaster, 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

page_text: Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR BREECH-LOADING CARTRIDGES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles William
Lancaster, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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 :-
In making shot cartridges for breech-loading guns, and in order that
such cartridges, may throw as closely as wire cartridges or nearly so,
I employ over the shot and under the ordinary terminal wad of the
cartridge a hollow cylindrical wad formed of a short piece of cylinder of
paper or other material a closed at the end by the insertion of an
ordinary cloth or other wadding b, as shewn at Figure 1. This short
cylinder I form to fit inside the cartridge case c, and I insert it after
putting in the shot, so that it forms a cap or thimble over the front
portion of the charge of shot, as shewn in Figure 2. This hollow wadding
is then secured in its place by the ordinary terminal wad d, over which
the cartridge case is turned.
By another method of filling the cartridge I insert this hollow wad
and fit it in next the powder wad with the closed end of the cylinder
towards it, as shewn in Figure 3, so that the charge of shot when placed
in the cartridge is partly contained in this hollow wad; or I employ two
of these wads, one at each end of the charge of shot, substantially as
described in each of the above cases, and as I have shewn in Figure 4.
The effect of employing these wads is to hold the charge together for a
short distance from the muzzle of the gun. In the case of the use of the
wad in the position first described the shot at the moment of explosion
of the charge is forced outwards against the sides of the cylindrical
portion of the wad and thus held together for a short distance from the
muzzle, when the cloth or other end portion being driven forward the
charge distributes to a certain extent.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
formation of hollow wads as described, and their use in the two positions,
or the combination of two such wads, as described and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of August
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER. (L.S.)