IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTILES FOR RIPLED GUNS AND MORTARS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Christian Engström, of Stockholm, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTILES FOR
RIPLED GUNS AND MORTARS."
Sealed the 12th May 1857, and dated the 22nd January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Christian Engström
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd January 1857.
I, CARL CHRISTIAN ENGSTRÖM, of Stockholm, do hereby declare the nature
of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTILES FOR
RIFLED GUNS AND MORTARS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in an improved method of constructing projectiles
to be used with rifled or grooved guns and mortars.
Heretofore projectiles to be used with guns of this description have
frequently been cast with wings to fit the grooves of the gun, but it is found
that projectiles so made are liable to jam in the bore of the gun, which is thus
burst. Now, this Invention consists in constructing the wings of such pro-
jectiles of wood, and for this purpose the projectiles are cast with holes into or
through them, and pieces of wood are fitted into these holes, so that their
ends project to an extent corresponding with the depth of the grooves in the

page_text: gun or mortar. The pieces of wood are fixed in their places by spikes driven
into them through holes in the projectile or otherwise.
When the projectile is to be used with a breech-loading gun having many
grooves, it is furnished with a complete ring of wood projecting from it all
round and larger in diameter than the grooved portion of the bore of the cannon.
In order to adapt the projectile to receive this ring of wood, it is cast with
a channel round it, and the wooden ring is made in sections, which fit into
the channel and are held there by spikes, as before mentioned.
When the projectile is to be used with a gun or mortar, having many
grooves and loaded at the mouth in the ordinary manner, then it is made of a
tapering form at its back, and a wooden cup is fitted on to this tapering
end, but the mouth of the cup is smaller in diameter than the top of
the taper on the projectile. When the gun or mortar is fired, the wooden
cup is driven on to the end of the projectile, and is thus expanded so as to fill
the grooves of the bore; and in order at the same time to expand the bottom
of the wooden cup a spike or wedge is used. The point of this spike or
wedge is stuck into the bottom of the cup, and its head rests on the end of
the projectile; thus, when the discharge takes place and the bottom of the
cup is driven up to the projectile, the spike or wedge is forced through the
bottom of the cup which is thus expanded.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Carl Christian Engström in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CARL
CHRISTIAN ENGSTRÖM, of Stockholm, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Carl Christian Engström, Her special licence that I, the said Carl
Christian Engström, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Carl Christian Engström, 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

page_text: for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PROJECTILES POR RIFLED GUNS AND
MORTARS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Carl Christian
Engström, 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 immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Carl Christian Engström, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in an improved method of constructing projectiles
to be used with rifled or grooved guns and mortars.
Heretofore projectiles to be used with guns of this description have
frequently been cast with wings to fit the grooves of the gun, but it is found
that projectiles so made are liable to jam in the bore of the gun, which is thus
burst. Now, this Invention consists in constructing the wings of such pro-
jectiles of wood, and for this purpose the projectiles are cast with holes into or
through them, and pieces of wood are fitted into these holes, so that their
ends project to an extent corresponding with the depth of the grooves in the
gun or mortar. The pieces of wood are fixed in their places by spikes driven
into them through holes in the projectile or otherwise.
When the projectile is to be used with a breech-loading gun having many
grooves, it is furnished with a complete ring of wood, projecting from it all
round and larger in diameter than the grooved portion of the bore of the
cannon. In order to adapt the projectile to receive this ring of wood, it is
cast with a channel round it, and the wooden ring is made in sections, which
fit into the channel and are held there by spikes, as before mentioned.
When the projectile is to be used with a gun or mortar, having many
grooves, and loaded at the mouth in the ordinary manner, then it is made of a
tapering form at its back, and a wooden cup is fitted on to this tapering end,
but the inouth of the cup is smaller in diameter than the top of the taper on
the projectile. When the gun or mortar is fired, the wooden cup is driven
on to the end of the projectile, and is thus expanded so as to fill the grooves
of the bore; and in order at the same time to expand the bottom of the
wooden cup a spike or wedge is used. The point of this spike or wedge is
stuck into the bottom of the cup and its head rests on the end of the pro-

page_text: two ends, and which is furnished with wings of wood according to my Inven-
tion. In this case the wings are two in number, and are formed by two ends
of the piece of wood a, which passes through the projectile, and is fastened by
a spike introduced through the passage b.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 3 is a transverse section, of a
projectile which tapers in one direction only, and which is furnished with four
wings formed by the ends of two pieces of wood, each passing through the
shot, and fastened by a spike introduced at the back.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 5 is a transverse section, of a
hollow projectile, with four wings very similar to those shown at Figures 2
and 3, but in this case the wings are all in the same plane perpendicular to
the axis of the projectile; they are formed from three pieces of wood, and are
fixed in their places by two spikes, as is shown by the Drawing.
Figure 6 shows a longitudinal section, Figure 7 is a transverse section, and
Figure 8 is an end view, of a projectile, adapted to be used with a breech gun
having many grooves; Figure 9 shows a longitudinal, and Figure 10 a trans-
verse section, of a portion of such a cannon. a, a, is the wooden ring, which
is made in four sections fitting into the groove in the projectile, and there
fixed by the spikes b, b, b, b. The wooden ring a is of such a size as just to
enter the chamber of the gun.
Figure 11 is a longitudinal section, and Figure 12 is an end view, of a
projectile suitable to be used with a gun or mortar, loaded at the mouth in the
ordinary manner. a, a, is the conical end of the projectile, on which are placed
wedges or cutters a¹, a'; b, b, is the wooden cup, which is fitted on to the
conical end a, a, and which is driven up and expanded by the discharge; c, c, is
the spike or wedge, which expands the bottom of the cup b.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself
to the exact details described; but what I claim is,-

page_text: First, the application of wooden wings to projectiles, by forming the pro-
jectiles with holes into or through them, into which pieces of wood are fitted
and fixed by spikes, as herein described.
Second, the application of a complete ring of wood to a projectile, by forming
the projectile with a channel round it, into which a ring of wood, made in,
sections, fits and is secured by spikes, as herein described.
Third, the application to a projectile, having a conical back, of a cup of
wood fitting on to the conical back of the projectile, which cup of wood is, by
the force of the explosion when the gun is discharged, driven up on to the
conical back of the projectile and so expanded to fill the bore of the picce;
the bottom of the wooden cup being at the same time expanded by a spike or
wedge, which is driven into it.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Christian Engström, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
C. C. ENGSTRÖM. (L.S.)