IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PROJECTILES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Murdoch Napier, of the York Road, Lam-
beth, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PROJECTILES."
Sealed the 24th October 1862, and dated the 30th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Murdoch Napier
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th April 1862.
I, JAMES MURDOCH NAPIER, of the York Road, Lambeth, in the County of
Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PROJECTILES," to be as follows:-
My Invention refers to machinery and apparatus for the manufacture of
small-arm rifle bullets. Such bullets have for long been made by compression
from cold lead, the lead being first formed into long rods by hydraulic pressure
and wound upon bobbins, and so supplied to the compressing machine by a
continuous self-acting means. In the above respects my machinery is similar
to that which is already in use; but in my compressing machine I employ a
first or roughing die, which partially forms the blank after it is cut from the
lead rod, and at the same time the surplus lead is forced through an aperture
in this die and is cut away, so that the exact quantity of lead required to fill
the second or finishing die is left, and when the finishing impression is given
there is no surplus lead to be detached from the bullet. I fix the tool for
cutting the lead from the rod, also the means for holding the bullet in its

page_text: several stages of completion, viz., while it is carried from the rod to which it
has been attached to the first die, then from the first die to the finishing die,
and finally, from the finishing die to the point of delivery upon the same slide,
so that one cam and connections are sufficient. I also place the punches for
the two dies upon one slide, and actuate the slide by a single crank and one
set of knuckle joints, so that both punches advance and retire together, and
the lead in both dies is compressed at the same time. In order to adjust the
length of the piece of lead to be cut off by the machine for each bullet from the
rod of lead, I employ a simple ratchet wheel properly divided, so that a move-
ment of one tooth is rather more than sufficient to give the quantity of lead
required. The rod of lead passes between two grooved rollers which hold it
by friction, and as these rollers are connected with the ratchet wheel they
move with it, and the lead is thus fed to the machine, but any surplus length
of lead above that which is required for the bullet is prevented, as the end of
the rod comes against an adjustable stop, which checks its motion, while the
feed rollers (the action of which is constant in its extent) slip upon the surface
of the rod of lead as much as the lead is arrested in its motion by the adjust-
able stop.
In my bydraulic apparatus the valves which I use for changing the course
of the water in order to reverse or stop the action of the press, as the case may
be, are arranged so that the opening and closing valves are nearly balanced by
the pressure of the water; this arrangement enables me with great ease and
rapidity to stop and start the hydraulic ram in the direction desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent;
filed by the said James Murdoch Napier in the Great Seal Patent
Office, on the 30th October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
MURDOCH NAPIER, of the York Road, Lambeth, in the County of Surrey,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year
of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Murdoch Napier, Her special licence that I, "the said
James Murdoch Napier, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Murdoch Napier, my executors, administrators,

page_text: "
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING PROJEC-
TILES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Murdoch
Napier, 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. James Murdoch Napier, 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 :-
My Invention refers to machinery and apparatus for the manufacture of
small-arm rifle bullets. Such bullets have for long been made by compression
from cold lead, the lead being first formed into long rods by hydraulic pressure
and wound upon bobbins, and so supplied to the compressing machine by a con-
tinuous self-acting means. In the above respects my machinery is similar to
that which is already in use, but in my compressing machine I employ a first
or roughing die, which partially forms the blank after it is cut from the lead
rod, and at the same time the surplus lead is forced through an aperture in
this die, and is cut away, so that the exact quantity of lead required to fill the
second or finishing die is left, and when the finishing impression is given there
is no surplus lead to be detached from the bullet. I fix the tool for cutting
the lead from the rod, also the means for holding the bullet in its several
stages of completion, viz., while it is carried from the rod to which it has been
attached to the first die, then from the first die to the finishing die, and finally,
from the finishing die to the point of delivery upon the same slide, so that one
cam and connections are sufficient. I also place the punches for the two lies upon
one slide, and actuate the slide by a single crank and one set of knuckle joints,
so that both punches advance and retire together, and the lead in both dies is
compressed at the same time. In order to adjust the length of the piece of
lead to be cut off by the machine for each bullet from the rod of lead, I employ
a simple ratchet wheel properly divided, so that a movement of one tooth is
rather more than sufficient to give the quantity of lead required. The rod of
lead passes between two grooved rollers, which hold it by friction, and as these

page_text: rollers are connected with the ratchet wheel they move with it, and the lead is
thus fed to the machine, but any surplus length of lead above that which is
required for the bullet is prevented, as the end of the rod comes against an
adjustable stop which checks its motion, while the feed rollers (the action of
which is constant in its extent) slip upon the surface of the rod of lead as much 5
as the lead is arrested in its motion by the adjustable stop.
In my bydraulic apparatus the valves which I use for changing the course
of the water in order to reverse or stop the action of the press, as the case may
be, are arranged so that the opening and closing valves are nearly balanced by
the pressure of the water. This arrangement enables ine witli great ease and
rapidity to stop and start the hydraulic ram in the direction desired.
In the accompanying Drawings the same indicating letters serve to represent
the same parts in the various Figures.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows the first or roughing die a' in which the blank is partially
formed and prepared for the second or finishing die; the lead is supposed
to be in the die a¹ and to be pressed home by the punch 6, the surplus lead
having found its way out at the aperture c to be cut off by the knife d';
after the action of the knife the ejecting punch e passes through the hole c²
in the slide c and forces the blank out of the die a', and between the pair
of nippers f', which, along with nippers f and knife g for cutting the
blanks from the rod of lead, are fixed to the slide h represented in
Figures 2 and 3. Figure 4 is a side elevation of the machine, drawn to a
smaller scale than Figures 1, 2, and 3, and partly in section. Figure 5 is
'a front elevation drawn to the same scale as Figure 4. A is the bed plate; B,
the main frame; C, the driving pulley; C', spur pinion on driving shaft; C², spur
wheel into which pinion C¹ gears and is fixed on crank shaft D; E, connecting
rod from crank to knuckle joints E¹; F, slide which carries compressing
punches 6, b; G, bracket for supporting rocking shaf: 1, upon which lever
His fixed. The ejecting punches e', e, are actuated by a cam placed upon
the crank shaft, the action being communicated by the connecting rod II" and
the lever H. The end of the rod of lead is held firmly between the two
grooved rollers i, these rollers have motion imparted to them by the cam L, the
vibrating bar i, connecting rod 2, ratchet wheel 3, spindle it, and bevel pinions,
and wheels ", 2. The ratchet wheel is so divided that the action of one tooth
in distance turns the rollers i sufficiently to feed rather more than enough
lead for one bullet. j, Figure 3, is the adjustable stop against which the end
of the rod of lead is forced and by which the length of the piece of lead to be

page_text: cut off is more precisely regulated. Bracket J is fixed to the main frame B
and a planed portion of it forms a bed for the slide h, it also carries the stop k
which serves to open the nippers f and release the finished bullet.. The
slide h is actuated by the internal cam K through the lever 7, and the con-
necting rod, and as this slide carries the knife g and the carrying nippers f¹ƒ³,
at each forward movement of the slide, a blank or rough piece is cut from, the
rod of lead and is placed under the first or roughing die a', while the prepared
blank is at the same time removed from under the die al by the nippers f',
and the finished bullet is carried forward from under the die a' by the nippers f²,
until they are opened by the stop when the bullet is released and falls into
the receiving box M. The slide c³, upon which is fixed the knife d for cutting
off the surplus lead expressed from the roughing dic, is actuated by the small
inclined plane m, which is upon the slide h, the end of the slide being provided
with an inclined notch against the sides of which the inclined plane m operates,
thus ensuring the return as well as the forward action of the slide 3; the
spiral spring n also facilitates the return action of the slide. It will be
understood that the compressing punches 1, 3, which are fixed on the slide F
and rise and fall with it, compress the lead at the same time in both the
dies a, a, that is, that the punch 61 prepares the blank in the roughing die a¹
while the punch be finishes the bullet in die a². It is after the punches and b³
retire that the ejecting punches act and push out the prepared blank, and
the finished bullet into their respective carrying nippers. The rough blank
when newly cut from the rod of lead is carried forward to its position under
the die a' by the cutter g which is fixed to the slide h, which slide also carries
the nippers; the movénients of this slide are so arranged that it does not retire
until the punches and
blanks well into their dies.
have pushed up the rough and the prepared
The elastic character of the nippers enables them
is filed away on the sides to permit the
is in its raised position. It will be
to pass the punches, and the punch
cutter to retire, while the punch
observed that the lever I where it is connected with the ejecting punch e² is
slotted, and in its upward action relies upon the spring z, to draw up the
punch e against the stop or collar æ; this is necessary in order that the two
ejecting punches may be worked by the saine lever, and because the ejecting
punch connected with the finishing die a requires a stop in order to allow
it to remain fixed in a given position so that its point may complete the form
of the die a in which the finished bullet is made. Figures 6, 7, and 8,
represent my improved balanced valve apparatus for changing the current of
water used in working the hydraulic ram; y is the pipe which leads to the force
pumps, the pipe w connects with the bottom of the ram or piston of the hydraulic

page_text: press, and the pipe v with the upper surface of the ram, so that when the water
is forced through the pipe w the ram will be raised and the reverse action
will take place when the water is forced through pipe v; u is the waste pipe.
It will be seen that the valves t and s are connected together by the lever Z,
as are also the valves r and 7 by the lever Y, so that each pair is balanced,
and that in order to direct the force of water through pipe w or pipe v at
pleasure, it is only necessary to raise one of the levers and depress the other;
the lever Z is shown to be raised in the Drawing, and the lever Y depressed,
so that the water passes through valve 9 and pipe w, and raises the ram or
piston of the hydraulic press, the water from the upper part of the press
returning through the pipe v and valve t down the waste pipe u.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Murdoch Napier, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
JAMES M. NAPIER. (L.S.)