IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLID FLANGED METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Bradley, of Ward End, in the County of
'
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLID
FLANGED METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES."--A communication from abroad
by General Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in the United
States of America, but now residing at Berlin, in the Empire of
Germany
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Bradley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st May 1874.
I, ISAAC BRADLEY, of Ward End, in the County of Warwick,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for “Iм- ·
PROVEMENTS IN SOLID FLANGED METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES," being a com-
munication to me from abroad by General Hiram Berdan, of the City of
New York, in the United States of America, but now resident at Berlin,
in the Empire of Germany, to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in the means herein-after described whereby

page_text: solid flanged metallic cartridge cases may be headed without the risk
heretofore experienced of injuring the metal under the flange, and at
the same time a good surface may be left, by means of which the
cartridge case may be extracted even when the flange is very small,
In manufacturing solid flanged metallic cartridge cases according to
my Invention I form a fillet or bevelled shoulder forward of the flange,
and at the junction of the flange with the shell, and in combination
with the said fillet I form a circular groove or recess in the forward face
of the flange. One side of the groove or recess is formed by the bevelled
face of the said fillet or shoulder; the other side of the groove makes an
acute angle with the outer circumference of the flange. At the rear of
the flange I form a bevelled shoulder at an angle of not less than 45°
from the axis of the shell, the outer diameter of which bevelled shoulder
is about equal to the outer diameter of the case, and the inner diameter
of-the bevelled shoulder is somewhat less than the interior diameter of
the case.
I leave a flat surface around the cap chamber in order to give a good
bearing surface for the head of the case against the face of the bolt.
The rear surface of the face of the flange is about rectangular to the axis
of the cartridge case.
I do not limit myself to any precise proportions of shoulder described,
as other proportions may be employed when desired, provided that the
shoulder does not make a less angle than 45° with the axis of the shell,
that a flat surface is left around the cap chamber, and that the bevel
does not extend to the extreme edge of the flange.
For the carrying out of my Invention I employ punches and dies,
which I will describe in my complete Specification.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Bradley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th October 1874. .
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
BRADLEY, of Ward End, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent. Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-.
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Bradley, Her special licence that
I, the said Isaac Bradley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Isaac Bradley, 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 for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SOLID FLANGED
METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES," being a communication to me from abroad
by General Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in the United States*
of America, but now resident at Berlin, in the Empire of Germany,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Bradley,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isaac Bradley, 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, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in the means herein-after described whereby
solid flanged metallic cartridge cases may be headed without the risk
heretofore experienced of injuring the metal under the flange, and at
the same time a good surface may be left, by means of which the
cartridge case may be extracted even when the flange is very small.
In order that my Invention may be clearly understood I have annexed
Drawings, to which I now proceed to refer.
Figure 1 represents a longitudinal section of a solid flanged metallic
cartridge case; Figures 2 and 3, sections of dies; Figure 4, a section of

page_text: a bunter; and Figure 5, a section of a heading punch, all made according
to my Invention. The Figures are drawn about three times the actual
size.
In manufacturing solid flanged metallic cartridge cases according to
my Invention I form a fillet or bevelled shoulder a (Figure 1) forward
of the flange b, and at the junction of the flange with the shell; and in
combination with the said fillet a I form a circular groove or recess c in
the forward face of the flange b. One side of the groove or recess c is
formed by the bevelled face of the said fillet or shoulder a; the other
side of the groove c makes an acute angle with the outer circumference
of the flange b.
In Figure 1 I have marked the angles which I prefer to give to the
bevelled shoulder and to the outer side of the recess respectively, but I
do not confine myself to those angles, as others may be employed
without departing from the nature of my Invention. At the rear of the
flange I form a bevilled shoulder e at an angle of not less than 45° from
the axis i, k, of the shell, the outer diameter 7, 1, of which bevelled
shoulder is about equal to the outer diameter of the case, and the inner
diameter m, m, of the bevelled shoulder is somewhat less than the
interior diameter of the case.
I leave a flat surface g around the cap chamber in order to give a good
bearing surface for the head of the case against the face of the bolt.
The rear surface f of the face of the flange is about rectangular to the
axis of the cartridge case.
I do not limit myself to the precise proportions of shoulder described
and shewn in the Drawings as other proportions may be employed when
desired, provided that the shoulder does not make a less angle than 45°
with the axis of the shell, that a flat surface is left around the cap
chamber, and that the bevel does not extend to the extreme edge of the
flange. The angle I prefer is about 50° from the axis of the bore.
Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 represent the punches and dies for forming the
head of the cartridge case herein-before described. I bevel the mouth
a and the face of the die, as shewn in Figure 2, and I sometimes bevel
the mouth of the die at a, in Figure 3, and form a recess n in the face
of the die around the said bevelled mouth a, so that a prominent ridge

page_text: of metal c remains around the bevelled mouth a of the die. The bevelled
mouth. a serves to form the bevelled shoulder a of the cartridge case,
and the prominent ridge c serves to form the recess c in the forward face
of the flange 6 of the cartridge case.
I sometimes employ a die having a counter-bore, as shewn in Figure 3,
so as to form the aforesaid recess n; and I sometimes omit the counter-
bore and simply bevel the face h of the die, as shewn in Figure 2. In
either case the object of the bevelled mouth a is to allow the metal to
bend at a more easy angle than if the said bevelled mouth were not
employed, which is very important when metal of sufficient thickness to
make a solid headed cartridge case is employed. The metal is thus
injured less under the flange during the operation of heading the
cartridge case.
The object of the prominent ridge c is to form the recess ċ in the
flange of the cartridge case, so as to allow the bevelled shoulder a to be
located nearly or quite to the rear of the face of the flange, thereby
allowing the, hook of an extractor to take hold of the cartridge case
better than it could do if the bevelled shoulder a were located forward
of the face of the flange b, especially when the flange is small.
The bevelled shoulder e and the flat surface g at the rear of the
flange bare formed by means of a "bunter" with corresponding surfaces,
as shewn in Figure 4.
The object of the inclined surface e on the bunter is to force the metal
towards the axis of the shell for the purpose of perfecting the cap
chamber, whilst the rectangular surface f on the bunter allows the
metal to expand more freely than it could do if the bevelled surface
extended to the extreme edge of the flange, thereby lessening the
pressure on the heading punch (Figure 5), and at the same time
hardening the metal less and consequently lessening the liability to
crack.
As herein-before mentioned I do not confine myself to the particular
angles or proportions herein-before described and shewn in the accom-
panying Drawings, as these may be varied or modified without departing
from the nature of my Invention, but what I claim is, the recess in the

page_text: forward face of the flange, substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before described and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Bradley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
Witness,
T. EMERY DAVIES,
Clerk to Mr. G. R. Holland,
Patent Office,
Birmingham.
ISAAC BRADLEY. (L.S.)