IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Whitworth, of Manchester, Engineer; for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Whitworth at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st
August 1866.
I, JOSEPH WHITWORTH, of Manchester, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE,"
to be as follows:-
In my improved cartridges I form a cylindrical hole or hollow space through
the centre of the powder or other compound, whereby I extend its length and
also provide for its better ignition. By increasing or diminishing the size of
the cylindrical hole and the length of the cartridge I am able to regulate the
amount of force or pressure in the bore according to the capability of the
material of the gun to withstand it. The amount of strain the gun will bear
without receiving permanent alteration I ascertain by the application of my
measuring instrument. In a suitable position within the hollow of the
cartridge I use an explosive substance or priming, it may be powder or gun
cotton, and through a vent in the rear of the gun I ignite the priming by a
friction tube, which again ignites the whole area of powder or other explosive
compound inside the annular space. In all cases I make the outside of the
cartridge as large as it can conveniently be loaded, and for large bore guns I

page_text: make the sectional area, of powder or explosive material much less in pro-
portion than is necessary for smaller guns in order to prevent the rapid
destruction which now takes place in large guns owing to the massing together
of so large a body of powder which is fired from an extreme point. For guns of
small bore a small aperture through the centre of the annular cartridge enables
more powder to be consumed than by the ordinary method, owing to its more
perfect ignition by the mode described. By the ordinary mode of igniting a
solid cartridge the instant the gases are generated at the top of the bore they
rush through the windage along the top of the shot, pressing it down, and
they force onwards between the shot and the side of the bore the grains of
unconsumed powder, thus producing the great scoring which now takes place.
By igniting the central area the shot is centered in the bore by the pressure
of the gases against the rear end of the projectile and held in equilibrium.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Whitworth in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
21st February 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPII
WHITWORTH, of Manchester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Joseph Whitworth, Her special license that I, the said Joseph Whitworth,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph
Whitworth, 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
CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Joseph Whitworth, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Whitworth, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say :-
In constructing a cartridge according to this Invention I form a cylindrical.
hole or hollow space through the centre of the powder or other compound,
whereby I extend the length of the cartridge, and also provide for the better
ignition by introducing in the hole or hollow space of the cartridge an ex-
plosive substance or priming, which may be of powder or gun cotton.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a longitudinal section of a cartridge wherein the ignition
takes place through the rear end of the cartridge; Figure 2 shews a longi-
tudinal section of another cartridge where the ignition is arranged to take
place from above; Figure 8 shews a longitudinal section of a part of the
breech end of a gun having within it a cartridge similar to Figure 1, and
an ordinary Whitworth projectile. By thus increasing the length of a car-
tridge, and providing for its being ignited in the interior, the strain on a gun
consequent on exploding a given amount of gunpowder or other explosive
compound may be distributed over any desired extent of area, large as com-
pared to that with the class of cartridges where the whole charge forms as it
were one solid mass, and consequently occupies a comparatively small length
of the bore at the rear end of the gun. By thus constructing cartridges &
comparatively weak gun may be enabled to sustain the shock of the discharge
of a weight of powder greater than if the charge of powder were used in a
cartridge case of the least dimensions into which such charge of gunpowder
could be packed. At the same time cartridges made according to this Inven-
tion will not be so liable as those beretofore constructed to cause unignited
grains of powder to be driven between the shot and sides of the bore of the
gun, consequently the great scoring which has heretofore been caused thereby
will be prevented. The interior longitudinal hollow space is by preference
formed by means of a thin copper tube a, a, though other suitable material
may be employed in place of copper; this tube a, a, is perforated with numerous
small holes from end to end, or nearly so, in order that the whole of the
interior of the charge of gunpowder or other suitable explosive compound
may be simultaneously ignited, which it is believed is desirable; but if preferred
the ignition of the charge surrounding the interior tube a, a, may be effected
at any desired parts of the length of the tube; b, b, is the outer bag or case

page_text: of the cartridge, which may be of any suitable material as heretofore; c is a
small cartridge or case containing gunpowder or gun cotton, or other suitablo
explosive compound, which is placed in or is fixed into the end or other con-
venient part of the tube a, a; this small internal charge not only ignites the
main charge of the cartridge, but by its explosion starts the shot or projectile.
The ignition of this small interior cartridge or charge is effected by a friction
tube or otherwise in the usual manner of igniting cartridges such as hereto-
fore used. In the two sections of cartridges shewn in the Drawings the
hollow space is shewn to proceed from end to end of the cartridge; this is
not essential, as the rear end of the cartridge may for a short length be filled
solid with gunpowder or explosive compound, the inner igniting charge or
cartridge being in advance of or it might be partially within this part of the
charge at the rear end of the cartridge.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Whitworth, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
JOSEPH WHITWORTH. (L.S.)