IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Bashley Britten, of Red Hill, in the County of
Surrey, Gentleman, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS IN ARTILLERY
AND PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH."
Sealed the 7th September 1871, and dated the 17th March 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Bashley Britten at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 17th March 1871.
I, BASHLEY BRITTEN, of Red Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentle-
5 man, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
" IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH," to be as
follows:-
My improvements relate to the construction of heavy guns so as to
lessen their cost by an economical employment of the quality of the
O materials of which they are composed; also to the construction of pro-
jectiles for heavy guns so that they shall be less liable to injury than
those of a similar nature hitherto employed.
In making cannon I employ metal of great tensile strength, such as
wrought iron, steel, or other metal for that part where great strength is

page_text: required to resist the pressure of the charge when it first expands; and
I use a cheaper or more easily manufactured metal for that other part
which is not subjected to so much pressure after the charge has
expanded within the chamber provided, the cheaper metal furnishing
the greater part of the weight needed in the gun to lessen its recoil when
fired. The body of the gun I make of cast metal. Within this at the
rear end I insert a breech piece of wrought iron, steel, or other strong
metal sufficiently thick to bear the strain of the charge and long enough
to surround the bore for about three times the length of the space (more
or less) occupied by the charge of powder. The breech piece is secured.
by shrinking on of the cast metal body round it or by a screw thread on
its circumference. For some guns I use a lining of steel as usual
throughout the bore. The guns are both muzzle-loaders and breech-
loaders, rifled and smooth bored. For such guns I make projectiles with
a partial coating of lead or other soft metal united to the projectile by
zine or other solder, and formed so that they will expand, the soft metal
being upset or bulged by the pressure when fired. At the extremity of
the soft metal I attach a circular shoe piece made of iron or other
suitable metal, which is imbedded in the soft metal and united to it
by the same means as the soft metal is united to the rest of the pro-
jectile so that it shall not become detached when fired, and it will serve
to protect the extremity of the soft metal from being injured when in
store or during transport.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Bashley Britten in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 15th September 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BASHLEY
BRITTEN, of Red Hill, in the County of Surrey, Gentleman, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Bashley Britten, Her special licence
that I, the said Bashley Britten, my executors, administrators, and 3

page_text: assigns, or such others as I, the said Bashley Britten, 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
ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Bashley Britten, 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 Bashley Britten, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
with the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My improvements relate to the construction of heavy guns, so as
to lessen their cost by an economical employment of the quality of the
materials of which they are composed.
Also to the construction of projectiles for heavy guns so that they
shall be less liable to injury than those of a similar nature hitherto
employed.
In making cannon I employ metal of great tensile strength, such as
wrought-iron, steel, or other metal for that part where great strength
is required to resist the pressure of the charge when it first expands;
and I use a cheaper or more easily manufactured metal for that other
part which is not subjected to so much pressure after the charge has
expanded within the chamber provided, the cheaper metal furnishing
the greater part of the weight needed in the gun to lessen its recoil when
fired. The body of the gun I make of cast metal; within this at the
rear end I insert a breech piece of wrought iron, steel, or other strong
metal sufficiently thick to bear the strain of the charge, and long enough
to surround the bore for about three times the length of the space (more
or less) occupied by the charge of powder. The breech piece is secured
by shrinking on of the cast metal body round it, or by a screw thread

page_text: it to open out or partially expand with the soft metal, as it is upset
by the pressure of the charge in exploding. The shoe being attached
firmly to the soft metal by the solder of zinc it will not separate from
the projectile during flight.
Having now described the nature of my said improvements, and in
what manner the same are to be performed, I would have it understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise forms or proportions
represented in the accompanying Drawings.
What I claim as my improvements are,―
1. The construction of heavy large bored ordnance, whether muzzle-
loaders or breech-loaders, in the manner herein-before described, sub-
stantively.
2. The construction of projectiles, either shells or solid shot, of the
character described, such projectiles having a metallic sabot or shoe
united to the soft metal, in the manner and for the purpose I have
explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Bashley Britten, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this
day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
BASHLEY BRITTEN. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOMAS DUDLEY.