IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING COMPOSITION AND CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE
Year: 1884

page_text: 1 GEORGE QUICK of Chipping Campden in the County of Gloucester, Chief
Engineer, Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING COMPOSITION AND CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of discs or cakes of meal-powder, gun-
powder, gun cotton, or any other gas producing composition, for use in Ordnance
and consists in producing such discs or cakes of material with a large hole in the
centre and numerous other perforations through the said cakes, the said perforations
being connected with the central hole by numerous radial and concentric channels
or passages formed on the flat sides of the said cakes so that the flame or fire from
the firing primer may spread equally and rapidly in all directions over and between
the surfaces of the said cakes as well as through the perforations therein, whereby
the whole cake of material, and consequently the whole of the charge, may be
ignited with great rapidity and burnt with great uniformity.
I make the centre hole in the cakes somewhat in proportion to the diameter and
intended length of the cartridge, and to the amount of air-spacing required. These
discs may be of any required thickness from half an inch to three or more inches,
and any number may be employed to form a cartridge or charge, care being taken
that the said large central orifices shall be in the centre or axis of the said cartridge
and in line with the axial vent of the gun, so that on the firing of the primer the
blast of flame therefrom may ignite the entire surface of the central orifice the
whole length of the cartridge, if required, when the flame will radiate uninter-
ruptedly and uniformly towards the exterior of the cartridge through the numerous
channels formed on the faces of the said cakes.
These cakes of propelling material may be so large in diameter as to fill the
chamber of the gun, or they may be, say, one or more inches only in diameter, and
occupy a quarter or one-third or more of the diameter of the cartridge, the annular
space surrounding them being packed with ordinary fine grain, or any other
description of powder. In this case I keep the said cakes in the centre of
the cartridge by passing a copper rod through their centre and retaining them
in position until the cartridge is completely loaded, when the rod is withdrawa

page_text: leaving the central orifice in the cartridge clear. Or the said discs or cakes may
be inserted in a closely fitting cylindrical bag of thin material, and then inserted in
the centre of the larger cartridge case, the annular space being then filled with
other kinds of powder or propelling material, and the cartridge then closed in the
ordinary manner.
These cakes of propelling material may be formed by hydraulic pressure by means
of suitable dies having the required projections on their faces to form the concentric
and radial grooves or channels, and with the necessary pins and recesses in the said
dies to form the holes in the said cakes. Or the cakes may be pressed flat, smooth,
and solid, and the channels afterwards formed by cutting tools, the perforations
being drilled through the cakes as required.
It is to be understood that the pressing of flat cakes of meal powder is not a new
invention, but that this improvement consists in forming concentric and radial
grooves on the sides of the said cakes in connection with the central and other
perforations in the said cakes.
In the Drawing Figure 1 is an elevation of the face of a cake of propelling
material showing the central and other perforations and the numerous radial and
concentric grooves.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Propelling Composition and Cartridges
for Ordnance.
I, GEORGE QUICK, of Chipping Campden in the County of Gloucester, Chief
Engineer, Royal Navy, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN PROPELLING COMPOSITION AND CARTRIDGES FOR ORDNANCE
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My Invention relates to the manufacture of discs or cakes of meal-powder, gun-
powder, or any other gas-producing composition for use in Ordnance, and consists
in producing such discs or cakes of material with a large hole in the centre and
with other perforations through the said cakes the said perforations being connected
with each other by numerous radial and concentric channels or shallow passages
formed on the flat sides of the said cakes so that the flame or fire from the firing
primer may spread equally and rapidly in all directions over and between the
surfaces of the said cakes as well as through the perforations therein, whereby the
whole cake of material, and consequently the whole of the charge, may be ignited
with great rapidity and burnt with great uniformity.
The centre hole in the discs of composition may be made somewhat in proportion
to the diameter and intended length of the cartridge; and the discs may be of any
required thickness from half an inch to three, six, or more inches, and any number
may be employed to form a cartridge or charge, care being taken that the said
large central orifices in the discs shall be in the centre or axis of the cartridge, and
in line with the axial vent of the gun.
These discs of propelling material may be so large in diameter as to fill the
chamber of the gun, or they may be, say, one third or one quarter or more of the
diameter of the cartridge, the annular space in the cartridge surrounding the said
discs being filled with any other description of powder. In this case I keep the
said discs in the centre of the cartridge by passing a copper or other rod through
their centre and retaining them in position until the cartridge is completely loaded,
when the rod is withdrawn leaving the central orifice in the cartridge clear.
These discs of propelling composition may be formed of meal powder, or
granulated powder, or of a mixture of meal powder and granulated powder,
subjected to great bydraulic pressure by means of suitable dies having the required
projections on their faces to form the concentric and radial grooves and channels,
and with the necessary pins and recesses in the said dies to form the holes or
perforations in the said discs.
Or the cakes may be pressed flat, smooth, and solid, and the grooves afterwards
formed by cutting tools, and the perforations drilled through as required.
It is to be understood that the pressing of flat cakes of meal powder for
cartridges is not a new invention.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The formation of discs of propelling composition having a central orifice and
numerous grooves or channels on the flat sides of the said discs.
2. The formation of cartridges for Ordnance composed of one or more of such
discs of propelling composition as herein before described.
Dated this Eleventh day of August 1005