IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND HER OR PROTECTIEDO AND ARREANOR AND STURD ADMC
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Berney, of Bracon Hall, Bracon Ash, in the
County of Norfolk, Clerk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION AND HER OR PROTECTIEDO AND ARREANOR AND STURD ADMC "
Sealed the 2nd April 1867, and dated the 2nd October 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Berney at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with bis Petition, on the
2nd October 1866.
I, THOMAS BERNEY, of Bracon Hall, Bracon Ash, in the County of Norfolk,
Clerk, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND USE OF PROJECTILES AND ORDNANCE. AND OTHER ARMS,'
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction and use
of projectiles and ordnance, and other arms, and consists of several parts, both
with regard to projectiles and to ordnance and other arms, which parts or some
modification of the same, whether in the construction of projectiles or in the
construction or conversion of ordnance, or other arms may be used respectively
either at the same time or at different times, and in conjunction or in combina-
tion or otherwise, or they or some, or one of them may be used separately
and independently of each other.

page_text: For these purposes when constructing projectiles I employ cast iron, and
cast them of the desired form in metal or other suitable moulds, introducing
into each mould, especially where the projectile is to be used as a solid shot,
a cup having the external form of the forward part and sides of the required
projectile, or such as may be reduced to the requisite form and size afterwards.
In some cases a cup or band is introduced into the mould, so as to enclose.
the whole after part of the casting, or the greater part of the sides of it only,
while the forward part receives a suitable form from the mould, and over
such forward part so formed a metal cap is placed, and by preference in a
heated state, and by suitable means the desired form is given to it, and it is
shrunk on. In some cases also an entire shell is formed, which is placed in a
suitable mould, if requisite, and the molten metal is run into it. In some
cases also while the sides or after part are encased in a cup or bands, or other
wise, as before described, the forward part receives its form from the metal
mould.
In some cases, also, especially in the construction of hollow shells for the
purpose of containing a bursting charge, and other contents, or otherwise, a
series of bands and a cup of metal are introduced into the mould for the pur-
pose of enclosing a part of the sides and of the after part of the prejectile
while the fore part is afterwards capped with metal in the manner
before described.
as
In some cases instead of the cup or bands I place in the mould a spiral,
more or less open, of drawn or other metal, and having, by preference, for its
sectional form a round flattened on one side; the same flat to form the outside:
of the coil and to fit closely against the mould, and the last coil at each end is
to be welded to that next to it, so as to form a hoop about the shoulder and
also about the base of the projectile. In some cases between the forward end
and the part to which the cup. or bands. or coils extend I shrink on a band or
hoop of steel, and the forward part receives its form from the metal mould;
and in some cases I affix an entire cap of steel over the forward part and
shoulders of the projectile, suitable allowance being made in either case in the
form of the casting to receive it.
The forward end of each projectile may be of any form desired, but when it
is wished to ensure penetration of a projectile into armour plate when striking
at an inclination the forward end of each projectile is formed with a central
projection which is surrounded by other projections, and, by preference, these
projections are each of a conical or of a conoidal vertical section; and this
projectile may receive its form from or be used in conjunction with cups or
bands, or other forms of wrought iron or steel, or otherwise; or it may receive

page_text: its form from the metal mould. The centres of these outer projections are
preferred to be equidistant from each other; and, by preference, they will also
be equidistant from the central axis of the projectile, or otherwise.
When using cups, bands or coils, or other forms of metal, in the construction
of projectiles for use with ordnance, it is preferred to make them of wrought
iron, but the cap or part to cover the forward part of them I prefer to be of
steel, but the forward part of shells, as well as of solid projectiles, may also in
some cases receive their form from the metal mould, and have in some cases a
simple band of steel about the shoulder of the projectile. The steel cap or cup
of steel, as before described, should be so formed that the apex of the casting
enclosed within it should be of a rounded form.
And other forms and other arrangements than those above described.
whether of the wrought iron or of the steel, or of the drawn iron may be used
with projectiles for ordnance and other arms. but it is preferred that these
caps or bands, or cups, as before described. should be halved on to each other
in such manner that the after edge of each peice should encircle the forward
edge of the peice behind it thus and that the steel where
used should be hardened and tempered as required.
In constructing breech-loading ordnance, the opening through the breech
end of each peice is formed of larger dimensions than the bore beyond it, in
order to admit a charge or charging hollow metal moveable breech of con-
siderable strength. This charging instrument is formed somewhat conically
in order to fit into a conical recess or chamber in the breech end of the peice
of ordnance. This charging instrument is of metal and by preference of the
gun metal known as "sterro metal," and the back end of the charging
instrument is formed with a projecting flange, though this is not essential
nor any exact form. The interior of the forward end of the charging
instrument will in some cases be made of a form corresponding with the end
of the projectile so as to enclose a part of it.
The back end of the charging instrument is formed with a small chamber
in its centre to receive the priming or igniting charge placed in a suitable cup
or tubular instrument closed at the back, but which at its forward end is open
and receives a small projectile, which when the priming is exploded by impact
at the rear end of the cup or tubular instrument is driven forward and carries
with it a fuse lighted by the fire of the priming; the back end of the charging
instrument being of sufficient substance to sustain the explosion of it, and to
have the effect upon it that a small barrel would. By this means the powder
of the charge in the charging instrument is more quickly ignited throughout

page_text: its length, than when a charge of powder simply receives at one end the fire
or flash of the priming. In obtaining the necessary impact for discharging
the priming and charge in the cup or tubular priming instrument (which also
as above stated receives the small projectile), it is preferred to use an horizontal
striker having at its back end an incline formed thereon, against which the
incline of another bar rests, which when struck with force drives the striker
forward, and at the same time wedges or bolts it tightly so as to prevent its
being driven back, and by which the cup or tubular instrument containing
the priming and igniting charge is also prevented from being driven back.
In order to prevent the effects of vibration of the metal of which a peice of
ordnance is formed, I coat or case cach peice of ordnance on the outside
with lead or an alloy of lead, and also a farther coating of vulcanized india-
rubber, or vulcanite, or hard compound of india-rubber. Or it may be coated
with lead, or alloy of lead alone, or with a sulphur compound of india-rubber
only changed by the action of heat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Berney in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd April 1867. Time, for filing Drawings, extended by Order of the
Lord Chancellor.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,
THOMAS
BERNEY, of Bracon Hall, Bracon Ash, in the County of Norfolk, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, 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 him, the said Thomas
Berney, er special licence that I, the said Thomas Berney, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said Thomas Berney, 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 THE CONSTRUC-
TION AND USE OF PROJECTILES AND ORDNANCE, AND OTHER ARMS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Berney, my executors or admini-
strators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands

page_text: 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 he 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 Thomas Berney, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction and use
of projectiles and ordnance and other arms, and consists of several parts, both
with regard to projectiles and to ordnance and other arms. which parts or
some modification of the same, whether in the construction of projectiles, or
in the construction or conversion of ordnance or other arms, may be used
respectively either at the same time or at different times, and in conjunction
or in combination or otherwise, or they, or some, or one of them may be used
separately and independently of each other.
For these purposes when constructing projectiles I employ cast iron, and
cast them of the desired form in metal or other suitable moulds, introducing
into each mould, especially where the projectile is to be used as a solid shot, a
cup having the external form of the forward part and sides of the required
projectile, or such as may be reduced to the requisite form and size afterwards
In some cases a cup or band is introduced into the mould, so as to enclose
the whole after part of the casting, or the greater part of the sides of it only,
while the forward part receives a suitable form from the mould, and over such
forward part so formed a metal cap is placed, and by preference in a heated
state, and by suitable means the desired form is given to it, and it is shrunk
on. In some cases also an entire shell is formed, which is placed in a suitable
mould, if requisite, and the molten metal is run into it. In some cases also
while the sides or after part are encased in a cup or bands or otherwise, as
before described, the forward part receives its form from the nicial mould.
In some cases, also, especially in the construction of hollow shells for the
purpose of containing a bursting charge and other contents or otherwise, a
series of bands and a cup of metal are introduced into the mould for the
purpose of enclosing a part of the sides and of the after part of the projectile,
while the fore part is afterwards capped with metal in the manner as before
described.
1
In some cases instead of the cup or bands I place in the mould a spiral more
or less open of drawn or other metal, and having by preference for its
sectional form a round flattened on one side, the same flat to form the outside

page_text: of the coil and to fit closely against the mould, and the last coil at each end
is to be welded to that next to it so as to form a hoop about the shoulder and
also about the base of the projectile. In some cases between the forward end
and the part to which the cup or bands or coils extend I shrink on a band or
hoop of steel, and the forward part receives its form from the metal mould.
And in some cases I affix an entire cap of steel over the forward part and
shoulders of the projectile, suitable allowance being made in either case in the
form of the casting to receive it.
The forward end of each projectile may be of any form desired, but when
it is wished to penetrate armour plate, when striking at an inclination the
forward end of each projectile is formed with a central projection, which is
surrounded by other projections, and by preference these projections are cach
of a conical or of a conoidal vertical section; and this projectile may receive its
form from or be used in conjunction with cups or bands, or other forms of
wrought iron or steel or otherwise, or it may receive its form from the metal
mould. The centres of these outer projections are preferred to be equidistant
from each other, and by preference they will also be equidistant from the
central axis of the projectile.
When using cups, bands, or coils. or other forms of meial in the con-
struction of projectiles for use with ordnance, it is preferred to make them of
wrought iron, but the cap or pari to cover the forward part of them I prefer
to be of steel: but the forward part of shells, as well as of solid projectiles,
may also in some cases receive their form from the metal mould, and have
in some cases a simple band of steel about the shoulder of the projectile.
The steel cap or cup of steel, as before described, should be so formed that
the apex of the casting enclosed within it should be of a rounded form.
And other forms and arrangements than those above described, whether
of the wrought iron, or of the steel, or of the drawn iron, may be used
with ordnance and other arms; but it is preferred that these caps or bands or
cups, as before described, should be halved on to each other in such manner
. that the after edge of each piece should encircle the forward edge of the piece
behind it thus
and that the steel where used should be
hardened and tempered as required.
In constructing breech-loading ordnance the opening through the breech
end of each piece is formed of larger dimensions than the bore beyond it in
order to admit a charge or charging hollow metal moveable breech of con-
siderable strength. This charging instrument is formed somewhat conically
in order to fit into a conical recess or chamber in the breech end of the piece

page_text: of ordnance. This charging instrument is of metal, and by preference of the
gun metal known as "sterro metal." And the back end of the charging
instrument is formed with a projecting flange, though this is not essential nor
any exact form. The interior of the forward end of the charging instrument
will in some cases be made of a form corresponding with the end of the
projectile so as to enclose a part of it.
The back end of the charging instrument is formed with a small chamber,
by preference in its centre, to receive the priming or igniting charge placed in
a suitable cup or tubular instrument closed at the back, but which at its
forward end is open, and receives a small projectile, which when the priming
is exploded by impact at the rear end of the cup or tubular instrument is
driven forward, and carries with it a fuse lighted by the fire of the priming.
The back end of the charging instrument being of sufficient substance to
sustain the explosion of it, and to have the effect upon it that a small barrel
would. By this means the powder of the charge in the charging instrument
is more quickly ignited throughout its length than when a charge of powder
simply receives at one end the fire or flash of the priming. In obtaining the
necessary impact for discharging the priming and charge in the cup or tubular
priming instrument (which also, as above stated, receives the small projectile)
it is preferred to use an horizontal striker, having at its back end an incline
formed thereon, against which the incline of another bar rests, which when
struck with force drives the striker forward, and at the same time wedges or
bolts it tightly so as to prevent its being driven back, and by which the cup or
tubular instrument containing the priming and igniting charge is also prevented
from being driven back.
In order to prevent the effects of vibration of the metal of which a piece of
ordnance is formed I coat or case each piece of ordnance on the outside with
lead or an alloy of lead, and also a further coating of vulcanized india-rubber
or vulcanite or hard compound of india-rubber; or it may be coated with
lead or alloy of lead alone, or with a sulphur compound of india-rubber only
changed by the action of heat provided that the requisite heat may be applied
without injury to the barrel or before the barrel has been finally bored.
Having now described in what my Invention consists, I proceed to give
such description as may seem necessary for carrying it out. The caps and the
cups proposed to be used may be perfectly well made of blocks of fresh
puddled iron or steel of a proper heat by drawing them as much as may be
necessary under the steam hammer, and by then forcing them into suitable
moulds of the required form by means of punches or rams worked by steam
or hydraulic pressure.

page_text: When a projectile is about to be mounted with a steel cap over its forward
part and shoulders it will be very desirable to place it in an upright position
in a central socket under a steam hammer fitted with a central cupped tool of
the requisite form, so as not only to strike the steel on to its position accurately
and firmly, but also to compress the crystals of the metal as closely as
possible previously to its being hardened. The steel cap will be further
secured in its place by the screwed plugs used with rifled ordnance, or by other
means. When bands of iron or steel are put into the casting fit for being
shrunk on it is very desirable to compress the metal of them more closely
by the use of pairs of grooved or other hollow tools of the required form,
acting by blows from a steam hammer. This will give additional strength
to the said bands, and if by this means the exact requisite form can be given
it will save labor. The bands will be best if formed of drawn bars, for if
formed of lengths of drawn tube the elongated crystals of the metal will lie in
the wrong direction. In making the castings on which steel or other bands
have afterwards to be shrunk, a core, probably of metal, will have to be
inserted in the mould around that part.
A full account of the approved component parts of "sterro metal" intro-
duced by Baron de Rosthorn, at Vienna, is to be found in Dr. Percey's
Metallurgy on Iron and Steel, p. 157, together with Records of Experiments
on its stensile strength. The harder of two sorts mentioned he considers as
"suitable for ordnance." When "forged "it is said to have been "equal to
thirty-four tons English on the English square inch," and when cold drawn,
once he stated that it was equal to thirty-eight tons English on the English
square inch."
"Field guns, from four to twelve pounders have been worked
out of single pieces under the hydraulic press." "The remarkable tensile
strength of sterro metal" is increased by pressure; it has also " great
elasticity."
Copper
Zinc
- 55.04
- 42.36
Iron
- 1.77
Tin
0.83
100.00
"
Experience has proved that the
proportion of zinc may vary from
"38 to 42 per cent. without mate-
"rially affecting the quality of the
" alloy."
"The iron, which must be malleable iron, is put at the bottom of the crucible
"with the copper upon it and then exposed to a very high temperature. It
is thus anulatale inkan w

page_text: "tin is added and afterwards the zinc. The melted metal is to be stirred, left
"for a minute or two, stirred again and cast.
The real object of the Invention with regard to ordnance although he does
not tie himself to have suggested a plan to effect it, is if possible to add
enormously to the resisting power of the gun without materially diminishing
its effective force. With respect to the former the external diameter of the
smaller end of the charging instrument, which is made slightly conical to
facilitate its removal, is limited to the diameter of the barrel at the depth of
its rifle grooves, so that the base of the projectile might be placed within it if
requisite. But instead of doing so it would seem for various reasons better
to fill that position in the mouth of the charging instrument with an usual
wad and suitable means for lubrication. Shortly beyond this part a considerable
thickness of the charging instrument is placed by preference for the above
purpose within the diameter of the barrel. This necessarily adds proportionately
to the resisting power of the gun from its strength as compared with a similar
substance of the outer coil or part of a gun.
Secondly, by lessening the diameter and area of the powder chamber the
charge is necessarily extended further along the barrel, which is therefore
proportionately relieved, and it will be sufficient to extend the substance of the
gun further forward beyond the
On the other hand any diminution
in effective force arising from the variation in diameter between the barrel and
the powder chamber I propose to correct by the other part of my Invention
which by means of the igniting charge of the fuse and carrying projectile
produces a more simultaneous combustion throughout the whole charge.
I wish it to be understood that it is to this use of this projectile for
carrying ignition through the powder chamber that allusion is made in the
title of the Specification, and also that it is to this means of discharging a gun
that allusion is made in the said title as Improvements in the use of
Projectiles and Ordnance and other Arms." The projectile may have a bunch
of fibre of any suitable kind attached to it, coated or impregnated with
ingredients which will ensure an intense flame.
I do not claim the striker and the other bar which act upon each other by
inclined planes as any particular Invention, but I contrived the same, some
such mechanism being essential to carry out the Invention effectually.
Figures 1, 1 A, 1 B, 2, 2 A, 2 B, 3, 3 A, 3 B, and 4, 4 A. 4 B. are illus-
trations of projectiles of forms preferred, formed of groups of cones or conoidal
figures surrounding a central figure either wholly or in part. The circular
Drawings below are plans of the figures above them.
Figures 5 and 7 represent a tubular charging instrument with the central

page_text: chamber preferred, in which is to be inserted the tubular priming instrument
with its charge and the fuze carrying projectile.
I do not claim the Invention of the use of cast iron for projectiles, nor of
sterro metal for ordnance, nor do I claim the Invention of combining wrought
iron or steel with cast iron for projectiles, but I claim the use of forms of
wrought iron and steel, or of either of them, used in the positions and in the
manner and of the forms described, or any modifications of the same.
I claim the use of the spiral or coil of metal of any form to confine a pro-
jectile of cast metal, whether a solid shot or a shell, and of welding some of
the coils to give them the confining effect of hoops or bands.
I claim the particular form of projectile consisting of a crown or group of
cones or conoidal figures surrounding or enveloping a central cone or conoidal
figure, whether the said central figure be visible in part or entirely enveloped,
as I particularly prefer the numbers 3, 4, 5, and 6 to form the group of
enveloping figures, and I claim the said form or forms for projectiles, whether
in combination with wrought iron or steel as above described, or as a pure
casting.
I claim the charging instrument or breech, and 1 also claim in combination
with it or as a further combination the chamber acting as a barrel and the
tubular priming instrument, and the fuse carrying projectile, which as from as
barrel is fired along or through the powder chamber for the purpose of
causing a rapid ignition of the charge.
I also claim the use of the lead or alloy of lead as an outer coating to
ordnance wholly or in part, and of the vulcanite for a similar use.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Berney, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
THOMAS BERNEY.
(L.S.)