IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Soper, of Friar Street, Reading, in the
County of Berks, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Soper at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 6th September 1871.
I, WILLIAM SOPER, of Friar Street, Reading, in the County of Berks,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
1
The object of my Invention is the construction of a cartridge which
shall possess great strength with comparatively little weight of material,
which shall be freer from liability to derangement of its structure or to
injure or impair the efficiency of the arm in which it is used than other
❤

page_text: intended for breech-loading rifles, but may also be used for heavier
arms, such as the so-called "Gatling" gun, the " Mitrailleuse," and
other breech-loading artillery, and it will serve either as a blank cartridge
or ball cartridge.
The said cartridge consists of only three pieces, viz., the tube, the
base, and the cap. It is therefore very easily and cheaply manufactured,
and is less liable to serious defects from imperfect workmanship or
to injury in transport or storage than those cartridges which consist of
numerous pieces.
The tube or body of the cartridge is preferably a coil of thin sheet
copper or brass secured at the edges by soldering, or it may be a solid
tube of metal, paper, or other suitable material. The base in which the said
tube is to be secured is a metal socket formed by drawing down a piece
of copper or other suitable metal. The dies in which the said base is
drawn down must be so constructed that the tubular part of the said
base, the flat portion or end, and a central recess or cavity containing a
perforated cone are all formed in the substance of the same piece of
metal. The cone inside the central recess forms the anvil; its apex,
which is perforated, lies far enough within the recess to permit the oap
to be properly inserted within the same By forming the anvil in this
manner the separate anvil, which is one great source of imperfection or
failure in other cartridges, is entirely dispensed with.
The cap is
so placed within the recess that its edges rest upon the inner end
thereof, leaving the fulminate or priming of the cap a very slight
distance from the top of the cone or anvil, the outside of the cap then
being a little within or below the outer edge of the recess or cavity.
Inside the base and surrounding the central depression which encloses
the recess I also form in the solid metal of the base by the same action
of the dies a thin projecting ring or flange. The end of the tube
inserted within the base is turned in all around to meet this ring or
flange, and the latter is then turned outward and forced down upon
the turned-in portion of the tube, thereby securing the same firmly
in the base. The internal corner of the latter at the junction of the
tubular and flat portions is curved or angled to give the greatest
possible strength to this part of the cartridge. It will therefore be
•

page_text: readily understood that the corner of the base, which has ordinarily
been the weakest part of the cartridge, is by my method of construction
rendered perfectly secure, and all possibility of the escape of gas at the
base is prevented, while at the same time I retain all the elasticity,
cheapness, and other advantages of a compound cartridge.
As a modification of the foregoing method of securing the tube in the
base I may form a ring or flange at the inner end of the central
chamber or cavity and turn the same down upon a wad or block of
compressed paper, wood, or other suitable material placed upon the
turned-in end of the coiled or other tube. The tubular portion of the
base is made of such a length as to support and strengthen all that
portion of the shell which is most severely strained by the shock of the
explosion.
SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letter's
!
Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said William
Soper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th March 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
SOPER, of Friar Street, Reading, in the County of Berks, Gun Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fiftli year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Soper, Her special licence that
I, the said William Soper, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Soper, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said William Soper, my executors or administrators, by an

page_text: 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Soper, 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 Drawing
forming a part of this Specification :—
The object of my Invention is the construction of a 'cartridge that
shall possess great strength with comparatively little weight of material,
that shall be freer from liability to derangement of its structure or of
the arm with which it is used than other cartridges, and that may be
cheaply and rapidly manufactured without any unusually elaborate or
costly machinery. It is chiefly intended for breech-loading rifles, but
may also be used for heavier arms, such as the so-called "Gatling" gun,
the "Mitrailleuse," and other breech-loading artillery, and it will serve
either as a blank cartridge or a ball cartridge.
The said cartridge, except in certain modifications of my Invention
herein-after described, consists of only three pieces, viz., the tube, the
base, and the cap. It is therefore very simple of manufacture, and is
less liable to serious defects from imperfect workmanship or to injury in
transport or storage than those cartridges which consist of numerous
nieces

page_text: The tube or body a of the cartridge case is preferably a coil of thin
sheet copper or brass, usually secured by soldering, or it may be an
ordinary tube of metal, paper, or other suitable material. The base b
in which the said tube is to be secured is a metal socket formed by
drawing down a piece of brass, copper, or other suitable metal in such a
manner that the annular part c of the said base, the flat portion or end d,
and the central recess or cavity e, with or without a perforated cone ƒ,
are all formed in the substance of the same piece of metal, that is to
say, they are not separate pieces, but the whole of them form a single
piece of metal. The dies in which the said base is drawn down or
shaped must therefore be suitably constructed to effect the proper
formation of the various parts of the base above described, but in
other respects there is nothing peculiar about these dies, or
apparatus used for making my improved cartridge cases.
"
any other
forms the
In the cartridges illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, the cone
anvil; its apex, which is perforated, lies far enough within the recess
to permit the cap g to be properly inserted within the same. By
forming the anvil in this manner the ordinary separate anvil, which is
one great source of imperfection or failure in many other cartridges, is
entirely dispensed with. The cap g is so placed within the recess e that
its edges rest upon the inner end thereof, leaving the fulminate in the
end of the cap a very slight distance from the top of the cone or
anvil, the outside of the cap g then being a little within or below
the outer edge of the recess or cavity e.
The fire from the cap passes
through the hole f₁ to the charge in the body of the cartridge.
Inside the base and surrounding the central portion which encloses
the recess e I also form in the solid metal of the base a thin projecting
ring or flange h. The end of the tube is inserted within the base, as
shewn in Figure 1, and is turned in all round at i to meet this ring or
flange h, and the latter is then turned outward and forced down upon
the turned-in portion of the tube, thereby securing the same firmly in
the base, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3. Or instead of having a circular
flange turned down upon the end of the tube a, as shown in Figure 3,
I
may turn down or rivet a number of small tongues ; at convenient
distances apart upon the said tube, as shown in Figure 4, and instead of
securing the tube a in the base 6 by turning down or rivetting portions
of the metal of the base upon the tube I may solder the said tube in
the base, or affix the same by or with any suitable adhesive substance.

page_text: explosion' all formed of one piece of metal and secured to the tube by
rivetting or otherwise, either with or without the wad, washer, or cup,
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Soper, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Soper, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
W. J. LOWE.
WILL. SOPER. (L.S.)