IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOFING OR ENCASING CARTRIDGES AND OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE TO INJURY BY DAMP
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eustace Carey Prentice, of Stowmarket, in the County
of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATERPROOFING OR
ENCASING CARTRIDGES AND OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE TO INJURY BY DAMP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eustace Carey Prentice
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th January 1867.
I, EUSTACE CAREY PRENTICE, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN WATER-
PROOFING OR ENCASING CARTRIDGES AND OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE TO INJURY BY
DAMP," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in waterproofing or encasing
cartridges and other articles liable to injury by damp. For this purpose I
take a sheet or piece of india-rubber (or it may be of a composition having
similar elastic and waterproof qualities), and by the pressure of air I distend
the material into a bubble-like form, and whilst it is so distended I place
within the bubble through the pipe used in distending it the cartridge or
article to be enclosed and waterproofed; I then take off the pressure of air
and allow the strained material to close in around the article; then by means
of a ligature or by other means the bubble or capsule is closed at the back
and is cut off from the remainder of the sheet or piece from which it has been
produced.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eustace Carey Prentice in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 8th July 1867.
VAL
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUSTACE
CAREY PRENTICE, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Fler reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Eustace Carey Prentice, Her special licence that L, the said Eustace Carey
Prentice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Eustace Carey Prentice, 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 "IMPROVE
MENTS IN WATERPROOFING OR ENCASING CARTRIDGES AND OTHER ARTICLES LIABLE
TO INJURY BY DAMP," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Eustace Carey Prentice, my executors or adininistrators, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention bas for its object improvements in waterproofing or encasing
cartridges and other articles liable to injury by damp. For this purpose I
take a sheet or piece of india-rubber (or it may be of a composition having
similar elastic and waterproof qualities), and by the pressure of air I distend
the material into a bubble-like form, and whilst it is so distended I place
within the bubble through the pipe used in distending it the cartridge or
article to be enclosed and waterproofed; I then take off the pressure of air
and allow the strained material to close in around the article; then by means
of a ligature or by other means the bubble or capsule is closed at the back

page_text: and is cut off from the remainder of the sheet or piece from which it has been
produced.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front view, and Figure 2 is a side view, partly in section, of
a machine which I prefer to employ.
.9
a, a, is the frame of the machine on the top of which is mounted a standard
having a horizontal cylinder 6 formed in it; inside this cylinder a piston or
plunger-c is capable of sliding; it is drawn forward by means of a chain &
leading to a treddle e, and it is drawn back by an india-rubber tube f acting
as a spring; this tube is tied around the stem of the piston or plunger at c¹,
and at is binder end is clamped to the end of the cylinder by means of its
cover b³, and in this way also an air-tight joint is made between the plunger
and the cylinder; g is a spring pressing blade, the lower end g¹ of which is
jointed so that it can turn on one side into the position shewn in dotted lines
in Figure 1; is a small spring pressing upon it to retain it in this position.
At the end of the pressing blade a circular hole is formed of the same size as
the cylinder b, and when the end g of the blade is turned down into the
position in which it is shewn in full lines the hole corresponds with the
cylinder; h is a lever turning on a centre at h¹ and connected by a rod i with
a treddle; when this treddle is depressed the end of the lever h bears against
the spring blade g and removes it from contact with the end of the cylinder b,
against which it at other times presses firmly; 1 is an air passage leading into
the cylinder band connected by a pipe with the india-rubber bottle or elastic
bag ; this bag is placed between two boards 2, n, the lower one of which is
stationary and the upper hinged at one end and connected at the other with a
treddle o, so that by depressing the treddle air may be forced from the bottle
or bag m by the passage into the cylinder b; p,p, are two nipping jaws
centred at p¹, and p², p², are arms in connection with these nippers, which by
the links p, p, are connected with a rod p* which is able to slide up and down
through a hole formed in a cross piece of the frame, it is drawn down when
required by a rod p³ connected with a treddle q, and it is brought up again
when the treddle is set free by the vulcanized india-rubber spring r.
I
The machine is worked in the following manner: -The cartridge charge or
other article to be waterproofed and enclosed is placed in the cylinder b against
the face of the plunger c, and a disc of thin india-rubber somewhat larger in

page_text: diameter than the cylinder is placed over the mouth of the said cylinder at a
time when the pressing blade g is turned on one side, and the india-rubber
being slightly tacky adheres to the face of the cylinder; the treddle & being
depressed the lower end of the spring blade g is turned down, and the pressure
on the treddle k being then removed the edges of the india-rubber disc become
firmly nipped and held between the blade and the face of the cylinder; next
the treddle o is put down, and so air is forced into the cylinder b to blow out
the india-rubber disc into a bubble or ball, then whilst the treddle o is still
held down the third treddle e is pressed down, which causes the cartridge,
charge, or other article previously placed in the cylinder b to be pushed forward
into the bubble or ball which has been blown from the disc of india-rubber;
the said cartridge, charge, or other article which remains held to the face of
the plunger c by small needle points with which it is furnished is seized by
the workman between the fore finger and thumb and the treddle o is released
so as to allow the bottle or bag m to expand and suck back the air and cause
the distended india-rubber to contract closely around the cartridge charge or
article; this the workman then draws slightly forward and turns partly round,
so as to twist the india-rubber into a neck, and the neck, when the treddle q
is depressed, which the workman now does, is embraced by the nippers p,
these, as will be seen, having recesses at their end to receive it; lastly, the
workman, who is now free to use both hands, ties a packthread around the
neck immediately in front of the nippers, and allowing the nippers to open
he cuts off the enclosed cartridge charge or article and the operation is
complete.
The india-rubber discs employed may either be of pure india-rubber, or of
india-rubber combined with sulphur and mildly vulcanised.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
EUSTACE C. PRENTICE. (L.S.)
Witness to the signature of
Eustace Carey Prentice,
EDWARD H. PRENTICE,
Stowmarket.