IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to The Honourable James Terence Fitz-Maurice,
of Fowey, in the County of Cornwall, Commander in Her Majesty's
Royal Navy, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BREECH-LOADING
دو
Sealed the 4th July 1871, and dated the 16th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Honourable James
Terence Fitz-Maurice at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 16th February 1871.
I, The Honourable JAMES TERENCE FITZ-MAURICE, of Fowey, in the
County of Cornwall, Commander in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BREECH-LOADING GUNS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate, firstly, to a special construction of the
breech portion of field, ship, and battery guns, whereby they can be

page_text: loaded with great facility and be fired without the risk of bursting
under the explosion of the charge.
Secondly. To the construction and employment of a cartridge in which
the charge is divided so that the shot can be started with one portion
and then finally forced out of the barrel by the combined action of the
first and after portions.
The rear of the barrel has two chocks for the reception of a block for
receiving the back thrust, the block being forced home tight by screws
or wedges. If screws are used one of them is elongated and serves as
a swivel pin for the block to turn upon to present a clearance into the
bore, otherwise a separate pin would be provided for the purpose. The
rear of the barrel has an inclined surface to act as a guide for guiding
the cartridge into position in the chamber. There is a slot in the incline
with a tongue which when the charge is in sufficiently far springs up
and retains it. I also propose to strengthen the breech by inserting
longitudinal ribs or bars into the same, which ribs or bars may be
welded, pinned, or rivetted in place. In the case of cast-iron guns the
bars would be of wrought metal.
The cartridge is composed of a hollow thimble with tapered shoulders
on its exterior to fit recesses in the barrel; the fore end of it is likewise
tapered, and receives a ring of gunpowder, gun cotton, or other explosive
agent moulded into shape. The fore end of the hollow is closed after
filling by a plug, wad, or sabot, which has an outer flange to bear against
the outer ring of explosive compound, so that it is held firmly in position
on the thimble. The whole may be enclosed in a paper or canvas
jacket for convenience of transport. The explosive charge can be
divided in any other manner to that before explained by wads or discs
so long as the charge is kept as it were in one body, so that the second
or after portions are fired by the gases of the first or starting portion.
In loading the gun, if of large calibre, the shot is inserted first and
then the cartridge, but for guns of smaller calibre and rifles the shot
or bullet can be secured to the case.
For battery or ships' guns I propose to employ trollys to carry the
cartridges from the magazine or store to the breech and to take the
empty thimbles back again to be refilled.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Honourable James Terence Fitz-Maurice in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, The
Honourable JAMES TERENCE FITZ-MAURICE, of Fowey, in the County
of Cornwall, Commander in Her Majesty's Royal Navy, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Hor heirs and succossors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Terence Fitz-Maurice, Her
special licence that I, the said James Terence Fitz-Maurice, my exc-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Terence Fitz-Maurice, 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 BREECH-LOADING GUNS, AND IN CARTRIDGES FOR
THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Terence Fitz-Maurice, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said In-
vention, 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 James Terence Fitz-Maurice, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :—
These improvements relate, firstly, to a special construction of the
breech portion of field, ship, and battery guns whereby they can be
loaded with great facility and be fired without the risk of bursting under
the explosion of the charge.

page_text: Secondly. To the construction and employment of a cartridge in which
the charge is divided, so that the shot can be started with one portion,
and then finally forced out of the barrel by the combined action of the
first and after portions.
The rear of the breech has two "chocks" for the reception of a block
for receiving the back thrust, the block being forced home tight by
screws or wedges. If screws are used one of them is elongated, and
serves as a swivel pin for the block to turn upon to present a clearance
into the bore, otherwise a separate pin would be provided for the purpose.
The rear of the barrel has an inclined surface to act as a guide for
guiding the cartridge into position in the chamber. There is a slot in
the incline with a tongue which when the charge is in sufficiently far
springs up and retains it.
I also propose to strengthen the breech by
inserting longitudinal ribs or bars into the same, which ribs or bars
may be welded, pinned, or rivetted in place. In the case of cast-iron
guns the bars would be of wrought metal.
The cartridge is composed of a hollow thimble with tapered shoulders
on its exterior to fit recesses in the barrel; the fore end of it is likewise
tapered, and receives a ring of gunpowder, gun cotton, or other explosive
agent moulded into shape. The fore end of the hollow is closed after
filling by a plug, wad, or sabot, which has an outer flange to bear
against the outer ring of explosive compound, so that it is held firmly
in position on the thimble. The whole may be enclosed in a paper or
canvas jacket for convenience of transport. The explosive charge can
be divided in any other manner than that before explained by wads or
discs so long as the charge is kept as it were in one body, so that the
second or after portions are fired by the gases of the first or starting
portion.
In loading the gun, if of large calibre, the shot is inserted first and
then the cartridge, but for guns of small calibre and rifles the shot or
bullet can be secured to the case.
For battery or ship guns I propose to employ trollys to carry the
cartridges from the magazine or store to the breech, and to take the
empty thimbles back again to be refilled.
The accompanying Drawings represent how I propose to carry my
Invention into effect.

page_text: Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a gun of large calibre, the
breech a of which has an incline for leading or guiding the shot
and cartridge into the bore when it is required to load it. The sides
of the incline have lugs or chocks c, c, one of them for carrying a
hinged or lift-over block d, while the other forms an abutment for the
tightening screw e to fix the block in position, as shown in Figure 2,
for withstanding the effects of the recoil. The inolined surface is
grooved for the reception of a tongue f, which may be acted upon by a
spring to lift its free end up behind the cartridge to retain the same in
place after being pushed in and before the block d is adjusted. It will
be seen that both the chocks are threaded, so that screw pins can be
inserted into them; one of these pins is plain on its end at g, and forms
a swivel for the block to turn upon, while the other acts as a tightening
pin only. The swivel ended pin also acts as a tightening pin when the
block has to be secured.
Figures 3 and 4 are end and side views of the breech of the same
gun. These guns, when necessary, may have longitudinal ribs or bars
of metal welded or otherwise secured into or on the breech portion so
as to strengthen them, which bars may be of plain sectional form
throughout, or may have corrugations, bulges, or projections of any
kind and at any part of them, so that the general contour of the gun
can be maintained without interfering with the arrangement for the
distribution of the metal. If the breech a is composed of separate
longitudinal bars they may be bound firmly in contact by rings shrunk
on or otherwise fixed in place, after which the whole may be welded
under a steam hammer to make the mass homogeneous.
The interior of the breech portion is shaped to receive a thimble or
charge holder h formed with tapered or inclined faces i and shoulders j,
such as I have shown in Figure 5. The chamfer between the point j
and the fore end is formed for the purpose of receiving a half charge
of powder, which has been previously compressed into a corresponding
shape in a press, while the bore k is for receiving the other half charge
of powder, the whole being made up into a complete charge before
the thimble is inserted into the breech. In some cases loose powder
can be employed, and when this is the case I propose to retain it in place
both inside and outside of the thimble by a cover or envelope of thin
metal or other material, and also by a wad or sabot 1, a portion of which

page_text: is stepped to enter the bore to hold itself in place. This sabot serves
for the bullet or shot to rest against previous to the discharge, which
is effected in the usual manner by a lock or striker acting upon the
fulminate or the percussion on or in the touch hole m.
If the guns are of large calibre, and the charges of too great a weight
for a man to lift, I propose to employ a trolly or carriage n with rest
cheeks o, o, upon it to steady the thimble or charge, and this trolly can
be wheeled close to the breech of the gun before the charge is pushed
into it, the trolly being preferably mounted upon three wheels, as shown
in the views Figures 5, 6, and 7. The thimbles can be kept in store for
any length of time either upon the trollys or otherwise.
I have before referred to the object of separating the charge into two
parts, and also the mode by which the two half charges are fired in
succession, and this plan is available for small arms as well as cannon,
as will be seen by the Figures 8, 9, and 10, in one of which, Figure 8,
I have made the cartridge case with an internal division of a metallic
tube p reaching nearly to the base, where it is secured in the paper or
other material forming the plug by burring the edges into it. The
bullet q in this case is stepped into the metal tube, and is held secure
by the outer shell being rolled down upon its outer surface. Figure 9
represents the inner tube p as made of the same material as the plug,
and the fore end of this finds a lodgment in an annular cavity in the
base of the bullet r. Both of these cartridges have the tubes parallel,
while in Figure 10 I have shown the tube of tapered form similarly to
the thimbles for the cannon; the only difference in the plans is the
mode of firing. In the case of the cannon the outside half charge is
fired first to start the bullet on its course, and the fire of this discharges
the inner half charge, the two half charges being fired almost simul-
taneously. By this means the gases mingle at the instant, and are
exerted against the rear of the bullet with full effect. In Figures 8, 9,
and 10 the reverse of this discharging takes place, but the effect is the
same, as will be understood from the fact of the priming being at the
central part of the cartridge base. Of course, in the case of rim-fire
cartridges the first plan would be adopted, that of firing the outside
half charge first.
It is not essential that the whole charge shall be divided in equal
portions in the manner herein-before described, as by placing a per-

page_text: forated wads in the case t, as shown in Figures 11 and 12, at any
portion of its length the same effect will be obtained. Sometimes the
tubes are perforated, so that the fire from one half or division of a
charge can be communicated to the other earlier.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,――
Firstly. The construction of guns of longitudinal bars of metal bound
together by rings or bands, substantially as described.
Secondly. The construction of guns in which the breech portion is
made with chocks and a hinged closing piece, as described and shown.
Thirdly. The construction and employment of thimbles containing
divisions of charges, substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before described and shown.
Fourthly. The construction and employment of cartridges for small
arms, substantially as described and shown.
And, fifthly. I claim the modifications herein-before described and
shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Terence Fitz-Maurice, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
JAMES TERENCE FITZ-MAURICE. (L.S.)
Witnessed by
JOSEPH LAWRANCE.