IMPROVEMENTS IN ORD- A-
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward O'Callaghan, Lieutenant of Her Majesty's
Fifty-first Light Infantry, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORD-
A-
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward O'Callaghan at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th April 1855.
I, the said EDWARD O'CALLAGHAN, Lieutenant of Her Majesty's Fifty-first
Light Infantry, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND IN PROJECTILES APPLICABLE TO ORDNANCE AND
SMALL ARMS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, firstly, to a method of elevating or depressing guns
which are mounted upon carriages. To the breech or end is adapted the screw
ordinarily used for the above purpose, but according to my Invention I so
adapt it, that when the gun is elevated to as great an extent as can now be
accomplished, the end thereof may pass below the adjusting nut, and then by
reversing the motion a greater elevation may be obtained.
Secondly, my Invention refers to projectiles upon the "Minić" principle,
and consists in forming them hollow, as shells, and adapting thereto the means
for causing explosion by percussion.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edward O'Callaghan in the Great Scal Patent Office on
the 9th October 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
O'CALLAGHAN, Lieutenant of Her Majesty's Fifty-first Light Infantry, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five; in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Edward O'Callaghan, Her especial license that I, the said Edward
O'Callaghan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edward O'Callaghan, my exccutors, 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 ORDNANCE, AND IN PROJECTILES APPLICABLE TO ORDNANCE
AND SMALL ARMS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
Edward O'Callaghan, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of my 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 Edward O'Callaghan, 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 and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :—
My Invention relates, firstly, to a method of elevating or depressing guns
which are mounted upon field carriages; the principle thereof consisting in so
arranging the screw used for that purpose, that when the gun is elevated to as
great an extent as can now be accomplished, the end of the screw may pass
below the adjusting nut, and then by reversing the motion a greater elevation
may be obtained.
Secondly, my Invention refers to projectiles formed upon the expanding
principle, and consists in constructing them hollow, as shells, and adapting
thereto the means for causing explosion by percussion.
And in order that these improvements may be fully understood, I have

page_text: appended to this my Specification certain illustrative Drawings, which I will
now proceed to describe.
Fig. 1 represents the section of a carriage with a twenty-four pounder
howitzer mounted in the ordinary manner, the construction of part of which
carriage, however, I shall point out in order to make my improvement
evident. The breech end of the gun rests on a screw a, passing through a
nut b, commonly called the screw box, which nut is mounted within a bar c,
extending across the carriage; the screw and not the nut in this case being
turned by means of the handles d, fixed to its upper end, will cause the gun to
be elevated or depressed, but the elevation is limited by the position of the nut b,
as shewn in the Drawing. In order to obviate this limitation, I so arrange the
position of the cross bar cand nut 6 that the breech end of the gun shall be
capable of moving downward clear of them. This position is shewn in Fig. 2,
and a further elevation may now be gained by turning the nut b (which is in
this case confined within the bar c, and carries the handle d.) in the other
direction, so as to force the breech end downward. In order, however, to
effect this, it may be necessary to assist the screw over the position which it
occupies when in a direct line with the centre upon which the gun turns.
This may be accomplished by a handspike or lever placed in the cross bar c
on the outside thereof. The nut may then be readily turned and a greater
elevation obtained, as shown in Fig. 3.
The second part of my improvements is shewn at Figs. 4 and 5. The
former of these represents a bullet formed upon the expanding principle, but
instead of casting it solid, I place within the mould a metal shell a, and run
the lead around it, leaving at the point a recess between the two for the
adaptation of a percussion cap b. The shell a is filled with powder or other
explosive matter, which will be ignited by the cap striking against any solid
substance. The object of this projectile is to ignite and explode the contents
of limber boxes, tumbrils, &c. Fig. 5 is a sectional view, full size, of a shell
upon the expanding principle, and proposed for use from an ordinary or a
rified nine pounder; the outside part c is formed of lead cast around the
shell a, of iron, brass, or other metal, and closed as before by a percussion
cap b.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be under-
stood that I claim, as secured to me under the above in part recited Letters
Patent,
Firstly, so adapting the elevating screw and nut of guns that the breech end
of the gun may be brought on a level with or pass below the said nut.

page_text: Secondly, constructing projectiles upon the expanding principle with recep-
tacles for explosive compounds capable of being fired by percussion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward O'Callaghan, have hereunto
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
EDWARD O'CALLAGHAN. (L.S.)