AN IMPROVEMENT IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE
Year: 1856

page_text: 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE."-
A communication.
Sealed the 1st November 1856, and dated the 10th June 1856.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 10th June 1856.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN PROJECTILES FOR
ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the attachment to the butt or rear end of elongated
shots or shells of a cylinder of wrought iron, for the purpose of preventing
windage and ensuring greater force and precision of fire. The cylinder has
its bottom or sides more or less imbedded in the cast metal of which the shot
or shell is composed. The sides of the cylinder project beyond the butt of
the shell, and form a chamber in the rear thereof, and they are made of such
thickness as to yield laterally to the pressure of the ignited charge, and expand
so as to fit the bore of the cannon or other piece of ordnance. By this lateral
expansion, windage is prevented, and in cases where a rifle-grooved piece of
ordnance is employed, rotary motion is imparted to the discharged projectile.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 9th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should. par-
ticularly 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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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, reference being had to the drawing hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent,
consists in the attachment to the butt of an elongated cannon shot or shell, of
a cup-formed cylinder of wrought iron fastened to the body of the shot.or
shell, by having a perforated bottom imbedded in the cast iron or other metal
of which the shot or shell may be composed, or otherwise fastened in an
equivalent manner, while its sides project beyond the butt, and are so thinned
down as to be capable of such expansion, by the explosion of the charge of the
piece of ordnance from which it is to be fired, as to fit the bore of the piece
exactly, thus saving windage in all cases, and imparting rotary motion to

page_text: projectiles when rifle grooves or their equivalents are employed, and also
securing the striking of the projectile upon its apex, which renders the
Invention applicable with advantage to percussion shells.
Shot or shells with this improvement may be constructed of any of the
patterns for elongated projectiles now known, but for the
of illustrating
purpose
the Invention, a percussion shell of cylindro-conoidal form is represented in the
accompanying Drawing. This shell, with the exception of its wrought-iron
cup-formed cylinder, is one that is well known.
Fig. 1 in the Drawing is a side view of the shell; Fig. 2 is a section of
the same through its axis; and Fig. 3, a butt end view of the same, with the
convex portion a, a, of the cast metal visible in Fig. 2 removed from the butt
to show distinctly how the wrought iron cup-formed cylinder is attached.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several Figures.
A represents the body of the shell; B, the cup-formed cylinder of wrought
iron; C, one of two holes made in the cup-formed cylinder for passing
through a wire or cord serving as a sling; D, the fuse plug; and E, an
ordinary percussion fuse tube. The cup-formed cylinder must have its bottom
turned in, as shewn at H, H, (Fig. 2,) at a right angle or angle varying but a
few degrees in, either direction therefrom to its sides, with a large central
opening or perforation G, and other smaller ones I, I, as many as may be
deemed necessary surrounding it, through which the molten metal of the shell
may pass in founding, to form as it were large rivets, by which the cylinder may
be attached firmly to the shell. The openings or perforations may be of round,
square, or other form. The cast metal need not, perhaps, pass through the
wrought iron cup-formed cylinder as far as represented in the Drawing,
but in any case, as far as may be necessary for security. The butt of the
shell may be flat or concave, but the convex form represented is believed to
be the best, as presenting the greatest resistance to the shock of the explo-
sion of the charge of a piece of ordnance.
The free sides b, b, of the cup-formed cylinder may be of uniform thickness
from the butt of the shell to the extreme rear of the cylinder, or the interior of
the cup may be of the form of a truncated cone, or of a truncated conoid, as.
shewn in Fig. 3, but in any case, the cup must be thin enough at and near its rear
to admit of the necessary expansion by the force of the explosion of the charge
of the piece. The wrought-iron cup-formed cylinder may be produced by any of
the well-known processes of forging, rolling, pressing, or stamping; perforations
.or openings G, G, and I, I, being produced by cutting, punching, or any process
commonly employed in the manufacture of articles of wrought iron. The free
sides, of the cylinder may be forged, rolled, hammered; or pressed to the proper

page_text: degree of ténuity, for the necessary expansion by the explosion of the charge of
the piece, or may be finished by turning externally in a lathe, or rimed
internally either before or after the attachment of the cylinder to the shell!
Instead of being made with perforations or openings, the cylinder may be
made with rough or projecting points or edges, like the mouth of a sack when
well filled and tied, and these points or edges may be imbedded in the cast
iron of the shell in founding; or, it may be made with the central opening I
of round form, and have a female screw cut in the said opening; or, the
bottom H, H, of the cylinder might be omitted entirely, and the end of the
cylinder to be attached to the butt of the shell have a female screw cut in it
to receive the butt of the shell. The cupped cylinder when made, by whatever
mode it may have been produced, is to be placed in the bottom of the mould
formed by the pattern of the shell, and the shell completed by pouring in the
necessary quantity of cast metal. Instead of being united with the shell in
founding, the cylinder may be fastened to the butt of the shell by screws
or rivets, or it may be made to embrace the sides of the shell for a short
distance, and be fastened on by screws or rivets, or by brazing. These
latter modes of fastening may be adopted as equivalent to the uniting of
it with the shell in the founding process, but none of the modes can
compare with the economical, solid, and easy mode of union by casting, and
they are only mentioned to prevent future claims for improvements in the
Invention.
The piece of ordnance to receive the shell is charged with powder in the
usual manner, and the shell put in after the charge of powder, in the same
manner as a common shell. On the charge being fired, the explosion thercof
immediately expands the cylinder, and causes it to fill the bore of the piece,
and the grooves also when they are employed, thus preventing windage, and
when a rifle-grooved piece is employed, causing a rotary motion to be imparted
to the shell, also insuring the striking of the shell on its apex to explode it by
percussion, if the shell be intended to explode by percussion.
Solid shot may have the cup-formed cylinder attached in any of the modes
herein described of attaching it to a shell, and when fired from a rifle-grooved
piece, will be rotated in the same way, and besides having the advantage of
greater economy over leaded shot, they admit of being fired when red hot.
Having now set forth the nature and object of the Invention, as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be distinctly
understood, that I do not claim the construction of a shot or shell with an
expanding butt, otherwise than in the manner substantially as herein-before
described; but what I claim as new, and desire to secure under the above in

page_text: part recited Letters Patent, is, the attachment to an elongated shot or shell of
a cylinder of wrought iron fastened to the butt of the shot or shell, by having
its bottom or sides more or less imbedded in the cast metal of which the shot or
shell may be composed, the said cylinder having its sides projecting beyond the
butt of the shell, of such thickness as to be caused to fit the bore of the piece
by the expansion produced on them by the explosion of the charge, so as to save
windage in all cases, and cause rotary motion to be imparted to the shot or
shell when a rifle-grooved piece of ordnance is employed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON (L.S.)