IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TURNING OR CLOSING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.”
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Willis Dixon, junior, of Oakfield House,
Sheffield, and William Buttery, of Albion Street, Sheffield, both in the
County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR TURNING OR CLOSING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Willis Dixon and
William Buttery at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th August 1867.
We, JAMES WILLIS DIXON, junior, of Oakfield House, Sheffield, and
WILLIAM BUTTERY, of Albion Street, Sheffield, both in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR TURNING OR CLOSING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for turning or
closing cartridges for breech-loading fire-arms. We employ a tube or barrel
of such a size as to receive the cartridge case freely; it is usually made in one
piece, with a jaw and an arm carrying a binding screw, by means of which the
apparatus may be clamped to a table. Opposite one end of the tube or barrel
is a hollow cone capable of being rotated by a crank handle, and whilst it is

page_text: thus turned the cartridge case to be closed is pressed against it by means of a
lever rammer entering the other end of the tube or barrel and bearing against
the base of the cartridge, and so the case is closed; afterwards it is expelled
by a rammer passing through the closing cone or instrument. Our Invention
however consists especially in the way in which the cartridge case is prevented
rotating in the barrel or tube whilst the closing cone or instrument is acting
upon it. We form for this purpose a longitudinal slot in the tube or barrel;
into this slot we insert a button or stud with teeth upon it on the end which
projects into the tube or barrel. The button or stud has a flat head on which
a strong spring presses. As the cartridge is pushed up the barrel or tube the
teeth of the button or stud engage with its base, and whilst the button or stud
prevents the cartridge case turning it travels with it towards the closing cone
or instrument; it is driven back with the cartridge when the turning or
closing is complete.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Willis Dixon and William Buttery in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
WILLIS DIXON, junior, of Oakfield House, Sheffield, and WILLIAM BUTTERY,
of Albion Street, Sheffield, both in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Willis Dixon and William Buttery, Her special licence that
we, the said James Willis Dixon aud William Buttery, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Willis
Dixon and William Buttery, our executors, àdministrators, 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 APPARATUS FOR TURNING OR CLOSING CARTRIDGES FOR
BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said James Willis Dixon and William Buttery, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or

page_text: under the hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performied, 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 we, the said James Willis Dixon and William
Buttery, 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 has for its object improvements in apparatus for turning or
closing cartridges for breech-loading fire-arms. We employ a tube or barrel
of such a size as to receive the cartridge case freely; it is usually made in one
piece with a jaw and an arm carrying a binding screw, by means of which the
apparatus may be clamped to a table. Opposite one end of the tube or barrel
is a hollow cone capable of being rotated by a crank handle, and whilst it is thus
turned the cartridge case to be closed is pressed against it by means of a lever
rammer entering the other end of the tube or barrel and bearing against the base
of the cartridge, and so the case is closed; afterwards it is expelled by a rammer
passing through the closing cone or instrument.. Qur, Invention bowever
consists especially in the way in which the cartridge case is prevented rotating
in the barrel or tube whilst the closing cone or instrument is acting upon it.
We form for this purpose a longitudinal slot in the tube or barrel; into this
slot we insert a button or stud with teeth upon it on the end which projects into
the tube or barrel. The button or stud has a flat head on which a strong
spring presses. As the cartridge is pushed up the barrel or tube the teeth of the
button or stud engage with its base, and whilst the button or stud prevents
the cartridge case turning it travels with it towards the closing cone or instru-
ment; it is driven back with the cartridge when the turning or closing is
complete.
And in order that our said Invention may be most fully understood, and
readily carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved apparatus, Figure 2 is a plan,
and Figure 3 is a horizontal section of the same.
a, a, is the tube or barrel; a', a clamping jaw thereon.;..and..a,-an-arm
formed in one piece with the tube or barrel a; b is a binding screw passing
through the arm a² fur clamping the aunaratus to a table: c is a hollow

page_text: cone mounted on a spindle c', which is carried on a bearing as formed with
the tube a; c is a handle on the spindle c¹, by means of which it with the
cone upon it can be rotated; c³ is a rod or plunger passing through the spindle
c¹ and able to slide within it; it has a button on its outer end and a disc at its
end within the cone c. d is a lever rammer jointed, at d¹ to the arm a' on
the tube or barrel a. e is a steel button or stud able to slide in a longitudinal
slot in the tube or barrel a; it has teeth on its inner surface, and is pressed on
at the back by the stiff spring f. as is a slot in the tube or barrel a, which
serves to receive the pin of a pin cartridge, but it is out of use when the apparatus
is employed. To close central-fire cartridges the cartridge to be closed loaded
and with a wad in the end of it is, as already explained, placed in the tube or
barrel a, and is pressed by means of the lever rammer d up to the cone c, which
at the same time is rotated by the handle c², and so the closing is effected, the
teeth on the stud e preventing the cone carrying the cartridge round with it;
afterwards the finished cartridge is forced out by means of the rod or
plunger c³.
In witness whereof; we, the said James Willis Dixon and William
Buttery, have hereunto set our bands and seals, this Thirteenth day
of February, in the year of our Lord. One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.
JAMES WILLIS DIXON, JR.
WILLIAM BUTTERY.
(L.S.).
(L.S.)
JAMES WILLIS DIXON, JR. (L.S.).
WILLIAM BUTTERY.
(L.S.)