IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES, PROJECTILES, AND. TORPEDOES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Herbert George Phillip Meado
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 25th March 1868..
I, The Honorable HERBERT GEORGE PHILLIP MEADE, Lieutenant in
the Royal Navy, of Belgrave Square, in the County of Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIRE-ARMS, AND IN CARTRIDGES, PROJECTILES, AND. TORPEDOES," to be as
follows:
This Invention has for its object improvements in firearms, and in
cartridges, projectiles, and torpedoes, and relates to new methods of
applying the force of gunpowder or other explosive substance to the
throwing of shot or shell, by which methods lesser, lighter, and more
casily constructed guns than those in use at present can be made to.
throw projectiles of extraordinary weight, penetrating power, and.
capacity for bursting charges.
In single cylinder guns constructed according to my Invention the
whole or part of the powder chamber or barrel is of lesser diameter
than and is contained within or surrounded cylindrically by the
projectile; and in double cylinder guns constructed according to my
Invention the projectile is again surrounded for a portion, or it may

page_text: be for the whole of its length by an outer gun cynuc
with and in one at the rear or breech end with the inner gun cylinder
or powder chamber.
These forms of construction are applicable to the following classes
of fire-arms-Firstly, to various sorts of great guns, mortars, and small
arms, and to whale and harpoon guns..
Secondly, to torpedoes and rockets, whether aerial or subaqeous, and
to apparatus for throwing lines to establish a communication between
a wreck and the shore, and for similar purposes..
The first-mentioned class of weapons comprises three different
descriptions of fire-arms, viz., the single cylinder guns, double cylinder
guns, and chambered shot or shell guns. In the single cylinder gun
the shot or shell is completely outside the gun, and its internal surface
fits closely and cylindrically to the outside of the gun, the two bearings
being in some cases fitted with a mutual arrangement of grooving studs
or polygonal faces for rifling. The gun is pierced from muzzle to near
the breech by an elongated powder chamber of small sectional area.
The muzzle end of the powder chamber is countersunk to avoid a slight
but useless increase of weight of metal, and to enable a little more
powder to be ignited by the first flash from the vent. From the edge
of this lip the muzzle is cut away towards the outer circumference of
the cylinder, so as to form nearly a right angle at the foremost edge
of the lip to the surface of the countersinking. A corresponding surface
is left inside the shot, thus insuring that the explosive force of the
charge shall not be felt by the sides or weaker part of the projectile
until the "vis inertia" of the latter has been in part overcome.
gun is fired through a vent in the shot playing upon the powder from
before the muzzle or through a vent further back piercing the sides
both of the gun and the projectile. The combustion of the foremost
end of the charge which takes place comparatively slowly from the
narrow and elongated shape of the chamber which confines it imparts
the first momentum to the projectile, then by the very act of starting
(its vis inertia being thus overcome and the gun consequently relieved
of the initial strain) it is caused to fire by means of its own tail a
friction tube or a percussion or electrical arrangement in the breech of
the gun, thereby igniting the rear end of the charge in addition to the
foremost end; moreover, to insure that none of the powder shall be
The

page_text: rendered useless by its complete combustion being delayed till after
the projectile has left the muzzle of the gun, a small internal gas
channel or air space is left in the cartridge or formed by a narrow tube
of gun paper, metal paper, or other suitable material pierced with
lateral and terminal holes. These holes when the tube is made of
metal or other solid material may be covered with gun paper, ordinary
paper, or other material. This tube is of such a length and so placed
that the combustion of the exterior charge may reach its foremost
end and ignite instantly the whole remaining length of the charge
when the shot shall be already in rapid motion. These gas channels
or air space tubes can be moved within the cartridge or lengthened or
shortened according to the weight of the projectile with which the gun
is to be loaded; and one or more such tubes may be employed according
to the position of the vent or vents. The charge may be reduced when
thought desirable by the introduction into the gun together with the
cartridge of filling pieces of non-explosive material. The head of the
shot may be of any form desired for penetration, or it may be fitted
with a bursting. charge and fuze as a shell. Or, in special cases the
head may be fitted with a charge of powder confined to its place
during flight by a separate and lesser shot fitting the head of the
projectile in a somewhat similar manner to that in which the latter
fits the parent gun; and so fitted with a fuze that the second discharge
may take place at a desired point of the flight or on striking the object.
In this arrangement it may be well that wher the jacket of the lesser
shot encompasses or reaches back as far as the hollow part of the greater,
the latter shall fit loosely and be made of a slightly more expansive
metal than the former, so that the one may aid the other in resisting
the explosion of the first charge, but so that the lesser shot may be
free to escape on the ignition of the second charge. The guns may
be fitted either with a trunnion piece across the breech or with a ball
and socket, and with an elevating screw fitted with proper sockets or
journals to a collar or strap round the gun in rear of the jacket of the
shot. In small arms the barrel will be fitted to a shoulder stock, with
or without a rest or arrangement for diminishing the force of recoil.
In the very largest sizes of artillery pieces it will be advantageous to
bring the trunnions forward along. either side of the gun so far beyond
the centre of gravity of the piece as to produce a preponderance at the
breech end of the gun when loaded. For field artillery two or more
guns may be mounted on one carriage for convenience of transport

page_text: to diminish recoil when fired singly, and to facilitate concentration of
fire. In the double cylinder gun the rear end of the shot, which is also
cylindrical, enters between the two parallel cylindrical surfaces of the
gun, and is propelled both by the force applied to its head from within
by the powder with which the inner gun cylinder is filled and by
the pressure in rear of the heel or end of the cylindrical jacket generated
by the collar shaped charge of powder contained between the two gun
cylinders in the space between 'their junction and the rear end of the
shot. The thickness of metal is increased all round the tail of the shot
to give greater capacity to the outer powder chamber, and to enable
the tail of the shot to be fitted with rifling corresponding to the inner
surface of the outer gun cylinder. The outer powder chamber is fired
by a vent or vents in the gun. The simultaneous ignition all round
the foremost end of the outer powder chamber is secured by a small
perforated ring tube or gas-channel fitting loosely round the inner
cylinder and rammed down with the powder so as to take its place in
.line with the vents, or for the same purpose a channel may be bevilled
out of the lower outer edge of the tail of the shot and opposite the
vent, and separated from the powder by a flat perforated collar of paper
or thin metal or gun paper secured to the heel of the shot and of the
same area as the thickness of the powder chamber. It may be advisable
in the largest kind of guns or mortars on this principle (as for instance
in guns for siege operations) to use electricity for firing the charges.
Sometimes I make a communication between the two chambers of the
gun. This communication is so placed as to correct any possible
difference in the speed of combustion of either charge, as well as any
defect in the ignition of the rear end of the charges by the departure
of the projectile. In the chambered shot guns the head of the shot
or the foremost end of the jacket of the shell is made of greater solidity
and weight, and a space is hollowed or chambered out of the gun
fronting the muzzle of the inner gun cylinder to receive an extra
portion of charge, 'and the inner gun cylinder is made 'stronger with
a smaller longitudinal bore or powder chamber. one kind of
double cylinder guns the external charge is so placed as to act on
a shoulder or projection round the head of the shot, and both charges
may be ignited by one vent passing through one side of the external
cylinder and complétély through the shot and inner cylinder. Cáked
powder pierced with small cylindrical holes may be used for my
cartridges.
In

page_text: In some of my guns the cylinders are formed by successive concentric
layers of wire binding coiled on to an inner tube with increasing
degrees of pressure; and in making the inner gun cylinder of the
double guns the outer layer of wire is protected by shrinking on a
jacket of steel or brass. On my system light mortars can be made to
throw shells with enormously elongated chambers for bursting charges
with the centre of gravity so far in rear of the centre of figure that
on the mortar being fired with an elevation greater than 45°, the rear
end by reason of its weight and form shall strike first, and by reason of
its strength, punch headed shape, and small sectional area as compared
with its weight, effect great penetration before bursting. To ensure
that the shell shall not "turn over" in its upward flight, the ordinary
system of rifling may be done away with and the rotary motion obtained
and regulated at will by causing the mortar and shell to revolve before
firing, the rotation being derived from the gas from a fuze composition
acting on fans or other suitable arrangement, the points or bearings
being at the opposite ends of shell and mortar, and the socket or
journal confining the point of the former being withdrawn the instant
before firing the mortar.
In constructing torpedoes or subaqueous rockets I employ a float, by
preference of an elongated form, and containing gun cotton or other
explosive material, and below this I fix or suspend a tubular case
containing meal powder or similar composition which in burning
generates gas, and this reacting on the water or giving motion to a
screw propels the rocket or torpedo. The float is furnished with a
percussion fuse, so that it may explode on striking the object. When
the range is short the torpedo or rocket may be entirely submerged.