CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOLID HEADED METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Bradley, of Perry Barr, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SOLID HEADED METALLIC CARTRIDGE CASES." -A
communication from abroad by General Hiram Berdan, of the
City of New York, in the United States of America, but now
resident at Berlin in the Empire of Germany
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Bradley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th July 1873.
I, ISAAC BRADLEY, of Perry Barr, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOLID HEADED METALLIC CARTRIDGE Cases,"
being a communication to me from abroad by General Hiram Berdan, of
the City of New York, in the United States of America, but now resident
at Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, to be as follows :—
Hitherto in making solid headed metallic cartridge cases, having a
sharp internal corner forward of the flange at the base of the cartridge

page_text: case, it has been difficult to avoid the risk of fracture at the said sharp
internal corner owing to the severe punishment the metal receives
in passing round the sharp corner of the die during the heading
process.
The object of my Invention is to obviate the before-mentioned risk of
· fracture, and I accomplish this in the following manner :-I round or
bovel the internal edge at the mouth of the heading die, so as to enable
the metal of the cartridge case to expand at an easier angle than can be
done with the heading dies heretofore used, thereby injuring the metal
less at this point in the operation of expanding the metal to form the
flange of the cartridge head; and I afterwards remove by means of a
suitable die or by means of a turning tool that portion of the metal
which has filled the space left by the rounded or bevelled edge of the
die, and which forms upon the cartridge case a bevelled or concave face
forward of the flange, thereby forming a sharp corner under the flange,
or any other shape that may be desired. By this method of procedure
the best form of die which it is possible to use for the easy passage or
distribution of the metal may be employed irrespective of the precise
shape eventually to be given to the forward face of the flange at the
base of the cartridge case.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Bradley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
BRADLEY, of Perry Barr, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Isaac Bradley, Her special
license, that I, the said Isaac Bradley, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac Bradley,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree

page_text: 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SOLID HEADED METALLIC
CARTRIDGE CASES," being a communication to me from abroad by General
Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in the United States of America,
but now resident at Berlin, in the Empire of Germany, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Isaac Bradley, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly 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 Isaac Bradley, 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 (that is to say):-
b
Hitherto in making solid headed metallic cartridge cases, having a
sharp external corner a forward of the flange 6 (Fig. 2), the metal was
injured by being bent and expanded at such a sharp angle, and through
such a consequently small opening in the dies.
The injury done to the metal cannot be discovered by external
inspection, but in firing with heavy charges of strong powder, and with
the maximum space between the cartridge head and the breech piece
the shells often crack just forward of the flange, thereby allowing an
immense escape of gas.
The object of my Invention is to form a solid flange in such a manner
as to obviate this serious injury being done to the metal, and at the
same time to preserve the sharp corner a forward of the flange.
I accomplish this in the following manner:-I round or bevel the internal
edge at the mouth of the heading dies so as to leave a large bevelled
shoulder c (Fig. 1) forward of the flange b, and about half the height of
the flange b. This enables the metal of the cartridge case to bend at an
easier angle, and provides by the bevel of the die a larger opening for

page_text: the expansion of the metal than can be obtained with the heading dies
heretofore used. I thereby injure the metal less at this point in the
operation of expanding the metal for the purpose of forming the flange
of the cartridge head. I remove the surplus metal at c, so as to form a
smaller shoulder or a sharp corner a as may be desired, by a subsequent
operation, which is performed with a turning tool or by forcing the said
superfluous metal into the flange by means of a die, or by any other
suitable means. By this method of procedure the best form of die
which it is possible to use for the easy distribution of the metal may be
employed irrespective of the precise shape eventually to be given to the
flange.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner. in which the same is or may be performed, I desire it to be
understood that I claim as the Invention to be protected by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent, making solid headed metallic
cartridge cases with a superfluity of metal forward of the rim or flange
for the purpose of avoiding injury to the metal from over strain, the said
superfluity of metal being afterwards removed, so as to form a shoulder
of any required degree of sharpness, substantially as herein-before
described, and as illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Bradley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, in the year
of our Lord 1874.
Witness,
G. R. HOLLAND.
ISAAC BRADLEY. (L.S.)