IMPROVEMENTS. IN TORPEDOES OR SUBMARINE EXPLOSIVE INSTRUMENTS."
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Ambrose McEvoy, of 28, Bedford Square,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS. IN
TORPEDOES OR SUBMARINE EXPLOSIVE INSTRUMENTS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Ambrose McEvoy
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,.on
the 7th August 1866.
I, CHARLES AMBROSE MCEVOY, of 28, Bedford Square, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN TORPEDOES OR SUBMARINE EXPLOSIVE INSTRUMENTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in torpedoes or submarine
explosive instruments. For these purposes in constructing a torpedoe or sub-
marine explosive instrument which is to be employed against a ship or vessel
at anchor or against a floating bridge or like floating structures a metallic
chamber of a cylindrical or other suitable form to contain the gunpowder or:
explosive compound is employed, in which a hollow screw. plug is fixed,.which
is arranged to contain a needle or point and a recess for receiving ful-
minating powder; these parts are kept separate by a spring. Over the end
of the hollow plug is a hollow half sphere of very thin copper which is fixed
by its circumference to the plug so to render the interior water-tight; over
this end of the hollow plug is fastened a stronger cap or cover of metal when the
apparatus is not in use, but which is removed when the torpedoe or instrument
:

page_text: is floated. Through the centre of the chamber is fixed an axis which is
supported in a frame which when in use is floated by any suitable buoys or
floats applied to the two ends of rope, cord, or chain. On the fixed axis is a
hollow tube, on which are fixed radially oblique blades or vanes, which when
the chamber which contains the powder or explosive compound comes to rest
rotate. On the tube is formed a screw thread of any desired length which will
revolve with the vanes; in this screw is received the tail end of a detent or
stop which retains or holds the hammer of a spring lock till by the rotation of
the screw the end of the detent or stop is released. The arrangement of
these parts is such that when a torpedoe is floated down a stream or is carried
by the flow of a tide against the cable of a ship at anchor, the cord, chain, or
other instrument will be stopped by the cable, whilst the torpedoe will continue
to be floated till it comes against the side of the ship or vessel, when it will
come to rest and the oblique vanes will be caused to rotate, which will turn
the screw thread and release the detent or stop, when the hammer will strike
against the thin covering metal of the hollow plug and will cause the needle
or point to be brought into contact with the fulminating powder with sufficient
force to discharge the same, and so discharge the powder or other explosive
compound in the chamber.
In constructing a torpedoe or submerged exploding instrument which is to
be anchored in a position to be struck by a ship or vessel, the chamber
containing the gunpowder or other explosive compound is by preference of a
conical form, the upper and larger part or end being hollow in order to act
as a buoy to float the chamber. This instrument is connected to an anchor
by a rope or chain attached to its lower end, there being a shaft or bolt fixed
through the centre of the chamber; this shaft or bolt has an eye at its lower
end to fix the anchoring chain or rope to the bolt or shaft, and there is also an
eye at the upper end of the bolt to facilitate the lowering of the instrument
into the water. At the upper end of the chamber is placed a cap or cover
of metal which being flanged at its circumference fits over the top of the
chamber, and such cap or cover will not fall off until the chamber is consider-
ably inclined by a ship or vessel running against it, when the cap or cover will.
fall off, and will by its weight in sinking draw out the wire of a friction fuse
and ignite the charge in the chamber. In sinking the chamber below the
surface of the water provision is made for retaining the chain which is
attached to the cap or cover and to the wire of the friction fuse from being
acted on even should the cap fall off, but when the instrument has been lowered
under water the stop by which the chain is held or secured is removed. The
wire of the friction fuse is fixed by solder to a hollow cup of thin metal, the

page_text: edge or circumference of which is fixed by a solder or otherwise to a hollow
cup formed in the head or outer end of a screw plug which is screwed water;
tight in a suitable bushed opening in the chamber containing the gunpowder
or explosive compound of a torpedoe or submerged explosive instrument. By
these means the wire and its passage into the fuse are rendered water-tight.
'
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Ambrose McEvoy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 7th February 1867.
./
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
AMBROSE, MCEVOY,, of 28, Bedford Square, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of August in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Charles Ambrose McEvoy, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
Ambrose McEvoy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Ambrose M°Evoy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
aud 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 TORPEDOES OR SUBMARINE EXPLOSIVE INSTRU-
MENTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Ambrose McEvoy, my executors or administrators, 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 Charles Ambrose M°Evoy, 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 torpedoes or submarine
explosive instruments.
•

page_text: In constructing a torpedo to be employed against a floating bridge or ships
at anchor or other floating structures I arrange a torpedo to float with the
tide until it is carried by it against the bridge or other structure, and then
when the progress of the torpedo is thus arrested the construction is such that
the tide flowing past it gives motion to apparatus which in a short time fires
a fuse and explodes the powder with which the torpedo is charged.
I employ a metallic chamber of a cylindrical or other suitable form to
contain the gunpowder or explosive compound, and to this chamber I apply a
percussion fuse consisting of a plug or nipple primed at the end with fulmi-
nating powder and receiving a cap on its end, within the cap is a point which
when the cap is forced home on to the nipple by the blow intended to fire the
charge enters and explodes the fulminating priming. Until this takes place
the cap is kept off the end of the nipple by a spiral spring. The parts of the
fuse are protected from the action of the water by enclosing them in a
chamber with a dome form diaphragm of thin copper over the cap of the
fuse. A strong protecting cover is for safety applied over the thin metal dome
until the torpedo is required for use. Mounted on a bar or bracket carried
by the powder case is a hammer furnished with a spring of sufficient strength
to bring the hammer down on the cap of the fuse to so explode the charge.
Until this is required the hammer is held back by a detent which is kept up to
the hammer by a filling piece or block on which the tail of the detent rests ;
this filling piece or block is able to slide on the bar or bracket and also.to
rotate thereon as on an axis, it has a worm formed upon it, and it is in the
thread of this worm that the tail of the detent rests; also there is fixed on the
filling piece or block radial arms with vanes upon them like the vanes of a
smoke jack.
The apparatus thus arranged is suspended underneath a raft of any suitable
construction, and so arranged as to ensure as far as possible its fouling the
structure. it is intended to destroy. The mode of suspension is such that
when the progress of the raft with the current is checked the passing water
may swing the apparatus round until the bar or bracket. on which the filling
piece or block with its vanes is mounted comes parallel with the course of the
stream, and then the action of the water on the vanes on the filling piece or
block causes it to revolve, and in so doing it screws itself along endways on the
bar or bracket until it passes from under the tail of the detent, and then
immediately the explosion takes place.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing is a side view, and Figure 2 an end view
of a torpedo constructed according to my Invention.
a, a, is a raft of any suitable construction; b is a vertical bar or axis fixed

page_text: at the centre thereof and on its under side; c is the powder case of the
torpedo; the axis 6 passes down through it by means of a water-tight trunk or
passage, and receives a screw nut at its lower end, care is taken in arranging
these parts that the case c may be able to turn freely on the axis b; d is the fuse
of the torpedo, the construction of which is shown in detail at Figure 3; e is
a bar or bracket fixed to the side of the case c; f is a hammer jointed to this
bar or bracket and furnished with a spring f to throw it down upon the fuse
when it is set free; g is the detent also jointed to the bar or bracket and
taking hold of the comb of the cock; its tail rests in the screw thread cut
upon the filling piece or block h, which is able to turn freely and also to slide
endways on the bracket or bar; i is a rudder fixed on the case c, which as
soon as the raft a ceases to float with the stream places the bar or bracket e
end on to the current, so that it may act freely on the vanes; k is a frame-
work of light bars placed, around the powder case and parts connected there-
with to protect them from contact with anything which might interfere with
their
proper action.
Torpedoes on the same principle may be constructed of various forms, for
example, the arrangement may be rendered more compact by putting the
fuse in the centre of the top of the powder case and arranging it as a centre
about which the bar or bracket carrying the hammer may pivot, and in this
case it is not necessary to provide the powder case with a rudder, as the bar
or bracket will swing with the action of the stream and will place itself
behind its pivot.
a
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the fuse full size. is a piece with
a screw thread upon it at a¹ by which it is screwed into the powder case of the
torpedo; this piece is hollow and is closed at the end by the dome of thin
copper b. which is soldered to the piece a.. Screwed into the base of the
piece a is the plug or nipple c; with a hole through it from end to end, it is
rammed full of meal powder, and then a fine hole or passage is drilled through
the composition; c' is a cavity at the end of the plug or nipple which is
filled with fulminating powder; d is a spiral spring encircling the plug or
nipple c, and upon it the cap e rests; e' is a needle in this cap.
blow is struck upon the fuse from the outside it collapses the dome b
and forces the cap e home on to the nipple, so that the needle e' enters the
fulminate and explodes the charge; f is a safety cap which is applied to
protect the fuse from accidental blows until it is required for use; it is fixed
on by the set screw.f, the end of which when screwed up enters the groove a²
in the piece a.
. :
When &
The fuse above described is applicable not only to floating torpedoes, but

page_text: more generally as a subaqueous percussion fuse; for example it is very
applicable to torpedoes to be applied to the end of a ram carried by a ship or
boat and propelled against the structure to be destroyed. The thin metallic
dome or diaphragm b to ensure the complete protection of the fulminate from
the water is also an important feature of the Invention in its application to
subaqueous percussion fuses.
Another part of my Invention relates to torpedoes to be moved beneath the
surface of the water and there to remain untill a ship or floating structure
coming in contact with them causes them to explode. It consists of a water-
tight case, by preference of a conical form, the lower part of this case forms
the powder chamber and the upper an air chamber of sufficient capacity to
float the case and parts connected therewith. The case is anchored below the
surface of the water. In the powder chamber is fixed a friction fuse, and the
wire of this fuse passes through a diaphragm of thin metal soldered all round
its edge to the plug of the fuse, and the wire is also soldered to the centre of
the diaphragm where it passes through, so that perfectly tight joints are
ensured, and the wire may be pulled and the charge exploded before the
joints are broken. To the wire is fixed a chain which at the other end is
attached to a weight in the form of a cover, lodged on the top of the case,
and when a ship comes in collision with the torpedo this cover is displaced,
and being heavy it in falling forcibly pulls the wire and fires the fuse. There
is an eye at the top of the case by which the torpedo is lowered into its place
and the rope passed through this eye prevents the cover being displaced. until
it is withdrawn.
Figure 4 is a side view of a torpedo thus constructed in its place ready for
action; Figure 5 is a similar view showing the torpedo during the operation
of lowering; Figure 6 is a vertical section of the torpedo, and Figure 7 is a
vertical section of the fuse shown on a larger scale. a is the powder case
divided into two compartments, the lower containing the powder and the
upper being air space; 6 is a bar passing through it and with an eye at each
end, the mooring chain c is attached to the lower eye and the other receives
the bite or loop of rope d by which it is lowered, this rope is removed when
the torpedo is in its place; e is the cover or weight which rides on the top of
the case a and which as is shown has sufficient rim to keep it in its place
unless the torpedo is considerably inclined or violently struck; this cover has
a hole at its centre through which the rope d passes, so that this rope.keeps
the cover in its place until it is removed. The chain connecting the cover
with the fuse wire is secured until the torpedo is set for action by taking a
link of it through a slot in the bar 6 and securing it by. a pin of bent wire,

page_text: to this pin a cord f is attached leading to a small float on the surface, by
this cord the piu may at any time be pulled out and the torpedo set for
action.
The fuse, Figure 7, consists of the plug a, which screws into the powder case,
and has the diaphragm 6 soldered to it by its edges; c is the friction wire
passing through the centre of the diaphragm and soldered to it; d is a leaden
tube which is filled with fulminating composition, the wire c passes through it
and is roughened at this part, and the tube is nipped in upon the wire so as to
offer considerable resistance to its being drawn out so that the friction may
ensure the ignition of the fulminate; e is a cap enclosing the friction tube.
I would remark that the diaphragm 6 through which the friction wire
passes and which ensures its complete protection from the water is an
important feature of the Invention in connection with subaqueous friction
fuses.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Ambrose McEvoy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
C. A. MCEVOY. (L.S.)