IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Theophilus Blakely, of Parliament Street,
in the City of Westminster, late Captain, Royal Artillery, and Josiah
Vavasseur, of Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, for the
Sealed the 31st July 1863, and dated the 3rd February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Theophilus
Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd February 1868.
We, ALEXANDER THEOPHILUS BLAKELY, of Parliament Street, in the City
of Westminster, late Captain, Royal Artillery, and JOSIAH VAVASSEUR, of
Southwark, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE," to
be as follows:-
Our Invention consists in forming projectiles with grooves in the body and
at the rear end thereof for receiving lead or other soft metal.
We prefer to form these grooves at an angle to the axis of the projectiles,
and in the reverse direction to that of the rifling of the gun in which they are
to be used, but the grooves may run parallel to the axis, and may be more or
less long and deep, according to requirement. When the projectile is ready
for use there are alternate layers or strips of lead or other soft metal and iron,

page_text: or other metal of which the projectile is formed, round the circumference
thereof, the iron or other hard metal thus protecting the lead or soft metal
from injury.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alexander Theophilus Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALEXANDER
THEOPHILUS BLAKELY, of Parliament Street, in the City of Westminster, late
Captain, Royal Artillery, and JOSIAH VAVASSEUR, of Southwark, in the County
of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successers, give and grant unto
us, the said Alexander Theophilus Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur, Her special
licence, that we, the said Alexander Theophilus Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Alexander Theophilus Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur, our executors, adminis-
trators, 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 PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Alexander Theophilus
Blakely and Josiah Vavasseur, or one of us, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or one of our, 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 we, the said Alexander Theophilus Blakely and
Josiah Vavasseur, do hereby declare the nature of our 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, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-

page_text: Our Invention consists in forming projectiles with grooves in the body and
at the rear end thereof for receiving lead or other soft metal.
We prefer to form these grooves at an angle to the axis of the projectiles,
and in the reverse direction to that of the rifling of the gun in which they are
to be used, but the grooves may run parallel to the axis, and may be more or
less long and deep, according to requirement. When the projectile is ready
for use there are alternate layers or strips of lead or other soft metal and iron
or other metal of which the projectile is formed round the circumference
thereof, the iron or other hard metal thus protecting the lead or soft metal
from injury.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is an elevation; Figure 2, a similar
view partly in section, and Figures 3 and 4 are cross sections, through the
lines a, b, and c, d, respectively of Figure 1, of a projectile constructed
according to our Invention with grooves formed in the body and at the rear
end thereof at an angle to the axis of the projectile, and in the reverse
direction to that of the rifling of the gun.
A, A, are the grooves which are filled with lead or other soft metal B. They
are by preference slightly undercut as shown, so as the better to hold the lead
or other soft metal. We prefer to make the grooves shallower at the fore end
thereof than at the rear, as seen in Figure 2, the sectional part of which is
taken through the line e, f, of Figure 4.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, we declare that we claim constructing
projectiles for ordnance with grooves in the body and at the rear end thereof
for receiving lead or other soft metal, as herein-before described and repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Josiah Vavasseur, for myself and on
behalf of the said Alexander Theophilus Blakely, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this First day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-three.
JOSIAH VAVASSEUR. (L.S.)