IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Wilson at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd April
1869.
I, THOMAS WILSON, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists of the improvements herein-after described in
constructing and manufacturing the cases of cartridges for breech-
loading fire-arms whereby the manufacture of the said cartridges is
much facilitated and the exploded or empty cases are more readily
extracted from the chamber of the gun than the cases of cartridges of
the ordinary construction.
My Invention consists, firstly, in constructing cartridge cases by
taking a plain metal tube closed at one end for the reception of the
powder and forming separately a rim, and afterwards attaching it
to the closed end of the tube, either by brazing, soldering, or otherwise.
The rim so made consists essentially of a flat ring or flange situated
in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the cartridge case, and by the

page_text: accuracy of figure of the rim thus made the said rim is seized more
readily by the extractor than the rounded rim of the ordinary cartridge
case. Instead of making the rim to be acted upon by the extractor
in the usual way it may be turned or cupped inwards and the extractor
made to engage within the rim. In the closed or solid end of the
tube described the anvil or cap chamber is formed.
My Invention consists, secondly, in making cartridge cases of an
external tube open at both ends and an internal tube closed at one
end, the said closed end containing the anvil or percussion cap chamber
of the cartridge, the said anvil or percussion cap chamber being
made solid with the said internal tube, that is, in one piece with
the said internal tube. The internal tube is secured within the
external one by pressure or otherwise. I contract the external tube
at the front end to receive the bullet or projectile, and I make the
rear end of the said external tube with a flat rim or flange for the
extractor to engage outside it, or with a cupped hollow rim or flange
for the extractor engage within it, as described in the first part
of my Invention, but the flat or cupped rims or flanges are in this
case made in one piece with the external tube instead of separately,
and afterwards attached to the tube. Where the charge chamber
with which the cartridge is to be used is of large diameter I sometimes
prefer to form the rim by simply cupping or turning inwards the rear
end of the outer tube, the cupped end having in such case no part or
diameter larger than that of the outer tube.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in making cartridge cases of a single
tube open at both ends, and provided at its rear end with a rim or
flange of either of the kinds herein-before described, and fixing in the
rear end of the tube, by brazing or otherwise, a solid base, the said solid
base having such a figure as to form the anvil and percussion cap
chamber of the cartridge. The said solid base is made in one piece by
stamping or casting.