IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCUSSION BOMB SHELLS
Year: 1856

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Collier Bakewell, of No. 6, Haverstock
Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCUSSION BOMB SHELLS."-A communication from.
John Lippincott, of North America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Collier Bake-
well at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th June 1856.
I, FREDERICK COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6, Haverstock Terrace, Hamp-
stead, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for: "IMPROVEMENTS IN PERCUSSION BOMB SHELLS," being a com-
munication from John Lippincott, of North America, to be as follows:-
The Invention consists of certain improvements in the construction of
bomb shells, to be fired either from rifled-barrel cannon, or from mortars, so
that when the shell strikes any object it will immediately explode by per-
cussive action, and yet be secured from exploding accidentally. The shells to
be fired from rifle-bored cannon are of a cylindro-conical shape. The percussion
apparatus is inserted into a conical tube at one end of the shell. It consists
of a piston or hammer, one end of which projects beyond the shell, so that
when it strikes an object it is driven against a percussion wafer, placed at the
end of the tube near the powder chamber, and explodes it. The piston or
hammer is retained in its position, and is prevented from exploding the per-
eussion wafer (unless forcibly struck) by means of an india-rubber tube.
This tube is attached round the piston, and keeps it from touching the

page_text: percussive material, and thus prevents premature explosion of the shell-by: the
recoil of the hammer in the act of firing:
Another part of the Invention consists in the attachment of a sabot of soft
metal to the butt end of the shell, in order to give a rotary motion to its long
axis when fired from a rifle-bored cannon, the fore part of the shell being
made the heavier to ensure its keeping in the required position.
The sabot is made hollow, and is furnished with a disc of hard metal which,
at the moment of firing, is forced against the softer metal, and expands it so as
to fill the bore. This percussion apparatus may also be fitted to shells to be
fired from mortars without the sabot, in which case the end of the shell, where
the striking hammer projects, is made heavier, to ensure the falling of the
shell on that part.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Collier Bakewell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th December 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, FREDERICK
COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6; Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six, in the nineteenth year of Her.
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, Her special licence that I, the said
Frederick Collier Bakewell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 PERCUSSION BOMB SHELLS," being a
communication from John Lippincott; of North America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, 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.

page_text: "
I NOW KNOW YE, that. I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, 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:-
:
The Invention consists of certain improvements in bomb shells; so that they
may be fired either from rifle-bored cannon or from mortars, and instanta-
neously-explode when they strike any object. The instantaneous explosion of
the shell is accomplished by inserting into the powder chamber a percussion
apparatus chargeil with explosive material, the outer extremity of this appa
ratus projecting from the heavy end of the shell, and so contrived as to be
protected from the danger of premature explosion by handling, or by the
recoil of the cannon. When the shell is intended to be fired direct at an
object from a rifle-bored cannon, it is made of a cylindro-conical shape, and is
furnished with a sabot of lead, or of other soft metal, at the butt end, the
sabot being peculiarly constructed so as to expand in the act of firing, and
thus, by filling up the grooves in the cannon, to communicate a rotary motion
to the shell on its long axis. When the shell is to be fired into the air from
a mortar, the sabot of lead is dispensed with, and the end of the shell into
which the percussion apparatus is inserted is made so much heavier than the
other end as to ensure its falling on the projecting part of the apparatus.
In the Drawings accompanying this Specification, Figure 1 is an exterior
view of the percussion bomb shell with the sabot removed; Figure 2 is a
longitudinal section of the same with the sabot attached'; Figures 3, 4, 5,
and 6, are representations of various parts of the percussion apparatus in
detail; Figure 7 is a section of the bomb shell, as constructed for firing from
a mortar without any sabot. In all these Figures the same letters refer to the
same parts of the shell and apparatus. In Figure 2, the letter b shows the
sabot of soft metal; c is the powder chamber, of spherical or other con-
venient form, and placed as near as it safely may be to the base or sabot end
of the shell, so as to make the smaller end the heavier, that when fired it may
strike with its apex the object against which it is aimed. From the apex of
the shell a circular hole, tapering gradually downwards, enters the powder
chamber. The percussion cylinder d, made of brass or other suitable mate
rial, fits closely into the circular conical hole, and projects downwards into the
powder chamber far enough to ensure its coming in contact with the powder,
which is thus forced up through. the touch-hole e. This percussion cylinder
sinks a short distance into the shell, and is held in its place by the screw cap
or nut f, which is screwed tightly down, thus forcing the end of the cylinder
down into the powder chamber. The percussion cylinder is, perforated by

page_text: a cylindrical bore k, of uniform diameter of about three quarters of an inch,
extending from the top about two-thirds of its length; and from that point to
the touch-hole e, the cylindrical bore is reduced to an uniform diameter of
about three-sixteenths of an inch, as at g. The perforation terminates at the
touch hole, which is made large enough for the entrance of the priming powder.
The percussion wafer p, made of some 'explosive substance or fulminating
powder enclosed between two discs of thin sheet copper, is placed at the
bottom of the cylindrical bore just over the touch-hole. The lower end of
the percussion cylinder is enlarged in the form of an inverted cup, to secure
the retention of the powder. The hammer or piston which strikes the per-
cussion wafer is of the same diameter as the bore g, in which it slides easily,
excépting the head or flange i, which latter is of the same diameter as the
cylindrical bore k. Tlic piston h is made as light as possible, to prevent a
tendency to recoil on the firing of the cannon. When the piston is in its
place, the head or flange.is about in the middle of the cylindrical bore k, and
its point in the middle of the cylindrical bore g. On the top of the flange is
a projection upwards, o, into which is screwed the lower extremity of the stem
of the nose-piece m. The under surface of the screw-cap f has a similar pro-
jection' downwards, q, through which the stem of the nose-piece m passes. The
thread of a screw is cut round each of these projections o and q, so as to hold
more firmly the ends of a piece of india-rubber tube s, which fits over those
projections, and is tied firmly round them with wire. This india-rubber tube
is just long enough to retain the piston h in the position shown in Figure 2,
without stretching the tube. The upper end of the nose-piece m is a round
piece of iron fitting into the cylindrical bore l, in the screw-nut f, which bore
is contracted at the base of the screw-nut by the flange n, so as just to allow
the passage of the stem of the nose-piece which, as before stated, is screwed at
its lower extremity into the projection o, on the top of the flange of the piston.
The upper end of the nose-piece projects outside of the screw-nut, at the apex of
the bomb shell, the length of the projecting part being greater than the distance
from the bottom of the piston to the bottom of the bore g, in the percussion
cylinder. The screw-nut also projects slightly beyond the apex of the shell,
and is squared at that part, so as to be more readily screwed or unscrewed.
The several parts are made to fit so tightly into their places as to prevent
any water or dirt 'from entering the powder chamber. The parts described
form the percussion apparatus of the improved bomb shells, and are similar in
sliells to be fired from a cannon (as Figures 1 and 2), or shells to be fired
from a mortar (as Figure 7). When the shell strikes any object the nose-
piece will be the first part to come in contact, and will be driven in. The

page_text: india-rubber tube yielding to the force of the blow, the hammer will strike the
percussion wafer, and cause it to explode, thereby igniting the powder and
bursting the shell.
The object of the india-rubber tube is to prevent the
accidental explosion of the powder by the descent. of the nose-piece, or by
the recoil of the hammer in firing, and it is amply sufficient to prevent the
possibility of such an occurrence, the danger of which has been one of the
chief obstacles to the successful use of percussion bomb shells. As a further
protection against accidental explosion, during transportation, the. nose-piece,
with its stem, may be unscrewed from the apparatus, and its place in the bore
of the screw-nut temporarily supplied by a cork or plug.
It now remains to describe the construction and use of the sabot to bo
attached to shells to be fired from rifle-bored cannon. The attachment of
a sabot of lead, or other soft metal to balls to be fired from rifles or rifle-
bored cannon is well known; but so far as the present Inventor is aware,
it has never been practically applied to bomb shells for the purpose now.
in view, which is not only to increase the range and accuracy of aim, but
especially to prevent the shell from turning over, and to cause it to hit the
object with the nose-piece which projects from the apex of the shell. The
sabot which is used for this purpose is expanded mechanically by a cup,.com-
posed of harder metal, resting, in its cavity, which being pressed-down by 'the
force of the gunpowder, acts as a wedge to expand the sabot, forcing it into
the
grooves of the cannon; and in this way the sabot can be made smaller
than would be necessary if the explosive force of the powder on the sabot
alone were relied on for its expansion. It is also important so to attach the
sabot to the shell that it will not be in danger of being blown off from it by
the powder, and also to prevent it from turning on the shell, which would
defeat the object of giving it a rotary motion. The sabot, when attached to
the shell, forms a continuation of it, being externally cylindrical and smooth.
It has a deep cup-shaped cavity, extending from the extremity of the sabot,
where the diameter of the cavity is, nearly equal to that of the sabot, and
gradually diminishing towards the base of the shell. On the base of the shell
there is a square projection t, from the centre of which, in the line of the axis
of the shell, there proceeds a round straight rod of iron u, extending to the
extremity of the sabot. When the sabot is placed on the end of a shell, the
projection t enters it, and the rod u projects through it. The sabot is secured
in its place by a washer v, at the base of the cup-shaped cavity, and a wedge-
key w is driven through the rod u, so as to key the sabot to the sbell. The
turning of the sabot on the' shell is further guarded against by the four pro-
jections a, a, a, a, (Fig. 1,) from the base of the shell, which also enter the

page_text: sabot. A cup or disc of iron y (Figure 2), with a circular hole in its centre of
the same diameter as the rod w, fits closely on the rod, and rests in the sabot
at the mouth of the cup-shaped cavity, with its outer edge slightly projecting
above the cavity. A key z, driven through a hole at the end of the rod, keeps
the iron disc in its place. The operation of the sabot is clearly shown in
Figure 2. The disc y has so much bearing on the rod that it cannot cant
over, and when the cannon is fired will be forced down into the cavity of the
sabot, and as its under side is curved, and the diameter of the cavity in the
sabot gradually diminishes, the iron disc must force out the sides of the sabot
of soft metal most effectually.
Having thus described the improved percussion bomb shell, and its mode of
operation, the parts claimed as new are,
-First; the construction of a bomb shell with a percussion apparatus inserted
into the powder chamber, and projecting from one extremity of the shell, in
combination with a sabot of lead, or other soft. metal, attached to the other
extremity, for the purpose of producing a rotary motion on the long axis of
the shell when fired from a rifle-bored cannon.
Second, the use of a percussion apparatus constructed of the several parts
herein-before described, or their equivalents, inserted into the end of a bomb
shell for the purpose of exploding the powder, or other explosive material,
when the shell strikes its mark.
Third, the use of an india-rubber tube, or its equivalent, for preventing the
accidental or premature explosion of the shell.
Fourth, the use of a hollow sabot of lead or other soft metal, furnished with
a metallic disc for expanding it at the moment of firing, in combination with
bomb shells, the sabot and disc being constructed and attached substantially
as herein-before set forth.
.
Fifth, the construction of shells with percussion apparatus attached-to-one
end, which is made heavier than the other, to ensure their falling on the
percussion end when fired from a mortar.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, have hereunt
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord 1856..
(L.S.) FRED COLLIER BAKEWELL.
(L.S.) FRED COLLIER BAKEWELL.