IMPROVEMENTS ADDEDRAINING TO BREECH-LOADING ETRE-ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Terry, of Francis Street, Aston, Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Gunmaker, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
ADDEDRAINING TO BREECH-LOADING ETRE-ARMS."
Sealed the 25th September 1855, and dated the 12th. April 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Terry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
April 1855.
I, WILLIAM TERRY, of Francis St, Aston, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gunmaker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS APPERTAINING TO BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS" to be as
follows:-
That inasmuch as cartridge cases, whether for breech-loading or other arms,
must be made strong to resist injury from packing, withstand the rough usage
they are subjected to in service, and to secure the charge from being damaged
by moisture or other causes of injury; and whereas in breech-loading fire-
arms provision has hitherto been made for puncturing or cutting the cartridge
to expose the powder, and so insure the instantaneous ignition of the
charge, or otherwise the paper case or cartridge containing the charge of
powder has been made of some chemically prepared paper easily ignitable;

page_text: Now, my Invention enables the Government cartridge, notwithstanding the
thickness of its case, to be used in breech-loading rifles, carbines, and such like
arms, and supersedes the necessity for any cutting or puncturing apparatus
being attached to such arms; and although generally applicable, it is especially
calculated to make complete and practically useful that description of breech-
loading arm known as "Brand's Patent."
I prepare the cartridges thus:-I take the hollow conical or other bullet, and
place it in a mould, having formed around it the case to contain the charge,
which may be made of two, three, or four folds or coils of the proper and
suitably strong paper. The case is filled in the usual way, rammed up, and the
ends of the case turned over and secured upon a cardboard or other thin disc
or wad, to which is attached the thick felt or other wad, which completes the
cartridge, ready for packing or immediate use.
I next prepare the breech of the gun rifle or other arm by drilling the hole
therein for receiving the nipple in a line directed to the centre of the bore or
the centre of the charge, and having tapped the hole with a suitable screw
thread, I proceed to prepare the nipple.
I take a blank nipple, and instead of drilling or boring it through in any of
the manners usual for breech-loading arms, viz., with a parallel hole, or with
a hole countersunk at the lower end, or drilled conical, the apex of such cone
being upward, and the base being presented to the charge, I, on the contrary,
drill my nipple with a conical hole, but the cone is inverted, the apex being
downward. By this means the flash or fire is concentrated against the case
of the cartridge, which it pierces with intense force, and instantaneously and
unerringly explodes the charge.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Terry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 27th
September 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
TERRY, of Francis Street, Aston, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Gunmaker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,

page_text: he said William Terry, Her special licence that I, the said William Terry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Terry, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS APPERTAINING TO BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Terry, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, 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 William Terry, 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:-
My Invention relates to the nipples and the cartridges to be used for breech-
loading arms; and although parts of my Invention are applicable to fire-arms
generally, my Invention, as a whole, is especially calculated to make complete
and practically useful that description of fire-arm known as Brand's Patent,
such Patent being dated Eleventh of August, One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three.
Cartridge cases, whether for breech-loading or other fire-arms, must be made
sufficiently strong to resist injury from packing, to withstand the rough usage
they are subjected to in service, and to secure the charge from damage by
moisture or other causes of injury.
The practice of biting off the end of the cartridge, and emptying the charge
of powder into the barrel, in loading an ordinary musket or rifle involves
much waste of powder, and consequently uncertainty in firing. Moreover, the
ramming down of the wad and the bullet in such description of arins involves
much time, and is therefore disadvantageous to rapid firing, also in wet weather
is occasionally damaged. Breech-loading rifled and smooth-bore guns are
therefore most desirable arms in practicle warfare, as insuring greater rapidity
of firing, as well as the full effect of the charge of powder contained within
the cartridge. The convenience of using such an arm, as compared with any
arm loaded at the muzzle, is now well understood.
To enable the ordinary cartridge to be used in breech-loading arms, various
contrivances have been attached to the breech for puncturing or cutting the

page_text: case to expose the powder to the flash, and punches or needles have been so
'arranged as to ignite the powder of the charge by the point of such needle being
brought into violent contact with the ordinary percussion cap, suitably placed
in the cartridge, or by producing friction in the midst of detonating powder
properly disposed; by which the charge becomes ignited and exploded, and
'various other contrivances of a similar nature have been resorted to.:
Chemically prepared paper has also been used for forming the cartridge
cases, and the ignition of the charge has depended upon the flash from the
nipple reaching the case with such force only as the smallness and angularity
of the channel from the nipple permitted; but chemically prepared paper has
been found prejudicial to the chamber and barrel of the gun, producing
corrosion and clogging. With a view to obviate these and other disadvan-
tages appertaining. to existing breech-loading fire-arms, I have adopted a
forin and arrangement of nipple by which I am enabled, with the ordinary
percussion cap, to so concentrate the fire from the percussion powder as to
pierce the thickest cartridge case now in use.
I take a blank nipple, and instead of drilling or boring it through in any of
the manners usual for breech-loading fire-arms, viz., with a parallel hole, or
with a hole countersunk at the lower end, or drilled conical, the apex of such
cone being upward, and the base presented to the charge, I, on the contrary,
drill my nipple with a conical hole, the cone being inverted, the apex pointing
'downward.
I also prepare the breech of the rifle, carbine, or other arm by drilling the
hole therein for receiving the nipple, but in a line directed to the centre of the
bore, or, the centre of the charge, instead of fixing it as at present in a tangentle
line or otherwise by the side of the breech. Having tapped the hole with a
suitable screw thread, I proceed to fit the nipple, prepared as above described.
When the nipple is thus fitted, the flash or fire from the percussion powder is
concentrated and directed against the case of the cartridge, which it pierces
with great force, and instantaneously and unerringly explodes the charge.
I form my cartridges in the following manner :-I cast the hollow conical
bullets in a mould in the ordinary way, but with a hemispherical concavity at
the base. This form of cavity I have found better concentrates the impelling
force of the powder, and gives truer flight to the bullet. I take such a bullet
and insert it in a mould, having formed around it the case to contain the
charge, and it may be formed of two or three or even more coils or folds of
suitably strong cartridge paper. I next fill in the powder, and ram it up. I
then place a disc of strong paper or thin card on the top of the powder, and
turn over the ends of the paper case or cartridge, and secure them by gumming

page_text: or otherwise. I next take a wad of thick felt, and attach it to a disc of card
by a thread or other fastening. I then gum the face of the card disc, and
attach it to the end of the cartridge case; it is then completed,, ready for
packing or for immediate use. The peculiarity of this cartridge is that the
concentrated fire from the nipple piercing it explodes the charge, projects
the bullet from the barrel, and with the bullet the paper case and all the
materials before the wad. The felt wad, however, remains behind the point of
ignition, and is forced forward in front of the bullet when the next cartridge is
placed in the chamber. or breech, and when exploded the wad. is driven through
the barrel, cleansing it in its passage each time the arm is fired. The felt wad
is made sufficiently thick (or long) to prevent the point of the bullet at the
time of explosion from turning it over in the barrel, and with a view to
prevent its moving along the barrel, except in its true position. The disc of
card is attached in front of the felt wad, to insure the wad from being singed
by the ignition of the powder.
I prefer that cartridges made according to my Invention be coated with a
waterproof composition, or coated with grease, so that the contents of the
cartridge may be preserved from injury by moisture, and the barrel kept
lubricated at each discharge, by which means the felt wad will thoroughly
cleanse the barrel of all obstructions consequent. on. continuous.. firing.
Cartridges may be formed in this way containing small shot instead of the
bullet described, and when the form of nipple I have described is applied in
the manner described by me, cartridges composed of thicker paper than any
heretofore in use may be employed, insuring greater certainty of explosion.
In the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed I have by preference shown my
present Invention as applied to a Brand's patent, breech-loading rifle.
Fig. 1 represents a side view of the musket; Figs. 2, 3, 4, & 7 exhibit
longitudinal sections of the breech and part of the barrel, shewing the
several stages of loading that arm; Fig. 5 is an end view of the breech, with
its attachment; Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the barrel, showing the
position of the nipple; Fig. 8 is an enlarged section of the nipple, showing
the conical, bore.
'
A represents, the stock of the musket; B, the barrel; C, the percussion lock;
D, the breech.
It will be seen on reference to Fig. 2 that in this gun the breech part D is
bored rather larger than the barrel, and is formed with a slot or opening G
on one side; this slot is of less width than the diameter of the chamber, except
at the part closed by the hinged piece M. The point of junction between the
chamber of breech. D and the bore of the gun is bored conical, and is stopped

page_text: by being fitted with a conical plug H, which perfectly closes the breech. At
the back of the conical plug is hinged a knuckle joint I, of a suitable length,
and so made as to accurately fit in length the opening in the breech, so that
when the plug H is quite home a solid metal abutment is formed by I against
the breech plug, and this part of the apparatus is so made as to permit of
adjustment for wear. At the end of the piece I, as shown, a metal ring K is
attached by a hinge to a snug piece thereon, the use of the ring K being
to secure the piece I firmly in its place when the cartridge has been deposited,
and the arm is charged ready for use. In Figs. 2, 3, 4, & 7, the positions
of this ring K and the piece I are shown. L is a screwed plug, fitted in
the end of the breech, and by which may be adjusted any wearing of the
conical plug H.
The method of loading the musket, rifle, or other fire-arm of the above
construction is as follows:-The ring K is withdrawn from off the end of the
breech or from the screw plug L, and being turned back forms the piece I out
of the opening or chamber of the breech, and enables the cone plug to be
withdrawn. The cartridge F, made as I have described, is then inserted entire,
as shown at Fig. 2. It is then pressed forward into the position at Fig. 3,
and the piece I is then pressed back into its place, as shown at Fig. 4. The
ring K is then turned back on to the end of the breech, as shown in Fig. 1,
when the hammer being drawn back, and a percussion cap being placed upon
the nipple described by me, and shown at Figs. 6 and 8, the gun is ready to
be discharged. When fired, the felt wad, as already described, is left in the
position as shown in Fig. 7, and the next cartridge being placed in the
chamber, as shown at Fig. 2, the operation is repeated. Fig. 9 exhibits
the cartridge as described, the separate parts being lettered r, s, & t.
Having described very fully the nature of my Invention, and illustrated its
application, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the making of
conical bullets with a hemispherical concavity at the base, except when used
in connection with the cartridge described by me. Neither do I claim the
use of cartridges composed of 2, 3, or more coils or folds of cartridge paper,
except they be made for breech-loading fire-arms, having no puncturing or
cutting arrangement attached to such fire-arms. Nor do I claim the use of a
felt wad, except when attached to the cartridge in the manner described when
used for breech-loading fire-arms, and except when such cartridge is ignited
at a point in advance of the felt wad, and by the direct and concentrated action
of the percussion powder. Neither do I claim the making of nipples by
boring them conical with the apex downward, except when used for breech-
loading fire-arms, and when screwed into or otherwise fixed in the barrel in

page_text: a line pointing to the centre of the bore or the centre of the charge, so that
the concentrated fire of the percussion powder may act upon and pierce the
case of the cartridge with the greatest effect. And although I have by
preference shown in the Drawing hereunto annexed my Invention applied to
Brand's patent breech-loading gun, I do not confine myself to such applica-
tion; but claim as my Invention, the several matters and things just described,
in so far as they are new, when applied to breech-loading arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Terry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM TIBBERT,
10, Salisbury Street, Adelphi.
WILLIAM TERRY. (L.S.)