Improvements in Cartridges for Breech-loading Cannon.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 18th July, 1890-Accepted, 23rd Aug., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Cartridges for Breech-loading Cannon.
1 SAMUEL SEABURY, Lieutenant United States Navy, of Schuyler Place, Bergen
Point, New Jersey, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of tbis
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following stateinent :-
The object of my invention is to provide a cartridge for breech-loading cannon
which obviates the necessity for a gas check in the breech of the cannon, and which,
while being less expensive than the fixed ammunition heretofore used for bresch
loading ordnance, possesses in itself an effective gas check. My invention consists in
a cartridge case made partly of cloth and partly of a cup-shaped metal base, substan-
tially as hereinafter described.
Fig. 1 in the accompanying drawings represents a side view of a cartridge
constructed according to my invention.
Fig. 2 represents, on a larger scale than Fig. 1, a central section of the metal base
of the cartridge, a portion of the cloth which constitutes the greater portion of the
eas, and the means of attaching the cloth to the base.
Fig. 3 represents a transverse section on the line x x of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 represents a section corresponding with Fig. 2, illustrating the methol of,
and means for attaching the cloth portion of the cartridge case to the metal base
thereof.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A designates a cloth bag which constitutes the greater portion of the length of the
cartridge case; B, a cup shaped metal base, and C a disc of wool or other material,
preferably a tough wood, as maple, of a circumference somewhat smaller than th
interior of the cup-shaped base B. The said disc C has the cloth bag A attached to it,
and serves for the attachment of the said bag to the metal base.
The cup-shaped metal base B may be of brass, copper, or other metal. The depth
of its cup may be about equal to, or somewhat less than the diameter of the cartridge.
It has a stout bottom or breech b, and a flange 61, of suitable form for being taken
hold of by the extractor employed in the gun, and has provided, on the inner face of
its bottom or breech, a central externally screw-threaded nozzle or boss b. The said
base is represented in Fig. 2 as having its sides gradually reduced in thickness
towards the front edge; as having the front edge turned slightly inward in rounded
form, to facilitate its entrance into the breech of the gun, in loading; and as having
its longitudinal profile slightly tapered to fit the tapered counter-bore with which tho
chambers of most breechloading cannon are constructed.
The
The bag A consists of a straight tube made of cloth, with both ends open.
edges of its rear end are represented (see Fig. 2) as secured around the circumference
of the disc C, which disc is secured to the breech b of the metal base B by means of a
flanged nut D, which is screwed onto the screw-threaded nozzle 6 of the base B, the said
nut being countersunk into the disc C, and being provided with notches d, as shewn in
Fig. 3, into which to insert a forked wrench, for the purpose of screwing it up.
The rear edge of the bag A may be secured around the circumference of the disc (
in any suitable manner, but I prefer to secure it in the manner which I will now
proceed to describe, by providing a circumferential groove in the said disc, and by
winding several times around it, within the said groove, a binding wire a. To attach
the bag to the disc, I first turn it inside out, and present its rear edge in a forward
direction over the disc, as shewn in Fig. 4; then wind the wire a around it within
the groove; and afterwards pull the bag forward, right side out, over the disc, and
over the wire a, as shewn in Fig. 2. The disc and the attached rear end of the bag
are then placed within the cup-shaped base B, and secured to the breech or bottom

page_text: thereof, by screwing the nut D on the nozzle 63. When this nut has been screwed up,
it is firmly secured by screwing a wood screw e (see Fig. 3) through one of its
notches d, and. into the disc C. The bag A is then filled with powder from its open
forward end, which is afterwards tied up, as shewn at f, in the same manner in which
the forward end of a cloth cartridge is tied up. A cartridge thus constructed may he
provided in the centre of its base, as shewn at g in Fig. 2, with a primer of any suitable
kind.
In a cartridge constructed as described the metal cup-shaped base constitutes a
perfectly effective gas check, and affords convenience for the insertion of a primer
directly into the cartridge itself, and it is much less expensive than the fixed ammu-
nition heretofore employed in breechloading ordnance. After such a cartridge has
been used, the cup shaped base B and the nut D may be again used in the manufac-
ture of a new cartridge.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The combination in a cartridge for breech-loading cannon, of a cloth bag and an
attached cup shaped metal base substantially as herein set forth.
2. The combination, in a cartridge for breech loading cannon, of a cup-shaped
metal base, a cloth bag inserted into the cup of said base, and secured to the bottom or
breech thereof, substantially as herein set forth.
3. The combination, in a cartridge for breech-loading cannon, of a cloth bag, a disc
to which the sides of said bag are attached, and a cup-shaped metal base piece to which
the said disc is secured, substantially as herein described.
4. The combination, in a cartridge, of the cup-shaped metal base B, provided with
the screw threaded central nozzle ; the cloth bag A, the disc C, to which the sides
of said bag are secured, and the nut D. by which said disc is secured to the said metal
base, substantially as herein set forth.
Tatad this 10th of T..L. 1900
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.