IM- PROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES AND GUN WADS
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Lynall Thomas at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
January 1855.
I, WILLIAM LYNALL THOMAS, of Anderton, in the County of Devon,
Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES AND GUN WADS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved form of shot and an improved wad,
which are to be used together, and in additions. to and improvements upon
an Invention, for which I obtained, Provisional Protection, bearing date the
21st day of November last.
I form an elongated conoidal bullet or projectile, with a hollow of a square
or other suitable shape in the tail thereof, and make it smaller in circum-
ference, for from one-third to one-half of its length. I form my wad of papier
maché or of any other suitable substance, and hollow it out at top. In the
centre of this hollow is a plug of the same shape as that in the projectile,
the smaller end of which fits into the hollow in the wad, while the plug in the
wad fits the aperture in the tail of the projectile; a small space is left between
the top of the wad and the shoulder, formed at that part of the projectile
where it is diminished in circumference. This space is afterwards filled by
the projectile being forced against the wad by the ramrod, or by the wad
being forced against the projectile on the discharge of the gun. The bottom
of the wad is provided with a conical shaped hollow plug, which on the dis-

page_text: charge of the gun is driven into a corresponding but smaller aperture in the
bottom or back end of the wad. The wad on the discharge of the gun
becomes expanded both at top and bottom, and filling the barrel prevents
windage. In order to increase the range of the projectile, I sometimes intro-
duce a charge of percussion powder in the plug. In rifled arms, the wad
being forced into the grooves will communicate rotary motion to the projectile,
which need only be rammed into the gun as if the barrel were smooth. When
fired from smooth bores, I provide the projectile with spiral wings and the
wad with corresponding grooves, into which the spiral wings fit, by which
means a rotary motion will be imparted to the projectile. To keep the fore
part of the projectile in the centre of the barrel, so that the axial lines of the
two may coincide, I employ an expanding wad, the rear end of which is
hollowed out to receive the front of the projectile, a space being left to allow
for the expansion of the wad. The wad is formed in two parts, the meeting
faces of which are formed with conical hollows, and a double inclined plug is
introduced between them, which, when the wad is introduced into the barrel
of a fire-arm, is caused to expand both parts of the wad by a smart blow from
the ramrod. The parts of the wad are held together by a strip of paper or
other material cemented round them. Where the projectile is in the form
of a shell or rocket, I light the fuse through an aperture made in the tail
thereof, but then I dispense with the hollow in the tail of the projectile, and
plug in the wad, and provide an aperture through the wad to correspond with
and communicate fire to the fuse. Instead of the projectile and wad fitting
together as above described, they may each be screw threaded.