IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKETS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Hale, of 6, John Street, Adelphi, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKETS."
Sealed the 6th May 1859, and dated the 8th November 1858..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Hale at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his l'etition, on the 8th
November 1858.
1, WILLIAM HALE, of 6, John Street, Adelphi, in the County' of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROCKETS,"
to be as follows:-
The object of these improvements is to ensure a more certain direction, in
the flight of rockets than can be obtained by any other arrangement hitherto
made use of, and also for sustaining the case against the extra pressure which
is given in rockets constructed according to my former Patent, wherein the
bored composition has not only to be sufficiently long for supplying the gas to
give the onward motion, but likewise for giving the rotatory motion, which
makes rockets constructed after the manner of my late Patent more liable to
burst than ordinary rockets. My present Invention will obviate this incon-
venience.
In my Patent för "Improvements in Rockets," dated 11th January 1844,
I succeeded in dispensing with the necessity of using a stick, wings, or any
other appendage, by means of fixing at the back or hinder end of the case a
cast-iron plug or weight for bringing the centre of gravity towards the after
end of, the rocket, in which cast-iron plug oblique tangential apertures are

page_text: formed for the purpose of producing rotation; but I have since discovered by
experience that the application of the weight with the oblique tangential
apertures at the after end causes the rocket to describe at the after end an
orbit, which, more or less, produces uncertainty in the direction of its flight, and
to obviate this is one important object sought to be obtained in my present
improvements, and which I effect by. dispensing with the weight or cast-iron
plug at the after part, and instead of placing the tangential apertures at one
end, I now arrange them in a plane as near as possible to the centre of gravity
of the rocket between the bored part of the composition and that part towards
the head which is left solid, this being in the position of about the centre of
gravity of the rocket. And in order to give greater stability to the case, I
rivet in a cast-iron piece in which the tangential apertures are formed,
whereby the burning of the solid composition supplies the tangential apertures
for giving rotatory motion about the rocket's axis on one side of the cast-iron
piece, while on the other side the bored part of the composition is devoted
only to giving the onward motion. By this arrangement the rotation will be
effected perfectly without any irregularity, and at the same time greater
strength will be given to the case of the rocket.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Hale in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 7th
May 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HALE, of 6, John Street, Adelphi, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Hale, Her special licence that I, the said William
Hale, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Hale, my executors, administrators, 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
ROCKETS, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said. William

page_text: Hale, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Hale, do hereby declare the:
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-.
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following:
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The object of these improvements is to ensure a more certain direction in the
flight of rockets than can be obtained by any other arrangement hitherto.
made use of, and also for sustaining the case against the extra pressure which
is given in rockets constructed according to my former Patent, wherein the
bored composition has not only to be sufliciently long for supplying the gas to
give the onward motion; but likewise for giving the rotatory motion, which
makes rockets constructed after the manner of my lato Patent more liable to.
burst than ordinary rockets. My present Invention will obviate this incon-
venience. In my Patent for improvements in rockets, dated 11th of January
1844, I succeeded in dispensing with the necessity of using a stick, wings, or
any other appendage, by means of fixing at the back or hinder end of the case
a cast-iron plug or weight, for bringing the centro of gravity towards the after
end of the rocket, in which cast-iron plug oblique tangential apertures are
formed for the purpose of producing rotation; but I have since discovered by
experience that the application of the weight, with the oblique, tangential
apertures at the after end, causes the rocket to describe at the after end an.
orbit, which, more or less, produces uncertainty in the direction of its flight;
and to obviate this is one important object sought to be obtained in my
present improvements, and which I effect by dispensing with the weight or
cast-iron plug at the after part, and instead of placing the tangential apertures:
at one end, I now arrange them in a plane, as near as possible to the centro
of gravity of the rocket, between the bored part of the composition and that.
part towards the head which is left solid, this being in the position of about
the centre of gravity of the rocket; and in order to give greator stability to
the case, I rivet in a cast-iron picce, in which the tangential apertures are
formed, whereby the burning of the solid composition supplies the tangential
apertures for giving rotatory motion about the rocket's axis on one side of the
cast-iron piece, while on the other side the bored part of the composition
is devoted only to giving the onward motion; by this arrangement the rotation

page_text: will be effected perfectly without any irregularity, and at the same time.
greater strength will be given to the case of the rocket.
Figure 1 represents an external view of a rocket constructed according to
part of my Invention, and Figure 2 shows a section of the same.
a, a, is the
iron case, forming the body of the rocket, with the after end contracted to
nearly the size of the main central hole, or a light cast-iron end may be
rivitted into the tube in lieu thereof. This aperture is intended for the
egress of the gas in the direction of the rocket's axis, producing the onward
motion. 6 represents a cast-iron plate with a thick rim on one side,
which is rivitted inside the case in that position, that when tangential
holes are drilled through the case and through the rim of the cast-iron plate,
that they shall all range in the plane of the rocket's centre of gravity; when
the rocket is complete, with the shell or shot in the head, the dotted line c
represents the rocket's centre of gravity; d is the shell showing the hole for
the fuze, or instead of a shell it may be a solid shot or carcase head; E
represents the composition between the shell and the cast-iron plate b, which
is intended by its combustion to supply the tangential holes with gas for
giving rotary motion, while the composition f on the opposite side of the iron
plate, which is bored through its entire length from the plate to the end of the
casc, is intended by its combustion to supply the main central aperture with
gas for giving the onward or rectilinear motion; a small hole is drilled through
the centre of the cast-iron plate, whereby a communication is obtained.
between the gas generated by the combustion of the solid composition
and that of the bored part of the composition, so that the rotatory and
rectilinear motions shall take place at one and the same time, the rotation
being produced by holes formed in the direction of tangents to a circle
described in the plane of the rocket's centre of gravity, the rotary motion
must necessarily be steady and even about the axis of the rocket, which could
never be the case by an arrangement represented in my former Patent, and
the cast-iron plate very materially strengthens the case by its being rivetted
inside, between the part where the gas is generated for producing the rotary
motion, and that where the gas is generated for producing the onward motion.
By this arrangement greater strength is also given to the rocket case than
could be obtained by rockets constructed according to my former Patent.
Figure 3 represents an external view, and Figure 4 a section of another
form of rocket, with a shell at either end constructed according to my Inven-
tion, which form is more particularly designed for ground firing, when long
ranges are not required. a, a, represents the case or body of the rocket
divided into two parts by the cast-iron socket piece b, which is rivitted to the

page_text: case, in which also the egress holes are drilled, as shown in the Drawing;
that part of the case next the head is of greater diameter than the after part,
and is so far externally similar to the plan of the rocket shown in Figure 9
and Figure 10 in my former Patent, but is essentially different in other
respects, inasmuch as the holes for the egress of the gas in the rocket shown
in my former Patent, are oblique tangential holes producing a spiral motion
upon the rocket, which motion is objectionable for rockets fired from the
ground, whereas the egress holes are now made in a direction pointing to the
axis of the rocket, and the whole force of the gas issuing from the egress
holes acting in the onward or rectilinear direction, may be estimated by sup-
posing the longest side of the right-angled triangle, Figure 5, to represent the
direction of the gas issuing from the egress holes, then will the onward force
be the force issuing from the egress holes, as the length of the side a is to the
side b, which line represents the rocket's axis. As this form of rocket is not
only better constructed for ground firing, from having no rotary motion, it is
also less liable to burst, in consequence of there being no necessity for having
any part of the composition bored; for when the rotary motion is not required
the quantity of surface contained in the area of the two end surfaces will be
suflicient to supply the egress holes.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I make no claim to any
of the parts separately, nor do I confine myself to the details; but what I
claim is, the combination shewn in Figures 1 and 2; and, secondly, the
combination described in Figures 3 and 4.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Hale, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventh day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
S. CARPMAEL.
W. HALE. (L.S.)
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