IMPROVE- MENTS IN CARTRIDGES to be as follows
Year: 1884

page_text: I, HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM, of 57P Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARTRIDGES to be as follows :--
"
My invention relates to cartridges chiefly designed for use in guns of the class
described in the specifications of former Letters Patent granted to me, that is to
say, guns wherein the breech-block is arranged to recoil or slide backwards or
away from the barrel, when a cartridge is fired, and thereby effect one or more of
the operations necessary in loading and firing the gun.
When an ordinary cartridge is used in a gun of this class, the pressure of the
gases within the cartridge-shell tend to press the same so tightly against the
interior of the barrel-chamber that the front portion or body of the shell is
prevented from recoiling with the base or head thereof and the said shell is
therefore liable to be torn asunder or to have its base or head forcibly separated
from its body or front portion.
"
To obviate this defect I make my improved cartridges in such a manner that
they will be slightly elongated by the force of the explosion so that the base or
head of the cartridge-shell will move backward a short distance with the breech-
block in its recoil and by the time the front portion or body of the shell is required
to move with the base or head thereof, the pressure within the shell will have
diminished sufficiently to permit such movement.
The shell or case of my improved cartridge, is for this purpose made with one
or more circular or circumferential corrugations so that when the said cartridge is
exploded in the barrel of a gun, the pressure of the gases acting upon the said
corrugation or corrugations will straighten the same and cause the said shell or
case to assume a cylindrical or nearly cylindrical form, thus slightly elongating it
and permitting its base or head to participate in the recoil of the breech-block.
When this elongation ceases, the pressure within the cartridge-shell will have
diminished sufficiently to enable the latter to be withdrawn from the barrel by the
extractor.
The said corrugation or corrugations may be made at any suitable part of the
cartridge case or shell, but I prefer to make them as near to the base or head
thereof as possible.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.

page_text: CUALE ELE
1. HIRAM STEVENS MAXIM, of 57P, Hatton Garden, in the County of Middlesex,
Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARTRIDGES" and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following stalement :-
My invention relates to metallic cartridges chiefly designed for use in guns of
that class-wherein--the-breech-block is arranged to recoil or slide backward from
the barrel, when a cartridge is fired, and thereby effect one-or-more-of-the
operations necessary in loading and firing the gun.
When an ordinary cartridge is used in a gun of this class, the pressure of the
gases within the cartridge-shell tends to press the same so tightly against the
surface of the charge-chamber in the barrel that the recoil of the cylindrical or
tubular part or body of the shell-with-its-base or head is prevented or retarded;
the said shell is, therefore, liable to be torn asunder or to have its base or hend
forcibly separated from its body or tubular portion.
-To-obviate-this_defect_I_make the shell of my improved cartridge in such a
manner that it will be slightly elongated by the force of the explosion, so that tho
base or head can move backward a short distance with the breech-block in its
recoil, before the main portion of the body of the shell commences to move. The
backward movement of the entire shell or case is thus delayed or retarded until
the pressure within the shell has diminished sufficiently to permit such movement.
The shell or case of my improved cartridge is, for this purpose, usually made
with one or more circular or circumferential corrugations, which, when the
cartridge is exploded in the gun-barrel, will be straightened or flattened by the
the pressure of the gases within the said shell or case, as hereinafter more fully
explained.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is a side view, partly'in longitudinal section, illustrating one form or
modification of my cartridge, and
Figure 2 is a similar view illustrating another form or modification thereof.
a is the cylindrical or tubular part or body of the shell or case, a¹ is the head or
base of the same, and b is the projectile. In the cartridge shewn in Figure 1, the
said shell or case is made with one circular or circumferential corrugation, channel
or depression c. When this cartridge is exploded in the barrel of a gun, the
pressure of the gases within the shell or case, acting upon the inner surface of the
corrugation c, will more or less straighten or flatten the same, and, consequently,
the said shell or case will be slightly elongated and its base or head a will
participate in the recoil of the breech-block, before the main portion of its body a
commences to move therewith. When the stress producing this elongation ceases,
the pressure within the cartridge shell or case will have diminished sufliciently to
allow the said shell or case to move freely backward with the breech-block.
I sometimes make the said shell or case with two corrugations or channels c, c¹,
as shewn in Figure 2, or with any other suitable number of such corrugations,
for the purpose of increasing the elongation thereof when acted upon by the
pressure of the gases as above described.

page_text: The said corrugation or corrugations may be made at any convenient part of the
cartridge case or shell, but I prefer to make them as near to the base or head
thereof as possible, because I thus reduce to a minimum, the extent of contact-
surface between the exterior of the shell and the interior of the charge-chamber, at
the rear of the said corrugation or corrugations, and, therefore, proportionally
diminish the friction to be overcome in forcing backward the head or base of the
cartridge shell or case.
I wish it understood that, although I have shewn in the drawing the manner in
which I usually form the said corrugations, yet I can, if desired, make them of any
other form suitable for the purpose of iny invention. Also that I regard as the
equivalent of the said corrugations, a series of indentations or depressions each of
which extends only partially around the shell or case in such a manner that the
latter will be elongated by the explosion.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
A metallic cartridge having its shell or case so formed that it will be elongated
by the explosion, as, and for the purpose, specified.