IMPROVEMENT IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Isaac Morris Milbank, of Greenfield Hill, in the
State of Connecticut, United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENT IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS."
of
IMPROVEMENT IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS.
Scaled the 9th October 1869, and dated the 15th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Isaac Morris Milbank at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 15th May 1869.
I, ISAAC MORRIS MILBANK, of Greenfield Hill, in the State of
Connecticut, United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENT IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING
FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
I employ a metal cartridge case which is strengthened at the base and
flange by means of solder or other alloy melted within said base. The
fulminate is contained in a priming cap or tube which is to be inserted
in a socket or opening in the centre of the base, and the said primer
may be removed so as to reload the shell. The socket is formed by a
short picce of tube held in place by the melted solder or alloy, or by an

page_text: inward projection or teat pressed up out of the sheet metal base of the
cartridge. With some forms of priming tubes I employ a cup, disc, or
bar of metal set within the case, and united thereto by solder, rosin,
shellac, or other adhesive material, the said cup, disc, or bar having an
opening in the middle for receiving the priming tube, and the base of
the case should have a depression formed therein to receive the flange of
the priming tube. The primor is to be fired by a taper-ended hammer
that strikes into the rear end, which is made as a conical cavity or
depression.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Isaac Morris Milbank in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ISAAC
MORRIS MILBANK, of Greenfield Hill, in the State of Connecticut,
United States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors give
and grant unto me, the said Isaac Morris Milbank, Her special licence
that I, the said Isaac Morris Milbank, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Isaac Morris Milbank, 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, tho said Isaac Morris Milbank, my exccutors or ad-
ministrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or onc
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Isaac Morris Milbank, 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, reference being made to the Drawings hereto
annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to
say) -
:-
In Letters Patent granted to me under date of February 23rd, 1807,
No. 504, a cartridge is shown with a metallic disk or ring soldered within
a sheet metal case, my present Invention is a modification of and im-
provement upon the same.
In the Drawing the sheet metal case a is shown with the base 3 and
hollow flange 4, the latter enabling the breech-loading mechanism to
draw the case or shell out of the barrel by means of a retractor taking
hold of said flange 4. The sheet metal cup c shown in Fig. 6, and the
disk c shown in Fig. 7 are to be soldered into the inside of the shell or
case a, the solder running into the flange 4, and also filling the space
between the said cup or disk c and the base 3 caused by countersinking
the base 3 for the flange 8 of the priming tube h. In Figs. 4 and 5 the
priming tube h is shown as introduced in a socket formed by pressing in
the sheet metal of the base 3, and a separate interior cap may be used over
the inner end of this socket, as seen in Fig. 4; or in place of these
sockets the socket may be a separate piece c, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.
In Figs. 1, 5, and 6 the base of the cartridge is strengthened and the
parts united by solder, as in aforesaid Patent, and the metallic ring may
be inserted or the filings of brass, zinc, or other metal may be introduced
with the solder as at b. The priming tube is inserted in the central
cavity formed for it; said priming tube is to be made of thin sheet metal
with a deep recessed cavity or depression at the end, the fulminate is
introduced within the tube, and in consequence of the said depression
forms a thin edged ring, the explosion therefore is very easily effected
by a tapering ended hammer or pin that is sufficiently small to pass into
this cavity when discharged, so as to act outwardly against the fulminate,
but the fulminate in said primer cannot be exploded by any other means.
Where the primer tube is made with a flange, as in Figs. 6, 7, & S, the
sheet metal is pressed tightly together in said flange, so as to prevent the
fulminate passing thereinto. The primer constructed in this manner is
very safe, as the same cannot be exploded by driving it into the central
opening of the case or accidentally by handling. This priming tube is to

page_text: bo distinguished from that in Letters Patent, No. 2534, granted to me
August 13th, A.D. 1808, the flango of the primer being closed, as seen
in larger size in Fig. 8, and the hammer being of a size and shape as
scen in both Figs. 8 and 9, to pass into the cavity and act outwardly
instead of acting against the end of the tube. In this cartridge as well as
in that in my said Patent, No. 504, A.D. 1867, the solder running into
the flange as the base is soldered in strengthens the said flange.
bo distinguished from that in Letters Patent, No. 2534, granted to me
August 13th, A.D. 1808, the flango of the primer being closed, as seen
in larger size in Fig. 8, and the hammer being of a size and shape as
seen in both Figs. 8 and 9, to pass into the cavity and act outwardly
instead of acting against the end of the tube. In this cartridge as well as
in that in my said Patent, No. 504, A.D. 1867, the solder running into
the flange as the base is soldered in strengthens the said flange.
What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is,-
First. The socket disk or cup c secured within the sheet metal
cartridge case by solder as specified.
Second. The priming tube formed with a depression or cavity at the
end, and containing the fulminate to he exploded by a hammer in thic
manner set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Isaac Morris Milbank, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of October,
A.D. One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
Witnesses,
CHAS. H. SMITII,
121, Nassau St., N. Y.
GEO. T. PINCKNEY,
121, Nassau St., N. Y.
I. M. MILBANK. (L.s.)