IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOT, SHELL, AND OTHER SIMILAR MISSILES.
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of 151, New Bond
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOT, SHELL, AND OTHER SIMILAR
MISSILES.'
"
Scaled the 30th August 1872, and dated the 8th March 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William
Lancaster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 8th March 1872.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of 151, New Bond Street, in the
County of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOT, SHELL, AND OTHER
SIMILAR MISSILES," to be as follows:-
These improvements relate to the construction of shot, shell, and
other similar missiles, and also to the arrangement and disposition of
the metals of which such are composed, for the purpose of obtaining
accuracy of range, non-erosion, and non-abrasion of the bore of the arm

page_text: from which they are fired, and non-liability to injury from storage or
transport.
The improvements consist in forming two, three, or any number of
apertures, channels, grooves, or recesses in the side walls of the missile,
which apertures, channels, grooves or recesses may lead into or com-
municate with other recesses or channels, which may be at right angles
or not with the first set of channels. Into the first set, or the second
set, or into both I cast or fix by some known means strips, plugs, or
pieces of the same or of different metals, so that the force of the explosion
may cause the strips or plugs, or a portion thereof to become dislodged,
and to protrude from the sides of the missile, to form studs, buttons, or
projections for taking into the grooves of the bore, or the grooves and
the cylindrical portion conjointly.
I do not in all cases fill the channels up entirely with metal, as a
portion may be left open or be filled up with plugs or pieces of
material other than metal, such as wood, asphalte, and the like.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles William Lancaster in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 7th September 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of 151, New Bond Street, in the County of
Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, send greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Charles William
Lancaster, Her special licence that I, the said Charles William
Lancaster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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,
J

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHOT,
SHELL, AND OTHER SIMILAR MISSILES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Charles William Lancaster, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
These improvements relate to the construction of shot, shell, and
other similar missiles, and also to the arrangement and disposition of the
metals of which such are composed, for the purpose of obtaining
accuracy of range, non-erosion, and non-abrasion of the bore of the arm
from which they are fired, and non-liability to injury from storage or
transport.
The improvements consist in forming two, three, or any number of
apertures, channels, grooves, or recesses in the side walls of the missile,
which apertures, channels, grooves, or recesses may lead into or com-
municate with other recesses or channels which may be at right angles
or not with the first set of channels. Into the first set, or the second
set, or into both, I cast or otherwise arrange plugs or pieces of the same
or of different metals, so that the force of the explosion shall cause the
pieces or plugs, or a portion thereof, to become bulged out or enlarged to
protrude from the sides of the missile to form studs, buttons, or pro-
jections for taking into the grooves of the bore, or the grooves and the
cylindrical portion conjointly.
I do not in all cases fill the channels up entirely with metal, as a
portion may be left open or be filled up with plugs or pieces of material
other than metal.

page_text: manner in which I propose to obtain the object in view, videlicet, that of
converting or transforming a plain surfaced shot or missile into a button
or stud shot or missile, the change being effected by the force and at the
time of the explosion or discharge of the powder or other agent used for
impelling the same.
In Figure 1, which is a sectional view of a long shot suitable for a
rifled gun of, say, nine inch calibre, the shot a has forming in the casting
or other mode of manufacture seven holes or apertures, three of them
leading from the central portion of the rear or base to the shoulder,
and four of them from near the circumference to a short distance
up the side; the apertures at the shoulder are formed at an angle
to those of the body, and are filled with lead 6 or a compound of lead
and other metal, the apertures in the body being filled with rods of
metal c of a hard character, for causing the lead or its compound to ooze
out at the shoulder and form buttons or projections by the impact of the
rods under the pressure of the gases generated by the discharge. The
soft metal d in the base apertures are also acted upon at the same time
and in the same manner for forming buttons or projections at the rear
end, the two sets of buttons or studs acting in unison by taking into the
grooves or rifling of the barrel of the gun for producing the requisite
twist or spin, and also for steadying the shot during its travel through
the bore. The central body apertures need not however be fitted with
rods, as they can be left open for the gases to enter and act direct upon
the backs of the soft metal plugs in the shoulder apertures, to move and
drive them outwards; or some of the body apertures may have rods in
them and others not.
The two sets of apertures may be arranged in the same vertical line,
or they may, so to speak, break joint so that the soft metal of one set
or a portion thereof can take into the rifling grooves, and the other set
or only a portion thereof can take on to the "lands" of the bore; one
lot serving to produce the twist or spin of the shot, the other lot serving
to steady the shot.
I have referred to the soft metal as forming buttons or projections, and
I intend thereby to cover and include all forms and shapes of projections
that can be exuded or forced outwards from apertures for the purposes
set forth, the apertures or grooves being shaped before the stud metal
is inserted into them in any convenient manner.

page_text: In some cases the shoulder and body apertures or channels can be
dispensed with, and a ring of soft metal 6 arranged in an annular recess
formed round the shoulder as in Figure 2, this being held in place by
another ring e of a harder metal, to follow the contour of the shot
exterior. The action of the air and the velocity and impulse of the
shot through the bore being sufficient to cause the soft metal to yield
and be upset sufficiently to form a projecting ring for filling up the
rifling and the plain portion of the bore of the gun, the base of the
shot being similarly fitted with a ring of soft metal, and an exterior
ring d of hard metal to be acted upon by the gases at the base. By
this means the "lands" and "grooves" or "rifling" are filled up, and.
windage is prevented notwithstanding the looseness of the shot when
first inserted into the bore, whether the gun be a muzzle-loader or a
breech-loader.
Figure 3 shows a long shot with a ring shoulder e, as just explained, and
with button apertures at the base, the ring serving to prevent windage
round the shoulder and to steady the fore end, the buttons to take into
the rifling for producing the twist or spin; the reverse of this can
however be arranged in order to prevent windage at the rear, and to
produce the spin or twist from the front, this being also assisted by the
base ring d taking into the rifling as well as upon the "lands."
Figure 4 shows a long shot with a set of apertures at the shoulder f
another set in the body for body studs, and a set for the base, the three
sets, if three sets are used, acting in unison. A rear end or base view
5 of this shot is shown at Figure 5, the outer circle of apertures leading
to the base buttons or studs and the inner circle to the body buttons
or studs.
Figure 6 is a sectional view of a bolt or flat faced shot with the shoulder,
or it may be the body channel in the centre from the rear into which
O the hard metal rod can be fitted to act upon all the soft metal in the
radial apertures at one impulse, all the radial apertures meeting at the
centre of the body for that purpose, as shewn in Figure 7. The base
apertures are in this case somewhat higher up than in the previous
Figures, and the soft metal in each of them is acted upon by separate
5 rods, as shewn in the base view, Figure 8. By this means the body of
the bolt is not so much perforated or weakened.

page_text: Figure 9 shews only one circle of holes or channels at the base, the
rods in which act upon both sets of soft metal in lieu of upon one set
only.
As before stated I do not in any way limit myself to the examples
shewn as the stud holes, and the channels, recesses, or grooves can be
arranged in other missiles than those already referred to, nor do I limit
myself to forming such holes, apertures, channels, recesses, or grooves
in or upon shot like the ones shewn, as any other formation can be
adapted to shells whether of the percussion class or the time fuse class,
as will be gathered by the examples shewn in Figures 10, 11, 12, and 13,
the first two of which represent views of the oval or "Lancaster" shell
invented and Patented by me on the Sixteenth day of January, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-one. In this case I propose to fit a
ring of soft metal 6 at the shoulder, strengthening the shell at that part
by internal ribs or fillets g, 9, and to fit rods h or columns of supply in
apertures to act upon the soft metal and thereby form a projection all
round the exterior, the same or some other arrangement being fitted at
the base for the perfect formation of an expansible ring at that part to
fill up the windage in order to obtain the full effects of the gases upon
the missile and to prevent erosion of the bore.
Figures 12 and 13 are sectional views of a round bodied long shell,
the shoulder being fitted with a soft metal ring 6 acted upon by a hard
metal ring, the rear having apertures or an annular channel fitted with
soft metal only. Figures 10 and 10b are views of the ring and the
shot taken through the line where is situated. These views show
projections and spaces for securing the ring in place.
"
Figure 14 represents a section of the "Woolwich gun with one of
my shot in the bore, the sectional line of the shot being taken through the
soft metal buttons, supposed to have been forced out at their apertures
into the rifling by the rods indicated by the dotted lines.
I have in the foregoing referred to the buttons, studs, or projections
being forced out at the shoulder by rods or by the action of the gases
from the base, and by the upsetting of the supply column of metal at the
start of the shot or shell previous to its travel through the bore of the
gun, but this method can be dispensed with and the soft metal be caused
to exude from apertures in the body or near the base only.
I have mentioned soft metal as being fitted into the apertures for

page_text: forming the projections from the exterior for the purposes of my
Invention, but the apertures, channels, recesses, or grooves can be fitted
with hard metals.
The inner ends or faces of the pieces to form the studs or projections
may be cut or shaped angle fashion, as shewn at Figure 1, against which
other angle faces upon rods, if rods are used in the body channels to act
upon them, these being acted upon by the upset of the metal caused by
the impulse of the explosion, the main object of my Invention being to.
manufacture shot, shell, and other missiles, and to enclose, arrange, or
deposit pieces of the same or of other metals or materials within the
surface or body in any suitable manner for forming studs, buttons, or
projections therefrom to bear against the bore of the gun at the time of
or immediately after the explosion of the gas generating agency by
which such missile is to be impelled, substantially as herein-before
described and shewn.
In conclusion I may remark that in some cases a fixed set of buttons,
studs, or projections, may be upon the missile at the shoulder.
I do not pretend by the foregoing description to include longitudinal
spiral ribs of soft metal inlaid in the exterior surface of shot or shell,
that plan having been previously patented by others, but what I do
include and desire to claim is the manufacture of shot or other missiles
in the body of which metal or other material, or a combination of such
can be enclosed, in the manner and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-two.
ד ז ד ATA
TH
CHARLES W. LANCASTER. (L.S.)