IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WADS FOR ORDNANCE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Davies, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn,
in the County of Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City
of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WADS FOR ORDNANCE."-A com-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Davies at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
April 1858.
I, GEORGE DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of
Middlesex, and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WADS FOR ORDNANCE," (a
munication from Héber Marini, of Paris, Civil Engineer,) to be as follows:-
This Invention consists principally in the employment of alga marina, varec,
wrack grass, or other analogous marine plants or sea weeds, for the manufac-
ture of wads for all kinds of ordnance. These substances possess properties
which, in connection with certain preparations to which they are submitted,
render them eminently applicable to such purpose, and are free from the
objections appertaining to the matters hitherto ordinarily employed.
This preparation consists in immersing the sea weed or other marine plant
previously dried, but not deprived of the salt, in a matter which increases its
incombustibility, such as a bath of clay or argil diluted in water, or thin plaster,
alum, carbonate or bicarbonate of soda, sulphate of alumina, or (which is pre-
ferable) in a solution of silicate of soda or of potash. The immersion in the
latter chemical agent will effect a complete and perfect incombustibility. The

page_text: sea weed or other marine plant thus prepared is twisted into a rope by hand,
and then laid in a spiral or helical form in a suitable mould under pressure,
and bound together by iron wire, tinned or galvanized, to avoid rusting or
oxidation, or by copper or zinc wire, horsehair, floss silk, or other suitable
ligature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said George Davies in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
DAVIES, of No. 1, Serle Street, Lincoln's Inn, in the County of Middlesex,
and No. 28, St. Enoch Square, in the City of Glasgow, Civil Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said George Davies, Her special licence that I, the said George Davies,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Davies, 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF WADS FOR ORDNANCE," being a communication from Héber
Marini, of Paris, Civil Engineer, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said George Davies, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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 George Davies, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
in writing, and on reference to the accompanying Drawings, that is to say:-
This Invention consists principally in the employment of alga marina, varec,

page_text: wrack grass, or other analogous marine plants or sea weeds, for the manu-
facture of wads for all kinds of ordnance. These substances possess properties.
which, in connection with certain preparations to which they are submitted,
render them eminently applicable to such purpose, and are free from the
objections appertaining to the matters hitherto ordinarily employed.
This preparation consists in immersing the sea weed or other marine plant.
(previously dried, but not deprived of its salt,) in a matter which increases its
incombustibility, such as a bath of clay or argil diluted in water, or thin
plaster, alum, carbonate or bicarbonate of soda, sulphate of alumina, or (which:
is preferable) in a solution of silicate of soda or of potash. The immersion in
the latter chemical agent will effect a complete and perfect incombustibility.
The sea weed or other marine plant thus prepared is twisted into a rope
by hand, and then laid in a spiral or helical form in a suitable mould under.
pressure, and bound together by iron wire, tinned or galvanized, to avoid.
rusting or oxydation, or by copper or zinc wire, horsehair, floss silk, or other
suitable ligature.
I would here remark, that recent experiments have proved floss silk to be
preferable for this purpose, being economical, incombustible, and sufficiently.
imperishable for the purpose; whereas metallic wire, notwithstanding all pre-
cautions, is liable to oxydation, and also to form grooves in the bore of the
piece.
In order more clearly to illustrate the practical application of this Invention,
I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of Drawings, in which Figures 1 and 2 repre-:
sent an exterior elevation and horizontal plan view of a finished wad; and
Figures 3 and 4 are sections taken through about the middle of the wad.
Each wad is composed of about one pound and a quarter, or one pound and
a balf of the sea weed or other marine plant in the simplest manner. A
certain number of wires or ligatures a, a, a, a, are doubled or threaded through
a metal ring b, at the bottom of the wad, and then twisted or tied together at
the top, which suffices to form a wad which will answer every purpose.
The operation can be performed by a press or lever, or other mechanical
means, or by means of a mould, in which the wires or ligatures a, a, and
ring 6, have been previously laid. The sea weed is twisted into a rope c by
band or otherwise, and placed in a tube, whence it is forced out into the mould.
in the form of a turban. This precaution is intended to prevent the wad, on
being fired off, from producing a multitude of fragments; the rope retains
almost its original form, and falls in a single piece, even although the wire may
have been broken. The above is the method of forming the inner wads, or
those which are placed between the charge of powder and the ball. In manu-

page_text: facturing wads for placing in front of the ball when firing with a depressed
muzzle, a rope of sea weed is coiled round in an involute form to the required
diameter, in a similar manner to the back of an ordinary target, and is bound
together by ligatures by means of a packing needle: The wads thus con-
structed are hard, elastic, incombustible, imperishable, and inexpensive; in
fact, fulfil all the conditions of an excellent preservative both against the wear
of the ordnance and the dangers to which ordinary wads are exposed. Their
hardness results from the mode of fabrication, and their elasticity from the
material of which they are composed. Their incombustibility is due both to
the presence of salt and to their hygrometric property, which never allows them
to become completely dry, and this incombustibility may be made absolute by
the silicate of soda or of potash, but it has been proved by experience, that
this chemical process is only an excess of caution, as the natural incombus-
tibility of the sea weed is sufficient for all practical purposes.
.
Chemical analysis to which the above-named marine plants have been sub-
jected, has proved that they are altogether infermentable, and cannot therefor
putrefy, nor harbour or produce insects of any kind. And as the material is
almost valueless, it will be readily understood at how low a cost such wads
can be made. These valuable qualities will render such wads not only pre-
ferable to straw or other wads for land artillery, but they will be found
especially adapted for marine purposes, for which hitherto no substance has
been discovered which at the same time prevents all chance of fire, and of
rotting or decay on board ship.
"
Having now described the nature and object of the said Invention for
Improvements in the Manufacture of Wads for Ordnance," together with the
manner of carrying the same into practical effect, I would remark in con-
clusion, that I claim as the Invention communicated to me by the said Héber
Marini,―
Firstly, the use or application of alga marina, varec, wrack grass, or other
analogous marine plants or sea weeds for the above purpose.
And, secondly, the process or method of manufacture as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Davies, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
GEORGE DAVIES.
(L.S.)