IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM BROCKEDON, of Devonshire Street, Queen's Square, in the
County of Middlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the sixth year
of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Brockedon, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Brockedon, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Brockedon, my exors, adñiors, or assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that I, the said William Brockedon, shall cause
a particular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in Her said

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will
more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said William Brockedon, do hereby declare that the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
fully described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof,. reference, being had to the-Drawing..hereunto. annexed, and
to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):
"
My improvements in the means of separating the gunpowder from
the shot or ball in fire-arms, and retaining the charge in the barrel, are
of two kinds. The first-consists-of-ordinary fibrous material, such as
cotton, wool, or flax, rove into strands and bound round with a suffi-
ciently strong thread, thus forming a round rope of the diameter
required. The rope thus made is then cut into convenient lengths, and
impregnated with size, mucilage, or gelatine; and when dry, or nearly
so, it is cut into lengths a little longer than is required for a "wad;"
these pieces are then driven into a die or mould by a fly press or other-
wise, and the form required is thus given to theni. "This form I have
found the most efficient in use when the sides are slightly conical, for
the facility of entering the barrel; and when the surfaces are a plane
on one side and a concave on the other, the plane surface should be
placed downwards upon the gunpowder, leaving the concave to receive
the ball .or
shot, above which another wad is placed to retain the
charge in the barrel., The use of mucilage or gelatine is, to make the
wads." retain the form imposed upon them, by pressure, which it
would not do with unprepared fibre.. I also prefer that, the bound ropes
of which the "wads" are made should have thread sufficiently strong,
so combined in its structure that if it be necessary to draw a "wad"
from the barrel the worm or screw may become entangled with such
threads, and so be readily withdrawn. I prefer to use for this purpose
the rope which I prepared for another Patent of mine, bearing date
the Twenty-first day of March 1842, for the core of patent stoppers,
which were coated with india-rubber, which is well known, and is
A

page_text: therein fully described; but in making
coating of india-rubber is not required:
wads" for fire-arms the
Figure 1, shews à plan and a
side view, and Figure 2, a section of one of the wads so made: ::
My second improvement relates to the formation of a "wad" (or
separator and securer of the charge) of metal, which chaving been cut
out of thin sheet iron, brass, or other fit metal, and of a form to be
hereafter described, is struck in a die into a form fitted for its purpose,
which is like a slightly conical cup with the sides slit longitudinally,
the object being to obtain, when these sides are compressed into the
barrel of the fire-arms, a sufficient degree of resistance to retain the
separation and the-charge: "In making these" wads". I take the sheet
metal, and stamp or cut out discs or pieces of metal of the form
Figure 3. The diameter of the center part A within will depend
upon the size required for the barrel, and the number of notches cut
out of the disc or of radial arms B, B, B, B; B, B, left to it, may be
more or less than six, which I have, drawn, but I prefer this number.
The piece having been cut into the form Figure: 3, is then placed on a
die, and by, a punch made to press upon the circle A, it is driven within
the die, and is thus formed into the shape Figure 4, the notches
allowing the arms B to, rise around the conical punch without bringing
the edges of the slits in contact, by which, when introduced into the
barrel of any fire-arm, each arm B acts as a spring reacting against
the sides of the barrel. When this description of "wad" is rammed
down into it the cup-like form thus given to the "wad" serves to hold
the shot; and if the disc be cut with the arms B long enough to allow
the sides to rise when struck into the cup form high enough to receive
the entire charge of shot and a little more, the "wad," when charged
with the shot, the excess of length above the shot, may be turned over,
and thus be made to enclose the charge without using an upper "wad"
to retain the shot in the barrel.
.
What I claim as my improvements are, firstly, the use of cotton or
other fibrous material for "wads" when bound together in the form
of a rope, as I have described, and which, when sized and cut into
lengths, and made by pressure, will retain the form required.

page_text: And, secondly, I claim the formation of metal "wads" with elastic
sides, which I have herein described.
In witness whereof I, the said William Brockedon, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of October,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-
three.
WILLIAM (L.S.) BROCKEDON.