IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING AND CLOSING CARTRIDGES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bartram, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING
AND CLOSING CARTRIDGES."
Scaled the 22nd December 1869, and dated the 29th June 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bartram at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th June 1869.
I, WILLIAM BARTRAM, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FILLING AND CLOSING CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
apparatus for the purpose of filling or charging cartridges, and of
closing the same when so charged or filled, such Invention being an
improvement on my former Patent for "Improvements in Apparatus for

page_text: No. 1353.
The improvements in the filling or charging apparatus consist in
dispensing with the vertical side slots in the apparatus, which were
applied in the moving and stationary flanges, the relative positions of
which determined the amount of the charge to be supplied to the
cartridges, by means of the elongation or shortening of the sliding
upper cylinder within the stationary or under cylinder. This motion
was effected by means of a stud and screw attached to the top or
moveable plate, which worked in the stationary flange of the lower or
fixed plate, and was set or fixed in the proper position by a set screw,
but by this improvement I dispense altogether with the vertical slots in
the side flanges and make them flush to act together, and I substitute
in licu thereof a horizontal arm terminating in a bracket secured to the
top plate close to the hopper by screws or otherwise. This arm extends
clear beyond the top plate where it is terminated by a vertical tube
made in one piece with it or attached thereto. This tube is held by a
corresponding pillar set firmly in the base plate or a continuation thereof,
the whole apparatus being secured to the box, case, or chamber within
which the drawer or tray containing the cylinders for reception of the
cartridge cases is allowed to slide.
Now it is obvious that the tube and pillar allowing a bearing of
two or more inches in length will be sufficient to maintain the horizontal
plane of motion of the ascending or descending top plate and hopper, and
I now proceed to desc.ile the means of regulating the supply of the charge
under this system of mechanism. The slots having been dispensed with,
I make one or both of the external moveable flanges of such outline or
form as to present a point or indicator travelling up and down in line
with a series of graduated divisions or scales marked with drams and
ounces on each scale, or with drams for powder on one side scale and
with ounces of shot on the other, or I may attach an independent pointer
to each moveable flange if I prefer so to do. Between the sliding tube
and pillar and the apparatus T apply a thumb screw passing vertically
through the arm into the base plate, where it is secured in a socket free
to be turned, the arm is provided with a boss cut with a female throad
to receive the screw, and consequently by turning the screw by its
milled edge the arm will ascend or descend as required, carrying with
it the top plate and setting it in the exact position required for the

page_text: cases.
quantity of powder or shot to be supplied respectively to the cartridge
I also apply a lever handle for the more easy to-and-fro motion
of the lateral sliding plate and hopper. At the side of the apparatus
opposite the screw and pillar I attach an arm to which the working end
of the hand lever is jointed. The fulcrum is obtained by a bearing
extending from the centre of the upper plate, to which a similar pin
joint is applied, and the handle then projects beyond the side of the
apparatus; by these means a leverage is obtained to force the top plate
and charged cylinders on to the feeding cylinders in the drawer or tray,
the spring attached to the body of the apparatus acting on a stem on the
under surface of the sliding plate bringing it back again as in my former
Patent referred to.
In order to regulate the movement of the under tray or drawer which
I apply beneath my compound cartridge filling apparatus, and which
fits into and slides within a box open at each end of the apparatus,
I apply to one side of the tray or drawer on its upper edge a bar or rack
containing a series of ratchet notches at such distances apart as to agree
with the series of cartridge feeding tubes to be respectively passed under
the filling apparatus, and which tubes are fixed in rows in the drawer.
I then fix a plate on to the top of the open box, such plate having an
upright bearing for the reception of a lever ratchet tooth passing through
the lid of the box on to the bar or rack on the sliding drawer, and being
kept in gear therewith by a pressing spring. At the bottom of the
drawer a sliding lid is provided to open and close the same, and the
drawer being inverted the cases are placed in the tubes, the lid is closed,
the drawer is again turned over and passed under the apparatus, when
the ratchet tooth stops it in the exact position for filling the first row;
then the ratchet tooth is removed by pressing the lever against the spring
which permits the drawer to be pushed further to fill the next series of
cases and so on, after which the lid is removed and the cases withdrawn
ready for the operation of closing and turning down the wad, which is
effected by my arrangements described in my former Patent referred to
herein, an improvement in which consists in using a glass bed or
receptacle for the wad and end of the cartridge, such glass bed being
contained in a metallic seat, the outward form of which coincides with
those previously patented by me, the glass bed being more durable than
the ordinary metallic bed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bartram in the Great Seal Patent Oflice
on the 29th December 1869).
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BARTRAM, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most. Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Bartram, 1er special licence that
I, the said William Bartram, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as 1, the said William Bartram, 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,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FILLING AND CLOSING CARTRIDGES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Bartram, my executors or administrators, 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 William Bartram, 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 :-
My Invention relates to certain improvements in the construction of
apparatus for the purpose of filling or charging cartridges, and of
closing the same when so charged or filled, such Invention being an
improvement on my former Patent for " Improvements in Apparatus
for Filling, Closing and Recapping Cartridges," dated 24 April 1868,
No. 1353.
The improvements in the filling or charging apparatus consist in dis
pensing with the vertical side slots in the apparatus which slots were

page_text: applied in the moving and stationary flanges, the relative positions of
which determined the amount of the charge to be supplied to the
cartridges, by means of the elongation or shortening of the sliding upper
cylinder within the stationary or under cylinder. This motion was
effected by means of a stud and screw attached to the top or moveable
plate, which worked in the stationary flange of the lower or fixed plate,
and was set or fixed in the proper position by a set screw, but by my
present improvements I dispense altogether with the vertical slots in
the side flanges and make them flush to act together, and I substitute
in lieu thereof, a horizontal arm terminating in a bracket secured to the
top plate close to the hopper by screws or otherwise. This arm extends
clear beyond the top plate, where it is terminated by a vertical tube made
in one piece with it, or attached thereto. This tube is held by a
corresponding pillar, set firmly in the base plate or a continuation
thereof, the whole apparatus being secured to the box, casc, or chamber
within which the drawer or tray containing the cylinders for the reception
of the cartridge cases is allowed to slide.
.
Now it is obvious that the tube and pillar, allowing a bearing of two
or more inclics in length will be sufficient to maintain the horizontal
plane of motion of the ascending or descending top plate and hopper,
and I now procced to describe the means of regulating the supply of
the charge under this system of mechanism. The slots having been
dispensed with, I make one or both of the external moveable flanges of
such outline or form as to present a point or indicator travelling up
and down in line with a series of graduated divisions or scales marked
with drams and ounces on each scale, or with drams for powder on one
side scale and with ounces and fractions of ounces of shot on the other, or
I may attach an independent pointer to each moveable flange if I prefer
to do so. A tightening screw may be set in the outer flange to bear on
the inner flange and steady the hopper. Between the sliding tube and
pillar and the apparatus I apply a thumb screw passing vertically through
the arm into the base plate, where it is secured in a socket free to 'be
turned, the arm is provided with a boss cut with a female thread to
receive the screw, and consequently by turning the screw by its milled
edge the arm will ascend or descend as required, carrying with it the
top plate, and setting it in the exact position required for the quantity
of powder or shot to be supplied respectively to the cartridge cases. I
also apply a lever handle for the more easy to-and-fro motion of the lateral

page_text: sliding plate and hopper. At the side of the apparatus opposite the
screw and pillar I attach an arm to which the working end of the hand
lever is jointed. The fulcrum is obtained by a bearing extending from
the centre of the upper plate, to which a similar pin joint is applied,
and the handle then projects beyond the side of the apparatus, by these
means a leverage is obtained to force the top plate and charged cylinders
on to the feeding cylinders in the drawer or tray, the spring attached to
the body of the apparatus acting on a stem on the under surface of the
sliding plate bringing it back again as in my former Patent referred to
herein.
In order to regulate the movement of the under tray or drawer
which I apply beneath my compound cartridge filling apparatus, and
which fits into and slides within a box open at each end of the apparatus,
1 apply to one side of the tray or drawer on its upper edge a bar or
rack containing a series of ratchet notches at such distances apart as to
agree with the series of cartridge feeding tubes to be respectively passed
under the filling apparatus, and which tubes are fixed in rows in the
drawer. I then fix a plate on to the top of the open box, such plate
having an upright bearing for the reception of a lever ratchet tooth
passing through the lid of the box on to the bar or rack on the sliding
drawer, and being kept in gear therewith by a pressing spring. At the
bottom of the drawer a sliding lid or false bottom is provided to open
and close the same, and the drawer being inverted the cases are placed
in the tubes, the lid is closed, the drawer is again turned over and
passed under the apparatus, when the ratchet tooth stops it in the exact.
position for filling the first row; then the ratchet tooth is removed by
pressing the lever against the spring, which permits the drawer to be
pushed further to fill the next series of cases, and so on; after which,
the lid is removed and the cases withdrawn ready for the operation of
closing and turning down the wad, which is effected by my arrangements
described in my former Patent referred to herein, an improvement in
which consists in using a bed or receptacle of glass, porcelain, or china
for the wad and end of the cartridge, such bed being contained in a
metallic scat, the outward form of which coincides with those previously
patented by me. The glass bed is more durable than the ordinary
metallic bed.
Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the cartridge filling apparatus,

page_text: plate e, by screws, one of which is shewn at d, close to the hopper e. f
is the vertical guiding tube made in one with the arm a, and capable
of vertical motion on the fixed pillar g, secured to the base plate h. i
shews the external flange of the top plate supporting the working parts;
this flange presents a pointed extremity ; capable of moving up and
down close to the index or scale which marks drachms of powder or
ounces of shot. Within the flange and beneath the hopper and top
plate a row of open cylinders are fixed on the lower sliding plate, and
in these an upper series enter, and are capable of rising and falling with
the flange; the dotted lines j,j, show their position. K is the milled
edged thumb screw passing through a threaded boss in the arm a, and
bearing on the base plate. By turning this screw the top plate and
cylinders are brought nearer to and further from each other, and the
charge from the hopper is consequently increased or diminished at
pleasure. m is the lever handle working on the fulcrum screw and
bracket, and o is the junction between the sliding feed plate and the
lever; by these means the cylinders below the hopper are pushed forward
to those in the drawer; is the spring for the return motion of the lever;
q shews the drawer in the open ended box or case 7, and 8, 8, shew the
ratchet teeth and bar on the top edge of the drawer. t, t, in dotted lines
shew the position of ten rows of cartridge case holders, five in each row;
, is the catch controlled by the spring, whereby the drawer is held
and released as described.
Fig. 2 is a view of a hand rammer having five stems or rods to
correspond with the rows of cartridges filled.
Fig. 3 shews an elevation of the closing apparatus, and Fig. 4 a plan
of the cone of glass; a, Fig. 1 being the brass or metal cylinder, and a
Fig. 2, the glass conc.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do
not confiue myself to the exact details I have expressed, as the same may
obviously be varied or modified without departing from the principles
involved, the improvements will be thoroughly comprehended as referring
to the apparatus described and shewn in my former Patent dated
24 April 1868, No. 1353, as herein first referred to, but what I claim
and desire to be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters
Patent are, the improvements in the apparatus for filling and closing
cartridges, consisting in the application of the horizontal arın a, the

page_text: tube on the pillar g, actuated by the screw k, for the purpose of adjusting
the measurements indiented by the scale or index and pointer on the
moveable flange; and also the application of the drawer q, in the case,
and the rack 8, applied thereto, and controlled by the spring catch a;
and, finally, the application of the glass, porcelain, or china cone to the
turning gear of the closing apparatus, all substantially as and for the
purposes herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bartram, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
Witness,
WILLIAM BATT,
Sheffield.
WILLIAM BARTRAM. (L.s.)