IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS, AND IN THE PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Richards at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 17th November
1862.
I, GEORGE RICHARDS, of Caroline Street, Bedford Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS, AND IN THE
PROJECTILES TO BE USED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of certain improvements upon a former Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent bearing date April 25th, 1862, No. 1208, for
Improvements in Ordnance, and the Manner of Loading such with the Charges
and Projectiles suitable thereto," wherein I described a system of projecting
rifling, and projectiles having grooves or channels cut therein to correspond
with the edges or surfaces of the said projecting rifling whereon the projectiles
fitted and slid along (as upon rails), and whereby they derived their rotatory
motion in their passage through the gun. The projectile therefore being of a
less diameter than the bore of the gun acquired by this method of rifling, a
greater initial velocity than could be obtained by the ordinary methods of rifling
wherein the shot occupied the entire bore of the gun and the channels or
grooves of the rifling.
Now, according to improvements upon the system above referred to. I
propose, firstly, to explain to some extent how the merits of my projecting
rifling may be further developed by the adaptation of various descriptions of

page_text: projectiles suitable thereto, in such manner that the projectiles shall not derive
their rotatory motion by means of grooves or channels cut therein, as in my
former Invention, but that they shall be made so as to simply bear upon the
surfaces of the projecting rifling, and thereby derive the requisite rifle motion
from its spiral form or curve during their passage through the gun, whether a
piece of ordnance, a rifle pistol, or other fire-arm, to all of which the Invention
is equally applicable. Thus, the projectiles may in some cases be made per-
fectly smooth on the exterior, and without either studs or grooves thereon, and
they will be made to fit truly or evenly against the surfaces of the projecting
rifling.
I do not limit myself to the number or the particular sectional form of
the projections upon and between which the projectile is controlled and
discharged when a circular form of prejectile is used, whether it be spherical
or elongated, the bearing surfaces of the projections may be made concave,
forming small arcs of circles, whose centre is common to that of the projectile,
as in Fig. 1 of the annexed Drawings, which represent, transverse sections,
similar letters denoting corresponding parts in each Figure, where a is the pro-
jectile and b the gun, or in some cases I should prefer to describe the arcs
from shorter radii, as in Fig. 2, in order that these concave surfaces may
present sharper edges to bear upon the projectiles and compel them to follow
the spiral lines of the projecting rifling, or to receive a corresponding convex
ridge in the projectile.
With regard to other forms of shot whose transverse section may be either
a square, pentagon, hexagon, heptagon, or an octagon or other polygonal or
geometrical area, the bearing surfaces of the projections are to be flat, and
either of a width equal to that of the sides or surfaces of the projectile, or of
such a less width as may be found equal to the duty of controlling the rotatory
motion thereof, and their position and number may be so arranged as to
present merely a sufficient amount of bearing surface to some of the sides
of a polygonal shot, as may be deemed necessary in practice to govern the
projectile in its passage through the gun, see Figs. 3, 4, and 5.
The projectiles may be formed entirely of iron or steel, or they may be
coated with a thin layer or surface of lead, copper, or other soft ductile metal ;
with cylindrical shot the lead coating might be more necessary than with the
other forms described. :
In order to show that the Invention may be modified without in any way
departing from its principles, I would propose in some instances to apply small
projecting spirals upon the surface of the projectiles and to cut corresponding
grooves on the surfaces of the projecting rifling, in order to ensure a rotatory

page_text: motion to the projectile, see Fig. 6. This method would be useful in the
event of the projectile not fitting sufficiently tight against the projections to
take the rifling from them by friction alone; or with other than cylindrical
projectiles not mentioned in my former Specification referred to. I would
propose to reverse this modification by making grooves on the projectiles of the
full or partial width of the surface of the projections, and causing either the
full width of the projections to enter therein, or by raising the level of the sur-
face of the raised rifling to the extent of about half its width, so as to allow
the raised surface of the rifling to enter the grooves, and the two lower surfaces
on each side thereof to act merely as bearing surfaces upon the projectile, as
in the cases first herein mentioned.
The Invention is applicable to both muzzle-loaders and breech-loaders, and
the sabot or wad and cartridge to be used in these improvements are to be
made in accordance with my former Patent. In order to load these guns at
the muzzle, I propose in some cases to employ a loading rod, somewhat similar
to that described in my former Patent, and to cause the same to pass through
the gun by means of a bore, not in the centre of the breech as before, but at
or near the line of the periphery of the bore; the rod must be so placed as to
penetrate along and within one of the projections of the rifling, and to enter
the bore of the gun at a point in advance of the
home, by which method there would not be the
effect upon the aperture as in the former case.
turned up to about a right angle, by aid of which the charge may be drawn into
the chamber of the piece; or the rod may, instead of being bent up to an angle,
have a moveable foot or stem, to be fixed thereon by a screw thread or other.
wise. The moveable foot would permit of the entire withdrawal of the rod
from the gun.
In either case the rod may be allowed to remain in its place
in the gun during the discharge, with the angle or foot turned down outside
the muzzle in readiness for firing.
powder when the charge is
same amount of explosive
The end of the rod may be
For firing spherical or elongated shot or shell from mortars or other
ordnance, I propose in some cases to make the projections (instead of spiral)
parallel to each other and in a line with the gun, whereby an increased calibre
may be adopted with regard to the diameter of the projectile, and an increased
initial velocity thereby obtained, without any rotating or rifle motion being
given thereto.