AN IMPROVED PERCUSSION SHELL
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Sir Robert Juckes Clifton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st
April 1854.
I, SIR ROBERT JUCKES CLIFTON, of Clifton Hall, in the County of Notting-
ham, Baronet, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED PERCUSSION SHELL " to be as follows:-
My improved percussion shell is formed of cast iron, and filled with gun-
powder or other suitable explosive composition. It is intended to be discharged
from a cannon in exactly the same manner as an ordinary ball, and is so con-
structed that it will penetrate the sides of a ship (whether built of wood or
iron) or other object, and will explode at any given time after striking the
The body of my improved shell is of a cylindrical form and hollow,
and the forward end is conical or conoidal, and composed of solid metal, while
the rear of the cylindrical portion is closed with a greater or less thickness of
metal, according as may be desired. The hollow of the cylindrical part of the
shell forms the chamber or magazine to contain the powder, which is filled in
through a plug-hole in the rear end, which is afterwards closed by a screw.
The conical portion is slightly truncated at its apex, and furnished with a
nipple to receive a percussion cap, a tube or passage leading direct from the
nipple to the powder chamber in the axial line of the shell. This tube or

page_text: passage
is filled with gunpowder up to near the point where it communicates
with the powder chamber, at which part a fuse or slow fire is inserted, so as to
regulate the time to elapse between the shell striking an object and its
explosion. The conical part of the shell is pierced with four or more passages,
in which are inserted tubes leading to the axial passage communicating with
the powder chamber, and it has also a similar number of passages with tubes
leading direct into the powder chamber. These tubes are filled with powder
in the same manner as the axial passage, and a small portion of percussion
powder is deposited at their exposed extremities in cups or recesses formed to
receive it. These cups when charged are first covered with thin paper, and
afterwards with sand paper; and to prevent any obstacle to the explosion of the
shell in case of its striking a vessel under the water line, the whole of the out-
side of the conical part (with the exception of the wings or arrows herein-after
mentioned) may be covered with gutta percha, or some other material imper-
vious to water.. The remaining part of the shell, being that in which the
powder chamber is formed, may be covered with felt or wadding, to reduce
windage in the gun from which it is fired. The conical part of the shell is
furnished with four or more wings or arrows projecting from it, which are
intended to direct the course of the shell, and to cause it to travel with greater
precision, also to increase its velocity, and at the same time facilitate its cutting
through the side of a vessel, or penetrating into any object against which it may
be directed. In loading a gun with my improved percussion shell, I make use
of a ramrod hollowed out or cupped at the end, so as to press against the wings
or arrows on the shell, and thus preserve the cap on its point, and the percussion
charges from being exploded by accident.