IMPROVE- MENTS IN CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer and Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES."-A communication from abroad by
Talon Flic Cholet Manufacture 600
Ma Domin
Sealed the 13th September 1867, and dated the 21st March 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st March 1867.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES," to be as follows:-
This Invention of improvements in central-fire cartridges is illustrated in
the accompanying Drawing, which shows several arrangements.
Figure 1 shows a section of an improved cartridge. At the one end of a tube
of pasteboard or other material a, Figure 2, a metal head or cap b, Figure 3,
is secured, having a lip or flange. I make the percussion cap c containing the
fulminate with a projecting flange disconnected at four points, as shown in
section, Figure 4, and plan, Figure 5, and having four holes or spaces made
therein, one only of which is shown in Figure 4, for the passage of the flame at
the moment the explosion takes place. In order to prevent the powder from
entering at these holes and impeding the action of the striker, Figures 6
and 7, the cap is coated with thin paper or skin. The striker d fits easily in

page_text: the cap c, which latter is secured in position by a dished metal washer e,
Figures 8 and 9; these parts are together inserted in the cartridge case, and
by slight pressure on the washer e it is caused to spread so as to engage in the
lip of the metal head of the cartridge.
Lastly, in order to preserve the cartridge from the action of the gases, what-
ever may be the pressure produced by the explosion of the powder, I apply a
pasteboard wad f, seen in section, Figure 10, which is compressed on the
inside of the concave form shown at g, g, Figure 1. The same arrangement
of parts is applicable to cartridge cases composed entirely of metal, as in
Figure 11, instead of pasteboard with a metal head, as before described.
The cap c, Figures 4 and 5, may simply serve as a resisting surface in
which to place a striker h and percussion cap i, as seen in Figure 12. In
this case I fit a pasteboard wad into the cap through which the striker passes
and serving as a hold therefor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th September 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 58, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CENTRAL-FIRE CARTRIDGES," a communication to me from abroad by Jules
Félix Gévelot, Manufacturer, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, 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

page_text: 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 sit
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Clark, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be për-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
This Invention of improvements in central-fire cartridges is illustrated in
the accompanying Drawings, which show several arrangements.
Figure 1 shows a section of an improved cartridge. At the one end of a tube
of pasteboard or other material a, Figure 2, a metal head or cap b, Figure 3, is
secured, having a lip or flange. I make the percussion cap è containing the
fulminate with a projecting flange intersected at four points, as shown in
section, Figure 4, and plan, Figure 5, and having four holes or spaces made
therein, one only of which is shown in Figure 4, for the passage of the flame
at the moment the explosion takes place. In order to prevent the powder
from entering at these holes and impede the action of the striker, Figures 6
and 7, the cap is coated with thin paper or skin; the striker d fits easily in
the cap c, which latter is secured in position by a dished metal washer e,
Figures 8 and 9; these parts are together inserted in the cartridge case, and
by slight pressure on the washer e it is caused to spread so as to engage in
the lip of the metal head of the cartridge.
Lastly, in order to preserve the cartridge from the action of the gases
produced by the explosion of the powder I apply a pasteboard wad f, seen
in section, Figure 10, which is compressed on the inside, of the concave form
shown at 9, 9, Figure 1. The same arrangement of parts is applicable to
cartridge cases composed entirely of metal, as in Figure 11, instead of
pasteboard with a metal head, as before described.
The cap c, Figures 4 and 5, may simply serve as a resisting surface in
which to place a striker h and percussion cap 1, as seen in Figure 12. In
this case I fit a pasteboard wad into the cap through which the striker passes
and serving as a hold therefor.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
Patent is, the
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters
improvements in central-fire cartridges herein described and represented in
the annexed Drawings, the chief features being,-

page_text: First, the arrangement of flanged cap, disposed and secured in the interior
of the cartridge by a dished metal washer e, all in the manner described.
Secondly, the striker disposed in the cap.
Thirdly, the pasteboard wad f for consolidating the whole, compressed of
the form shown at g, Figures 1, 11, and 12.
Fourthly, the application of the cap without fulminate, disposed and
arranged as before, but serving as a support merely for a smaller cap in the
arrangement of cartridge described and represented at Figure 12.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
W. CLARK. (L.B.)