IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES FOR THE SAME
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES
FOR THE SAME." -A communication from abroad by Norman Wiard,
of Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 14th March 1874.
I; WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co.
5 Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND IN
PROJECTILES FOR THE SAME," a communication, to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is the rifling of ordinary smooth bore
guns in such a manner that when provided with shot and shell having
O the form and construction hercin-after described, they may be used to

page_text: When spherical shot are to be used I supply them with soft metal
buttons or points which protrude from the surface a proper distance to
cause the shot to be centrally located in the bore of a smooth böre gun,
so that the windage will be equal all around.
By adjusting the shot centrally in the bore without rubbing or
indenting contact that part of the work which the powder is capable
of performing that has heretofore been expended in the gun, may be
diverted to giving the required effect of adding to the projectile force of
the shot.
By these improvements each gun may be used either as a smooth
bore or a rifle gun, thus doubling the usefulness of the guns. This
system of rifling and the projectiles may be applied to smooth bore guns
now made and it is equally applicable to breech-loading and to muzzlė-
loading cannon.
The rifle shot is inserted in the gun by enlarging the lugs in the
grooves, the buttons near the base bear upon the lands of the bore and
centre the shot, thus allowing equal windage all around it.
In regulating the amount of windage in each class of guns it may
always be so adjusted as to exactly allow for the necessary upsetting
without any wedging of the projectile in the gun.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine; Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Robert Lake, Her special
license that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or- such others as I, the said William Robert

page_text: Lake, 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 ORDNANCE AND IN PROJECTILES FOR THE SAME," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Norman Wiard, of Washington,
District of Columbia, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawing forming a part of this Specification:-.
The object of this Invention is the rifling of ordinary smooth bore
guns in such a manner that when provided with shot and shell of the
form and construction herein-after described, they may be used to
produce results far superior to those now attained with such guns, and
may also be used when so required as ordinary smooth bore guns.
The nature of the said Invention consists in rifling a gun with two
grooves at the side of the bore with such a pitch that a smooth surface
of land will be left along the entire length of the gun leaving the lands
both above and below so wide where the spherical shot would ballot
while being ejected that the gun may possess the good properties both
of a smooth bore and of a rifled gun; and it also consists, in connection
with this method or form of rifling, in the construction and form of the
projectile by which it is centred in the bore of the gun with windage all
around alike, with its bearings or rubbing surface mechanically fitted
to the grooves and the bore in such a manner that the body of the
projectile will not come in contact with the surface of the bore while
being inserted or ejected. By these means the work which the powder

page_text: Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of a gun constructed
according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a horizontal section of the
same; Figure 3 is a transverse section on the line x, x, Figure 1;
Figure 4 is a muzzle or face view of the said gun.
Figure 5 is a side elevation of a projectile adapted for use with guns;
constructed according to these improvements; Figure 6 is a longitudinal
central section of the said projectile; Figure 7 is a transverse section
of the same on the line y, y, Figure 5.
Figure 8 shows a lug or gib of the projectile herein-after described,
and illustrating a method of attaching these lugs, so that they are
adjustable, with regard to direction and depth.
Figure 9 illustrates a method of centreing spherical or round shot and
shell in the gun when no lugs are used.
The gun a may be made of any desirable metal or in any known
manner, but I prefer to make it of cast iron. This gun when bored
is rifled with two grooves b, b', opposite each other. These grooves
commence at the muzzle at one side of the perpendicular line through
the centre of the bore, and their pitch or inclination is such that they
terminate near the breech or chamber, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, and
a broad surface of land is left at the bottom and top of the bore along
its entire length, so that the gun may be used in firing spherical,
cylindrical, or conical projectiles with or without rotation, as may be
desired.
The projectile to be used with the said gun for rifle effect I make
partly conical and partly cylindrical with two projecting gibs or lugs c;
the latter are formed to fit the grooves of the gun with mechanical
accuracy, and are of the proper dimensions to insure strength against
rupture in the rotation of the shot.
The said projectile is further provided with small buttons or points e
around the periphery near its base which are made of soft metal and
protrude sufficiently to centre the projectile in the bore of the gun.

page_text: •
If desirable the bearing surface of the lugs or gibs c may be lined with
brass or other suitable composition, and the projectile may be chilled in
part or in whole.
The gibs or lugs c on the projectile B may be modified in various ways.
In Figures 6, 7, and 8, I have shown the gibs attached to the shot by
screw threads; by this arrangement the distance between the faces or
outer surfaces of the two gibs may be increased or diminished to admit
of an easy adjustment of the projectiles to the bore to make an exact
mechanical fit in case the latter becomes enlarged, coated, or fouled in
shooting or otherwise, and also to keep the gibs or lugs from indenting
the grooves of the gun by any upsetting of the projectile.
When spherical shot are to be used I supply them with soft metal
buttons or points which protrude from the surface a proper distance to
cause the shot to be centrally located in the bore of a smooth bore gun,
so that the windage will be equal all around. I thus obviate the
injurious effects of balloting or the upsetting of the projectile by the
unequal escape of gas around it, as will be understood by referring to
Figure 9.
It is well known that the effects of friction occasioned by the rubbing
of the projectile against the surface of the bore is a prolific cause of the
unequal heating of the gun creating injurious tensions, and the bursting
of large guns is due to this cause rather than to the elastic force or
pressure of the gases resulting from the combustion of the powder.
By adjusting the shot centrally in the bore without rubbing or
indenting contact that part of the work which the powder is capable of
performing that has heretofore been expended on the gun may be diverted
to giving the required effect of adding to the projectile force of the shot.
In naval operations it is often required that the guns. when used in
action should be smooth bored, throwing spherical shot or shell with
ricochet effect, and on other occasions it is highly necessary that the
guns used should be rifled in order to obtain accuracy and range, and to
facilitate the use of the best form of projectile for penetrating effect;
ships and sea coast fortifications are therefore armed with both kinds
of guns.

page_text: system of rifling and the said projectiles may be applied to existing
smooth bore guns and are equally applicable to breech-loading and to
muzzle-loading guns or cannon.
.
In using my Invention the rifle shot is inserted in the gun by
enlarging the lugs in the grooves; the buttons near the base bear upon
the lands of the bore and centre the shot, thus allowing equal windage
all around it. When the charge is fired the projectile is forced out of
the bore, and as the shot is central thercin with windage the upsetting.
which occurs does not indent the surface of the bore, nor is there any
friction other than that absolutely necessary to give the projectile proper
rotation and direction.
In regulating the amount of windage in cach class of gun it may
always be so adjusted as to exactly allow for the necessary upsetting
without any wedging of the projectile in the gun.
Having thus fully described the nature of the said Invention as com-
municated to me by my foreign correspondent, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim,― .
First. The herein described construction of rifled ordnance and
projectiles consisting in forming within the bore of the gun grooves
with lands above and below, whereby the gun is adapted for firing cither
round or conical shot as herein set forth.
Second. The herein described method of centring the projectile within
the gun, so that its body does not come into actual contact with the
surface of the bore either while being inserted or ejected, to avoid
friction, indentation, abrasion and balloting.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here-
unto set my hand and scal, this Twelfth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W. ROBT. LAKE. (L.S.)