IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TURNING AND CLOSING THE CARTRIDGES OF BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1862

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Horsley at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th February
1862.
I, THOMAS HORSLEY, of 10, Coney Street, York, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR TURNING AND
CLOSING THE CARTRIDGES OF BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for turning and
closing the cartridges of breech-loading fire-arms.
The cases of these cartridges, as is well known, consist of cylinders of paste-
board closed at one end with a metal disc. The charges of powder and shot,
separated by a wad, are introduced into this case, which is then closed at the
end by means of another wad, which is beld in its place by turning over it the
edges of the pasteboard cylinder. My improved apparatus is, designed for
pressing down the wads into their places and for securing the upper one, and
it consists of a metal standard, on which is cast or formed a jaw running at
right angles to the length of the standard, and underneath the jaw is a screw
carried by a projection from the standard, and these parts are so arranged that
the apparatus may be secured to a table with the standard in a vertical position
by nipping the edge of the top of the table between the jaw and screw before
mentioned. To the lower end of the standard a lever is jointed, and this lever
is also connected to the lower end of a piece, which is capable of sliding up
and down through a passage formed for it in a projection formed on the standard.
This sliding piece carries at its upper end a shallow cup in which the lower end
of the cartridge rests during the operation of turning and closing; a portion is

page_text: upper
notched out of the side of this cup to allow the explosion wire to pass. The upper
end of the standard carries a suitable bearing or bearings for a spindle or axis,
the end of which has a handle mounted on it by which it can be turned
by hand, and the lower an inverted cup. Within this cup is a groove which
fits over the upper edge of the cartridge case, and the groove is so formed as,
when the case is pressed into it, to tend to turn the edge inwards in the
manner required. The spindle or axis is made hollow, and contains within it a
rod or rammer which is held up within the spindle or axis by a spiral spring,
but the rod or rammer may, when desired, be pressed downwards either by
means of a knob or handle at the top or by wings passing out through longi-
tudinal slots in the side of the spindle or axis. When the rod or rammer is
thus depressed it descends below the lower end of the spindle or axis, passing
through a hole in the centre of the inverted cup.
The apparatus is used in the following manner :-The cartridge case having
received a charge of powder, with a wad over it, is placed upright on the
lower cup of the apparatus, and the rod or rammer is brought down as already
described, and made to enter the cartridge case so as to force down the wad
firmly into its place; the shot is then introduced, and over it another wad
which is rammed home in the same manner. This being done the cartridge is,
by the lever at the bottom of the standard pressed upwards till the upper edge
of the case is caused to bear against the upper or inverted cup; this by means
of its handle is then caused to rotate, and it then turns over and rubs down
the upper edge of the case over the wad in the manner required. And in
order that the rubbing down may be more completely effected a small pro-
jection or ridge is formed at one point in the turning groove of the upper cup.
It is not essential that the rammer already mentioned should be employed, as
the wads may, if preferred, be rammed home before the cartridge is introduced
into the apparatus.