AN IMPROVEMENT IN DISCHARGING PROJECTILES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Macintosh, of 12, Pall Mall East, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN DISCHARGING PROJECTILES."
Sealed the 18th March 1854, and dated the 28th December 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Macintosh at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 28th December 1853.
I, JOHN MACINTOSH, of 12, Pall Mall East, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT IN DISCHARGING PROJECTILES " to be as follows:-
Heretofore, in order to get precision in throwing or discharging
projectiles, it has been usual to form the barrels of guns or fire-arms
with interior spiral grooves or projections in order to give to the balls
or projectiles rotatory motion. Now my Invention consists of causing

page_text: the tube or barrel of a gun, fire-arm, or instrument used to rotate when
firing, by which the ball or projectile will receive and be in a state of
rotatory motion at the time of being thrown or projected.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Macintosh in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 26th June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN MACINTOSH, of 12, Pall Mall East, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors.
give and grant unto me, the said John Macintosh, Her special
licence that I, the said John Macintosh, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Macintosh, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN DISCHARGING PROJECTILES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Macintosh, by an in-
strument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Macintosh, 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 thereof (that is to say):-

page_text: Ileretofore, in order to get precision in throwing or discharging
projectiles, it has been usual to form the barrels of guns or fire-arms
with interior spiral grooves or projections in order to give to the balls
or projectiles rotatory motion. Now my Invention consists of causing
the tube or barrel of a gun, fire-arm, or instrument used to rotate when
firing, by which the ball or projectile will receive and be in a state of
rotatory motion at the time of being thrown or projected.
As
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention, I will proceed
to describe the manner of performing the same. The Invention is
more peculiarly suited for small cannon and tubes for pointing or
directing rockets, though it might be applied to larger cannon.
above stated, the object of the Invention is to give rotation to such
cannon and to barrels or instruments used for discharging rockets.
For this purpose, in place of a cannon having trunnions as heretofore,
it is mounted in bearings in the manner of an axis, so that it may be
caused to rotate, and the bearings are fixed to a suitable frame which
moves in trunnions or otherwise in a suitable carriage, so as to allow
the gun or barrel to be pointed. And in place of making the touch
hole as heretofore, it is made through the centre of the breech or back
end of the gun or barrel, and I prefer it to be formed with a nipple to
receive a detonating cap which may be readily struck when the barrel
is in motion. Rotatory motion may be communicated to a gun or
barrel or instrument in any convenient manner, such as by cog wheel
and pinion put in motion by hand, or motion may be given by spring
or by other convenient means. In using a gun thus arranged, it is to
be put in motion before igniting the charge, by which the projectile
within will be brought into a state of rotation, which is to be continued
till the projectile has passed from the gun or barrel or instrument, and
it will retain its rotatory motion in the air, and will consequently pro-
ceed to its mark with correctness, in like manner to projectiles thrown
or discharged from rifled barrels. When thus discharging rockets
from a rotating barrel or instrument they will not require sticks, as the
rotation obtained to them when in the barrel or instrument will be
sufficient to retain them correctly when passing through the air. It
will be evident that by thus giving motion to the gun or barrel or

page_text: instrument used, that any desired speed of rotation may be obtained to
the projectile, which will ensure the projectile rotating during its flight,
whatever length of time the flight may occupy.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Macintosh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
Witness,
JNO. COOK,
12, Cursitor Street,
Chancery Lane.
JOHN MACINTOSH. (L.S.)