IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Davoust, of the Hotel des Invalides, Paris, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES."-A communication.
Sealed the 8th February 1856, and dated the 4th December 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Davoust at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
December 1855.
I, JEAN DAVOUST, of the Hotel des Invalides, Paris, do hereby declare
the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES" to be as
follows:--
The object of this Invention is to increase the range of fire-arms when
firing shot, and the Invention consists in placing the shot in a capsule, formed
of strong paper, closed more or less at its mouth, according to the range which
it is desired to obtain, and over this mouth a piece of thin paper is pasted or
tied. To the rear end of the capsule is attached a disc of calico or other
fabric, which guides the capsule in its flight while the shot is escaping. This
disc of calico is folded up and packed into a hollow wad of wood or other
suitable material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean 'Davoust in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
3rd June 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
DAVOUST, of the Hotel des Invalides, Paris, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Jean Davoust, Her special licence that I, the said Jean Davoust, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Jean
Davoust, 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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES,"
a communication, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Jean Davoust, 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 late
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Jean Davoust, 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:-
The object of this Invention is to increase the range of fire-arms when
firing shot, and the Invention consists in placing the shot in a capsule, formed
of strong paper, closed more or less at its mouth, according to the range which
it is desired to obtain, and over this mouth a piece of thin paper is pasted o
tied. To the rear end of the capsule is attached a disc of calico or othe
fabric, which guides the capsule in its flight while the shot is escaping. This
disc of calico is folded up and packed into a hollow wad of wood or other
suitable material.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a cartridge constructed according to
my Invention; and Figure 2 is a side view of the same in the form which it
assumes when it is discharged from the gun. a is a cylinder of paper for
containing the shot; it is closed at one end by a thin wad, and the opening
at its other end may be contracted when the cartridge is intended to be used
at a long range. To the bottom of the cylinder a a packthread b is attached,
which passes through the circular piece of calio or other fabric c and the
small disc of metal d, and the metal disc is prevented from drawing off the
thread by a knot which is tied in its end; e is a small case of thin wood, in
which the piece of fabric c, the metal disc d, and the thread b are packed, and
the wooden case e is attached to the bottom of the paper capsule a by gluc
or otherwise; f is a cap of thin paper, which is pasted to the end of the
cylinder a, and after that the cylinder a has been filled with shot the thin paper f
is twisted, so as to prevent the shot from falling out. When the cartridge is
used, the cup fis torn off. 9 is a wad which is rammed down on to the cartridge
is
with its hollow side against the charge; or when a breach-loading gun
used it is introduced first into the chamber. When the gun is discharged the
case e is broken, and the disc of fabric c opens out and forms a tail, which
guides the cartridge in its flight, and it is not until the cartridge has travelled
some distance that the shot escapes from the capsule a, and it is in conse-
quence of the charge being thus kept together for a time that renders it more
effective when the range is long.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Davoust, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
T. BASSET,
2, Rue Drouot.
JEAN DAVOUST. (L.S.)