IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING SHOT
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of New Bond Street,
in the County of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING SHOT."
Sealed the 16th July 1869, and dated the 14th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William
Lancaster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Pétition, on the 14th May 1869.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "ÍMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING SHOT," to be
as follows:-
In making shot cartridges for breech-loading guns and in order that
such cartridges may throw as closely as wire cartridges, or nearly so, I
employ over the shot and under the ordinary terminal wad of the
cartridge a hollow cylindrical wad formed of a short piece of cylinder of

page_text: paper or other material closed at the end by the insertion of an ordinary
cloth or other wadding or by a terminal wad. This short cylinder I
form to fit inside the cartridge case, and I insert it after putting in the
shot, so that it forms a cap or thimble over the front portion of the
charge of shot. This hollow wadding is then secured in its place by the
ordinary terminal wad, over which the cartridge case can be turned.
By another method of filling the cartridge I insert this hollow wad and
fit it in next the powder wad with the closed end of the cylinder towards
it, so that the charge of shot when placed in the cartridge is partly con-
tained in this hollow wad. Or I employ two of these wads, one at cach
end of the charge of shot, substantially as described in each of the above
Instead of inserting the wad in the end of the cylinder I some-
times dispense with that wad and use the terminal wad only over the
end of the cylinder. The effect of employing these wads is to hold the
charge together for a short distance from the muzzle of the gun. In the
ense of the use of the wad in the position first described the shot at the
moment of explosion of the charge is forced outwards against the sides
of the cylindrical portion of the wad and thus held together for a short
distance from the muzzle, when the cloth or other end portion being
driven forward the charge distributes to a certain extent.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles William Lancaster in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Gun Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant to me, the said Charles William Lancaster, Her special
licence that I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my exccutors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles

page_text: William Lancaster, 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 "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CONCENTRATING SHOT," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles William Lancaster,
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 Charles William Lancaster, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had
to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
In making shot cartridges for brecch-loading guns and in order that
such cartridges may throw as closely as wire cartridges, or nearly so, I
employ over the shot and under the ordinary terminal wad of the
cartridge a hollow cylindrical wad formed of a short piece of cylinder of
paper or other material closed at the end by the insertion of an ordinary
cloth or other wadding or by a terminal wad. This short cylinder I form
to fit inside the cartridge case, and I insert it after putting in the shot, so
that it forms a cup or thimble over the front portion of the charge of
shot. This hollow wadding is then secured in its place by the ordinary
terminal wad over which the cartridge case can be turned. By another
method of filling the cartridge I insert this hollow wad and fit it in next
the powder wad with the closed end of the cylinder towards it, so
that the charge of shot when placed in the cartridge is partly contained
in this hollow wad. Or I employ two of these wads, one at each end of
the charge of shot, substantially as described in each of the above cases.
Instead of inserting the wad in the end of the cylinder I sometimes
dispense with that wad and use the terminal wad only over the end of
the cylinder. The effect of employing these wads is to hold the charge
together for a short distance from the muzzle of the gun. In the case of

page_text: the use of the wad in the position first described the shot at the moment
of explosion of the charge is forced outwards against the sides of the
cylindrical portion of the wad and thus held together for a short distanco
from the muzzle, when the cloth or other end portion being driven
forward the charge distributes to a certain extent.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a sectional view of a short
cylinder of paper or other suitable material a, with a wad 6 in one end of
it, and Figure 2 is a section of a cartridge in which the short cylinder of
paper with its wad is inserted in it, and over which a terminal wad c is
placed for the end of the cartridge case d to be turned down upon, as
seen in the Figure. I prefer that the short cylinder a should be fitted in
the case in this manner so as to press the shot down upon the powder
wad e, but 1 do not confine myself to fitting it in in that manner, as I can,
if found desirable, reverse its position and let the wad end of it rest upon
the powder wad d, as shown in Figure 3. In that case the shot presents
itself at the top of the cartridge case, so that by placing a terminal
wad upon the shot they are held securo in the case by tho edge of the
same being turned down upon it. I also in some cases, as before referred
to, employ two short oylinders in the same cartridge case, and placed
therein in opposite directions, so that the shot is held between the two
wads, one of which is in the end of each cylinder, as shown in Figure 4.
In that Figure I have shown a terminal wad over the outer cylinder wad,
but that is not always necessary, as the cartridge case can be turned down
upon the cylinder wad as before mentioned. Sometimes I dispense with
the wad band only use the cylinder, as represented in Figure 5, for con-
taining the shot, and after placing the shot in the case, as shown in
Figure 6, I close the end of the cartridge by inserting a terminal wad in
the end of the same and burring down the edge of the case upon it. It
must be understood that I can employ two of such cylinders in cach
cartridge if found requisite.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,―
Firstly. The employment of one or more short cylinders fitted with
wads in one end of them in cartridge cases, in the manner and for the
purposes herein-before described and represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4
of the accompanying Drawings.

page_text: And, secondly. I claim the employment of one of more short cylinders
fitted without wads in cartridge cases, in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before described and represented in Figures 5 and 6 of the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
CHARLES W. LANCASTER. (L.S.)