AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR CHARGING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH- LOADING ARMS
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of New Bond Street, in
the City of Westminster,- Gun Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR CHARGING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-
LOADING ARMS."
Sealed the 14th December 1858, and dated the 16th June 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William Lan-
caster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 16th June 1858.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the City of
Westminster, Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR CHARGING CARTRIDGES FOR
BREECH-LOADING ARMS," to be as follows:-
This instrument consists of a cylinder with a sliding or hinged plate to form
a bottom thereto, and of a plunger formed with a shoulder working up and
down in a suitable guide.
The operation is as follows:-The sliding or hinged bottom plate is drawn
aside and the cartridge case is introduced open end upwards through the lower
part of the cylinder; the bottom plate is then brought under the cylinder and
supports the cartridge case during the filling; the plunger is brought down until
the shoulder. reaches the top edge of the cartridge case, which it expands.

page_text: After the plunger is drawn up powder is poured in through the top of the
cylinder, rammed down by the plunger, then a wad is placed over the powder,
then the shot or ball and another wad or not, as required; the bottom plate
is driven back, and the cartridge is driven out of the cylinder by the plunger,
the top edges are turned down over the ball or wad, and the cartridge is com-
plete. The plunger may be driven by hand or by a treadle, and the instrument
may be permanently fixed to a table or bench, or it may be provided with a
thumscrew and stop, whereby it may be readily connected to and removed
from a table, bench, or ledge.
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 16th December 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the City of Westminster, Gun
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles William Lancaster, Her special licence that Ị, the said Charles
William Lancaster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Charles William Lancaster, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 "AN INSTRUMENT OR APPARATUS FOR CHARGING CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING
ARMS," 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

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:-
This instrument consists of a cylinder with a sliding or hinged plate to form
a bottom thereto, and of a plunger formed with a shoulder working up and
down in a suitable guide.
The operation is as follows:-The sliding or hinged bottom plate is drawn
aside and the cartridge case is introduced open end upwards through the lower
part of the cylinder; the bottom plate is then brought under the cylinder and
supports the cartridge case during the filling, the plunger is brought down
until the shoulder reaches the top edge of the cartridge case, which it expands.
After the plunger is drawn up powder is poured in through the top of the
cylinder and rammed down by the plunger, then a wad is placed over the
powder, then the shot or ball, and another wad or not, as required. When
the loading of the cartridge has thus been completed a grooved tool is
placed in upon it, and the plunger being firmly pressed down upon the tool,
the latter is moved round about a quarter turn, and the grooved portion of it
is thus caused to round and finish the end of the cartridge case. The bottom
plate is then moved back and the cartridge is driven out of the cylinder by the
plunger. The plunger may be driven by hand or by a treadle, and the instru-
ment may be permanently fixed to a table or bench, or it may be provided
with a thumbscrew and stop, whereby it may be readily connected to and
removed from a table, bench, or ledge.
In the Drawings hereunto annexed, I have represented an instrument or
apparatus constructed according to my Invention. Figure 1 is an external
side view; Figure 2 an external front view; Figure 3 a view similar to
Figure 1, but partly in section; Figure 4 a plan view of the bottom, showing
the bottom plate open; Figures 5, 6, and 7 are detached views of the grooved
tool before mentioned. A is the cylinder which receives the cartridge case;
B the plunger, and C the bottom plate which turns about the screw a; D is a
second cylinder or guide, forming, like the cylinder A, part of the main body
of the. apparatus. The plunger B forms part of the solid cylinder E, which
slides up and down in the cylinder or guide D; F is a thumbscrew, and G a
stop or foot whereby the apparatus may be attached at will to a table or
bench. The up and down motions of the plunger are produced by means of
the handle H, which turns the pinion I, which again takes into the circular
teeth b, b, formed around the solid cylinder E; by forming these teeth all round
that cylinder the apparatus works equally well, however the solid cylinder. E
may be turned about in the hollow cylinder D. The groove d, Figure 7, is

page_text: that which gives the finish to the top of the cartridge case as before described.
The hole or recess c, Figure 2, is to receive the pin which projects from such
cartridges as the French, in order that they, as well as other cartridges
for breech-loading arms, may be loaded by the apparatus.
It should be understood that the plunger may be worked by other means
than those described, and that other details of the apparatus may be variously
modified without departing from my Invention..
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
The construction of an instrument or apparatus for charging cartridges for
breech-loading arms by arranging and combining a charging cylinder, plunger,
and folding or sliding bottom plate, essentially as herein-before described and
illustrated in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-eight.
CHARLES W. LANCASTER. (L.S.)