IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES AND PROJECTILES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Macintosh, of 40, North Bank, Regent's
Park, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARTRIDGES AND PROJECTILES."
Sealed the 5th June 1860, and dated the 8th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Macintosh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the Sth
l'ecember 1859.
I, JOHN MACINTOSH, of 40, North Bank, Regent's Park, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
CARTRIDGES AND PROJECTILES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cartridges and projectiles.
For these purposes in manufacturing cartridges I employ collodion (which as
is well known is a solution of gun cotton or fibre in a solvent) to form the case
of the cartridge. I form the case by dipping a mandril of suitable form into
the collodiou, and withdrawing it. When the film is sufficiently set the
mandril is taken out, and the charge and ball are introduced. In some cases
I employ a mandril so formed at the end as to receive and hold the ball, and
I dip the ball and mandril together into the collodion; in this manner a skin
of collodion is given to the ball,and a hollow cylinder of collodion projecting
from the ball is at the same time formed. When the cartridge case is made

page_text: complete, and the ball afterwards introduced into it, I prefer to insert the ball
before the case is quite hard, and then in hardening the case, contacts and
becomes tightly stretched around the ball. When the powder has been intro-
duced into the powder case I seal the end with collodion. If it be desired to
give thickness to the cartridge case, and to economize collodion, I lap a thin
fleece of fibre around the mandril, or the mandril and ball before dipping it.
This system is applicable for making cartridges for rifles or fowling pieces,
and also for canuon. In some cases I coat the ball only with collodion,and
balls so coated may be made up into cartridges as heretofore. The coating of
collodion will serve to keep the ball from being acted on by the lubricating
material, and will also prevent leading of the barrel from which the ball
is fired.
Another part of my improvements in projectilesis applicable to balls having
wooden plugs in order to expand them when fired, and consists in saturating
such plugs with materials which will cause the plug to take fire when the ball
is fired, and continue to burn or smoulder for some time, or in place of this
arrangement, I coat the base of the plug with a material which when the ball
is fired will burn or smoulder, or I attach a disc or cone of such a material to
the base of the plug.
My improvements in projectiles are also applicable to such projectiles as
consist in part of explosive or combustible materials. In making such pro-
jectiles for small arms, I employ a tube of lead or compound of lead, which
I cut off in lengths, each suitable to form a projectile, one end of each length
I fit with a pointed end (of hard metal if considered desirable), and in the
interior of the tube I place the explosive or combustible materials, I then
close the other end with a disc of wood or other material, fitted with a fuze,
or other means may be provided for firing the charge within the projectile
when it arrives at its destination. The propelling charge is entirely separate
from that within the tube,and may be contained in a cartridge formed behind
it in the mauner already described. In preparing an inflammable projectile
for cannon,
I make a tubular case of cordage or other suitable material, of
such a size as to fit over the muzzle of the cannon, and I close this case firmly
at one end with similar materials, and saturate the whole with inflammable
matters. When it is desired to employ the projectile, the cannon is loaded
with powder,and the projectile fitted on over the muzzle. The projectile may
be made to carry masses of powder, shot, or incendiary materials. Projectiles
thus prepared are more especially adapted for use at short ranges.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Macintosh in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
8th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MACINTOSH, of 40, North Bank, Regent's Park, in the County of Middle-
sex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third 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 Macin-
tosh, my executors, administrators, 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 there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CARTRIDGES AND PROJECTILES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said John Macintosh, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cartridges and projectiles.
For these purposes in manufacturing cartridges, I employ collodion(which as
is well known is a solution of gun cotton or fibre in a solvent), to form the
case of the cartridge. I form the case by dipping a mandril of suitable form
into the collodion and withdrawing it; when the film is sufficiently set, the
mandril is taken out, and the charge and ball are introduced. The mandril
which I employ is cylindrical, and slightly larger in diameter than the gun
from which the cartridge is to be used, it may be made of metal or hard wood,
and should be divided longitudinally into three pieces, which together make
up a complete cylinder. The pieces are made to taper, so that when a car-

page_text: tridge case is formed upon the mandril, the case, although fitting tightly to
the mandril, may readily be removed from it by drawing up the centre piece
of the mandril which allows the other pieces to fall in towards the centre,
when they are easily removed. The parts of the mandril may be held together
when it is in use by any convenient mechanism. The collodion which I
employ I prefer to prepare by dissolving gun cotton in methylated ether, and
I ascertain when the solution is sufficiently thick by dipping the mandril into
it, and examining the film left on it when it is drawn cut. In making the car-
tridge cases, I dip the mandrils into the collodion, and as soon afterwards as
the films produced on the mandrils are sufficiently set (which will be in a few
seconds), the centre portions of the mandrils are drawn out, and the cases
removed. The projectiles they are to contain are then at once dropped in.
as the cases in drying contract a great deal, so that it would not be possible to
introduce the projectiles when the cases were dry, and when they are intro-
duced, when the cases are still moist, the cases contract upon them in drying,
so as to fit closely to them.
When the case is dry and hard it is filled with powder, and sealed by
spreading a small quantity of thick collodion on the top. The cartridges may
cither be made in the usual manner, videlicit, with the base of the projectile
at the end of the cartridge, and then in loading the gun the case is opened
and the powder poured out, as is usual; but it is preferred that the point of
the projectile and then the cartridge may in loading be rammed down entire
into the gun, as the case itself will immediately take fire on the explosion of
the cap. When the point of the projectile is to be at the end of the cartridge
the mandril is so formed that the end of the cartridge case fits the point of the
projectile correctly.
In place of introducing the projectile into the case after it is made, in some
cases I employ a mandril so formed at the end as to receive and hold the ball,
and I'dip the ball and mandril together into the collodion; in this manner a
skin of collodion is given to the ball, and a hollow cylinder of collodion
projecting from the ball is at the same time formed. This cylinder when dry
and hard is filled with powder as before, and closed at the end. If it be
desired to give thickness to the cartridge case, and to economize collodion,
I lap a thin fleece of fibre or thin fabric around the mandril or the mandri
and ball before dipping it. This system is applicable for making cartridges
for fowling pieces, and also for cannon, as well as for rifles. When the
cartridge is for a fowling piece, the shot is put in while the cartridge is moist
and a felt wad is put in over it. For cannon the cartridge is made up withou
any projectile. For rifles, when loose balls are used, I coat the ball only with

page_text: collodion. The coating of collodion will serve to keep the ball from being
acted on by the lubricating material, and will also prevent leading of the
barrel from which the ball is fired. Balls so coated may also be made up into
cartridges, as heretofore.
Another part of my improvements in projectiles is applicable to balls having
wooden plugs in order to expand them when fired, and consists in saturating
such plugs with materials which will cause the plug to take fire when the ball
is fired, and continue to burn or smolder for some time. For this purpose
I prefer to employ plugs of willow wood in place of box, as is usual, and
I saturate such plugs with a concentrated solution of bichlorate of potash; or
in place of this arrangement I coat the base of the plug with a material which
when the ball is fired will burn or smolder; or I attach a disc or cone of
such a material to the base of the plug. The composition I prefer to employ
for this purpose consists of gutta percha or india-rubber with which as much
gunpowder is mixed as it will take up without altogether destroying its
plasticity; or in place of gunpowder alone, I employ a mixture of gunpowder
with about twenty per cent of nitre or nitrate of soda. With this composition
the base of the plug may be coated, or a cone may be moulded upon it,
projecting about half an inch from the plug, according to the amount of
composition which it is desired that the projectile should carry. In some
cases I make the plug itself of the composition in place of of boxwood, as
is usual.
My improvements in projectiles are also applicable to such projectiles as
consist in part of explosive or combustible materials. In making such
projectiles for small arms, I employ a tube of lead or compound of lead, which
I cut off in lengths, each suitable to form a projectile; cne end of each length
I fit with a pointed end of hard metal (if considered desirable), which may be
fixed in any convenient manner, and in the interior of the tube I place the
explosive or combustible materials; I then close the other end with a disc of
wood or other material, fitted with a fuze, or other means may be provided for
firing the charge within the projectile when it arrives at its destination. The
propelling charge is entirely separate from that within the tube, and may be
contained in a cartridge formed behind it, in the manner already described.
The combustible composition I employ is that already described, and a small
peg of the same material passing through a hole in the disc of wood which
closes the end of the tube serves as a fuze. If desired, the interior of the
tube may be filled with gunpowder, or gunpowder may be lodged in a cavity
of the combustible composition to scatter it when it arrives at its destination.
In preparing an inflammable projectile for cannon, I make a tubular case of

page_text: cordage or other suitable material of such a size as to fit over the muzzle of
the cannon,and I close this case firmly at one end with similar materials, and
saturate the whole with inflammable matters. In making such a projectile
I employ a mandril corresponding in size to the muzzle of the cannon, from
which it is to be fired, and I saturate stout hempen cord with a mixture of
gunpowder and gutta percha cement. Several lengths of cord so prepared and
each a little more than twice the length of the projectile, I lay on the mandril
and arrange at equal distances apart all round it. The lengths of cord all run
in the direction of the length of the projectile,and they cross each other at the
end of the maudril; the cords so arranged I bind together with other cords
similarly prepared passing over the other cords and round and round the
mandril, and thus the projectile is finished, the composition cementing the
whole together. The end of the projectile may be strengthened with a wad of
wood introduced into the interior, if considered desirable. When it is desired
to employ the projectile, the cannon is loaded with powder,and the projectile
fitted on over the muzzle.
The projectile may be inade to carry masses of powder, shot or incendiary
materials. Projectiles thus prepared are more especially adapted for use at
short ranges.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Macintosh, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN MACINTOSH. (L.S.)