IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE; ALSO IN CARTRIDGES AND CAP HOLDERS
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Westley Richards, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE; ALSO IN CARTRIDGES AND CAP HOLDERS."
Sealed the 11th October 1860, and dated the 28th June 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Westley Richards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th June 1860.
I, WESTLEY RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick;
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORDNANCE; ALSO IN CARTRIDGES AND CAP HOLDERS," to be as
follows:-
In the construction of ordnance I employ tubes of wrought iron or steel:
two or more of which I place concentrically, one within the other, and I fill
the space between them by running in metal, such as gun metal or steel, in a
liquid state.
Another part of my Invention has for its object improvements in cartridges
for breech-loading fire-arms. These cartridges, when the arm with which they
are to be used is so constructed as to be primed with an ordinary cap or
similar primer placed on an external nipple, require to be made of thin paper
so that the flash of the primer may penetrate to the powder.
Now
my Invention consists in thickening or strengthening such cartridges
at the back immediately behind the point where the flash of the cap or priming
strikes, by which means a cup is formed at the back of the cartridge which
will prevent any escape of gas at the breech of the gun, even should the

page_text: apparatus for closing the same not be in perfect order; the cup also gives a
firm base to the cartridge for the attachment of a wad. I also make the back
end of the cartridge, or that at which the cup is formed, of larger diameter than
the fore end, in order that the cartridge may enter the chamber freely, while
at the same time the cup on the cartridge may correctly fit the chamber, so
that there may be no risk of its being burst by the explosion. The most
convenient way of producing the cup on the end of the cartridge as above
described is to fold and cement down the edge of the paper from which a
cartridge is to be made, so that when the cartridge is made up there may be
twice the thickness of paper at the breech end of the cartridge that there is
elsewhere, and when this is turned over after the cartridge is filled, it makes
the
cup. The cartridge is made conical or larger at the base than at the fore
part by rolling the paper on a taper mandril.
My Invention also consists in attaching to the breech end of the breech-
loader cartridges a wad made of a soft woven fabric in place of a hard felted
fabric as heretofore.
In constructing cap holders according to my Invention I make the same of
vulcanized india-rubber or any other elastic substance, and in the form of a
tube, of an internal diameter somewhat exceeding the external diameter of the
caps, and the tube is fitted with a plug or stopper at its upper end. To fill
the bolder the stopper is removed, the caps dropped into the tube, and the
stopper replaced. When it is desired to place a cap on the nipple of a gun
the lowest cap in the holder is taken hold of (it is easily felt through the
vulcanized india-rubber) and placed on the nipple, the holder is then drawn
away from the nipple, on which it leaves a cap, the contracted end of the tube
opening out to let the cap on the nipple pass, and closing again immediately
afterwards, so as to prevent other caps from falling out. It is not essential
that the cap holder should be made entirely of flexible tube, the upper part
of it may, if preferred, be made of metal or other inflexible material, and, the
lower end or nozzle only of vulcanized india-rubber.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Westley Richards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
28th December 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WESTLEY
RICHARDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send 3
greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Hor Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Westley Richards, Her special licence that I, the said Westley
Richards, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Westley Richards, 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 ORDNANCE; ALSO IN CARTRIDGES AND CAP HOLDERS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Westley Richards, 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 Westley Richards, 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 :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the construction of
ordnance. For this purpose I employ tubes of wrought iron or steel, two or
more of which I place concentrically one within the other, and I fill the space
between them by running in gun metal or steel in a liquid state. The tubes
of wrought iron or steel which I employ I prefer to be of such a thickness
that they may be obtained without difficulty perfectly sound throughout; for
wrought-iron tubes of small diameter, say, less than six inches, 1 to 2 inches
is a suitable thickness, and for tubes, say, of twelve inches, 2 to 4 inches is a
suitable thickness, and so in proportion for other tubes. When steel is tho
material employed the tubes may be similarly proportioned. The interior
tube should be of such an internal diameter as just to boro out the required
guage for the gun or mortar, as the case may be; this tube is filled internally
with clay or sand, and round it and concentric with it is placed the first outer
tube, which is of such a size as to leave a space of to an inch, or there-
abouts, between the two tubes all round, and the tubes are kept concentric by
distance pieces put in between them at the two ends; if a secon exterior

page_text: tube be employed it is similarly placed around the first exterior tube, and so
should a third exterior tube be used it is placed around the second. For
pieces of small size two tubes may be employed, but more commonly three
tubes are used, and for pieces of large size four tubes are used. The tubes
arranged as above described are set up vertically in a cast-iron socket, which
the outer tube just fits, and from the socket a pipe rises up as high as the top
of the tubes, to form the piece of ordnance; a socket and pipe are lined with
loam, and the whole is then made red hot and immediately buried in sand;
melted gun metal or steel is run into the stand pipe which leads from the
bottom into the spaces between the tubes, the metal entering at the bottom
and flowing up to the top. The gun metal I employ is an ordinary alloy of
copper and tin, but it is not essential, although I prefer that the copper should
be so alloyed, as other alloys of copper, or copper unalloyed, may be employed.
The tubes when cool are taken from the sand, and they will then be found as
firmly connected as if they had been originally in one piece; the extreme ends
of the tubes are then cut off smooth, the gun is bored in the same manner as
cylinders are usually bored, and the breech end is closed by a solid plug of
wrought iron or steel, which is screwed into the inner tube, a strong screw
thread being cut on the exterior of the plug, and a corresponding thread
in the tube. The trunnions are formed on a ring of wrought iron or steel
which is shrunk on to the gun before it is bored. The vent is drilled out in
the usual manner.
Another part of my Invention has for its object improvements in cartridges
for breech-loading fire-arms. These cartridges, when the fire-arm with which
they are to be used is so constructed as to be primed with an ordinary cap
or similar primer placed on an external nipple, require to be made of thin
paper so that the flash of the primer may penetrate to the powder.
Now my Invention consists in thickening or strengthening such cartridges
at the back immediately behind the point where the flash of the cap or priming
strikes, by which means a cup is formed at the back of the cartridge, which
will prevent any escape of gas at the breech of the gun, even should the
apparatus for closing the same not be in perfect order; the cup also gives a
firm base to the cartridge for the attachment of a wad. I also make the back
end of the cartridge, or that at which the cup is formed, of larger diameter
than the fore end, in order that the cartridge may enter the chamber freely,
while, at the same time, the cup on the cartridge may correctly fit the chamber,
so that there may be no risk of its being burst by the explosion. The most
convenient way of producing the cup on the end of the cartridge, as above
described, is to fold and cement down the edge of the paper from which a

page_text: 5
cartridge is to be made, so that when the cartridge is made up, there may bo
twice the thickness of paper at the breech end of the cartridge that there is
elsewhero; and when this is turned over, after the cartridge is filled, it makes
the
cup; the cartridge is made conical, or larger at the base than at the fore
part, by rolling the paper on a taper mandril.
My Invention also consists in attaching to the breech end of breech-loader
cartridges a wad, made of a soft woven fabric in place of a hard felted fabric,
as-heretofore.
Figure 1 of the annexed Drawing is a side view of a cartridge constructed
as above described, and particularly adapted to be used with the breech-loading
fire-arm described in the Specification of the Patent granted to me, and dated
25th of March-1858, No. 638. Figure 2 shews the form of the piece of
paper which, by preference, is employed in making a cartridge; and Figure 8.
a side view, partly in section, of the projectile. The piece of paper, Figuro 2,
is made double as far up as the dotted line A, B, the edge of the paper being
folded underneath and pasted down.
The mandril employed is such as is shewn in side view at Figure 4. The
end a of the mandril fits into the hollow at the end of the projectile.. At the
point marked the mandril is of such a diameter that when the paper is
wrapped round it that end of the case may bo slightly less than the diameter
of the projectile, and from this point to the point marked c the mandril
gradually increases in diameter until, with the paper wrapped on, it is
externally as nearly as possible equal in diameter to the bore of the chamber
at the end of the barrel of the fire-arm. The paper is pasted on its upper-
surface near one edge, and it is rolled round the mandril till the pasted edge
adheres to the other part, when the paper case thus produced is removed from
the mandril and dried. The ball or projectile is forced into its proper position
at the end of the case, as shewn in Figure 1; the depression is then made in
the case at a, a, for the purpose of preventing the powder getting around the
projectile; this indent is formed by binding a piece of twine around the case.
In finishing the cartridge, the required charge of powder is poured into the
caso and the ends folded over, the wad is fixed on, and the cartridge lubri-
cated. The soft woven fabric of which the wad is formed is thick soft woollen
cloth.
In constructing cap holders according to my Invention, I make the same of
vulcanized india-rubber or any other elastic substance, and in the form of a
tube of an internal diameter somewhat exceeding the external diameter of the
caps, and the tube is fitted with a spring at its upper end, which allows the
caps to enter, but not to come back. To fill the holder, the caps are pushed

page_text: into the tube past the spring. When it is desired to place a cap on the
nipple of a gun, the lowest cap in the holder is taken hold of (it is easily felt
through the vulcanized india-rubber) and placed on the nipple; the holder is
then drawn away from the nipple, on which it leaves a cap, the contracted end
of the tube opening out to let the cap on the nipple pass, and closing again
immediately afterwards, so as to prevent other caps from falling out. It is not
essential that the cap holder should be made entirely of flexible tube, the
upper part of it may, if preferred, be made of metal or other inflexible
anaterial, and the lower end or nozzle only of vulcanized india-rubber.
Figure 5 is a side view, and Figure 6 a longitudinal section, of a cap-holder
so constructed, and it consists of a tube of vulcanized india-rubber a, clothed
with fabric to prevent its stretching too freely; at a³ it is contracted sufficiently
to prevent the caps falling out. 6 is a metal ring, fitted into the top of a
tube a; and c is a screw plug it receives; this plug is removed to fill the
apparatus with caps, and is replaced when the tube is full. Or in place of the
ring b, a split metal tube, such as is shewn at Figure 7, may be similarly fitted
into the upper end of the tube a, in which case no screw plug will be required,
as the parts of the split tubo will yield to allow the caps to be put on. and will
then again spring forward, so as to prevent the caps falling out.
In witness whereof, I, the said Westley Richards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
WESTLEY RICHARDS. (LS.)