IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND TREATING GUN COTTON
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eustace Carey Prentice, of Stowmarket, in the
County of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND
TREATING GUN COTTON."
Sealed the 9th July 1866, and dated the 3rd April 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eustace Carey Prentice
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd April 1866.
I, EUSTACE CAREY PRENTICE, of Stowmarket, in the County of Suffolk, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PRE-
PARING AND TREATING GUN COTTON," to be as follows:-
It is well known that gun cotton explodes or burns very quickly, and that
various means have been resorted to for regulating the speed of burning.
Now my improvements consist in the interspersion, interlacing, or inter-
weaving other cotton or other suitable fibrous material in an inert state, or
wire with gun cotton to retard and modify its explosion to such an extent as
may be desired for the special purposes to which the explosive compounds
are to be applied.
In carrying out my Invention I take gun cotton, by preference in the state
of yarn or thread, and also by preference yarn or thread of non-explosive

page_text: cotton, though other fibrous material or wire may be used, and I combine or
braid or weave the same together; the number of yarns or threads (in the
frame or machine) of each description varying according to the ultimate use
to which the combined yarns or threads are to be applied. The combined
product or fabric so produced I use for the ordinary purposes to which gun
cotton is applied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Eustace Carey Prentice in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd October 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EUSTACE
CAREY PRENTICE, of Stowmaket, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, Her special licence that I, the said
Eustace Carey Prentice, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, 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 PREPARING AND TREATING GUN COTTON," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, 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 Eustace Carey Prentice, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following.
statement thereof, that is to say:-
It is well known that gun cotton explodes or burns very quickly, and that
various means have been resorted to for regulating the speed of burning.

page_text: Now my Invention consists in the interspersion, interlacing, or interweaving
other cotton or suitable fibrous material in an inert state with gun cotton to
retard and modify the rapidity of its explosion to such an extent as may be
desired for the special purposes to which the explosive compounds are to be
applied. I would here remark that I have ascertained in practice that it is
desirable to employ as little inert cotton or other fibrous material as may be
in order to obtain the desired degree of retardation in the burning of the
pyroxylin, more particularly when the compounds are to be used in fire-arms,
as the use of comparatively large proportion of the inert or unconverted cotton
or other fibre tends to foul the barrels, and I have further ascertained that
the points of contact and intersection of the converted fibre with the uncon-
verted fibre should be as numerous as possible, and that the more minutely
the fibres are divided, and the more intimately they are interspersed amongst
each other, the less proportion or quantity of the inert or unconverted cotton
or other fibre is required to produce a given retardation in the burning of the
pyroxylin, consequently there should be no massing or accumulating of
the converted fibre (pyroxylin), or of the unconverted cotton or fibre, but
on the contrary as intimate a mixture of the two classes of fibres as possible.
In carrying out my Invention I in some cases employ rovings or yarn the
cotton or fibre of which has been converted by acid into pyroxylin, as is well
understood, before and after being formed into rovings or yarn, but I make no
claim to the manufacture of rovings or yarns of gun cotton or other converted
fibres when separate and apart from their use in combination with other
rovings of yarns of inert or unconverted cotton or other fibres as a means of
retarding the speed of the burning of the yarns or rovings of gun cotton or
converted fibre. When using yarns of gun cotton or converted fibre with
yarns of inert or unconverted cotton or other fibres according to my Invention
I weave or interlace them together by any suitable weaving machinery, such as
ordinary looms wherein warps and shuttles are employed, or in braiding or
such like machinery, or in warp machines, or in knitting machines, or in other
forms of machinery wherein the two classes of yarns may be interwoven or
interlaced uniformly, or as nearly so as may be, in order that the intersecting
points of contact of the two classes of yarns may be as numerous as may be,
and that each and every part of a fabric so produced may contain the same
proportions of converted and of unconverted cotton or other fibre as every
other part of the fabric, and so that each of the two classes of fibres (the
converted and the unconverted) may be as infinitely divided or intersected one
by the other as may be. Or the two descriptions of yarns or rovings, composed
respectively of converted cotton or fibre and of unconverted or inert cotton or

page_text: fibre, may in carrying out my Invention be placed parallel and be twisted or laid
together into strands, and the strands into cords or ropes, and the same cut into
lengths each suitable for a charge. Or I place yarns or rovings of converted
cotton or other suitable fibre side by side and parallel with other yarns or
rovings composed of inert or unconverted cotton or other fibres, and cut them
into very short lengths or pieces, so as to produce a mixture of very short
pieces of yarns or rovings composed of the converted and unconverted fibres
mixed in the desired proportions, intimately interspersed and mixed with each
other, and I charge paper or other suitable cases with such mixed cuttings
and thus produce cartridges; or I cause the cutting to cohere by applying a
small quantity of cementing material in such manner as to interfere with
the contact of the parts as little as may be. Or in place of using yarns
or rovings made respectively of converted cotton or other fibres and yarns, or
rovings composed of inert or unconverted cotton or other fibre, the desired
proportions of inert cotton or other fibres may be interspersed or mixed with
the converted cotton or other fibres before forming the same into rovings, and
spinning the same into yarns, by which each yarn will contain or be composed
of the requisite proportion of converted and unconverted fibre, and such yarns
of mixed converted and unconverted fibres may then be formed into weavings
or otherwise to form fabrics by machinery, as before mentioned, when
employing two classes of yarns composed respectively of the converted and
unconverted or inert fibres. Or the rovings or yarns composed of the mixed
converted and unconverted fibres may be cut into very short lengths as above
explained, and be used in filling paper or other suitable cases to form charges
or cartridges. Or in place of employing yarns or rovings, as above ex-
plained, in order to obtain the requisite interspersion of the converted and
unconverted or inert fibres into pulp, and by preference such reduction into
pulp is performed on the fibres after they have been mixed or during the
mixing of them in the desired proportions, but the converted fibres and the
unconverted fibres may be separately reduced into pulp and then beaten and
mixed together in the desired proportions, and the mixed pulp may then be
made into paper, or paper stuff, or other forms suitable for making the mixed
fibres into charges, whether for large or small arms, or for blasting, or for
other uses. It should be stated that I am aware that gun cotton has before
been reduced to pulp, and that paper and paper stuffs have been made there-
from, I therefore make no claim thereto, but it forms an important part of my
Invention to combine inert or unconverted cotton or other fibres with pulp
composed of converted cotton or other fibres.
I would here remark that although I have spoken of other than cotton

page_text: fibres being used for the production of the gun cotton or pyroxylin, as well as
for the unconverted fibres employed in carrying out my Invention, I believe
that it is better in all cases to use cotton wool for the purpose. The proportion
in which inert or unconverted cotton or other fibres may be combined with
gun cotton or pyroxylin may be greatly varied, depending on the extent to
which the quick burning properties of the pyroxylin or converted fibre is
desired to be retarded by such admixture, but I have found it desirable, more
particularly when the manufacture is for large or small arms, not to employ
more than thirty per cent. of the inert cotton or fibre with seventy per cent. of
pyroxylin or converted fibre when such fibres are respectively made separately
into rovings or yarns and are woven or interlaced into fabrics, as above
described, and when the interspersion of the converted and unconverted fibres
are still more intimate, as is the case in pulping the fibres and making paper
or paper stuff of mixtures thereof. I have found that for sporting purposes
about fifteen per cent. of the unconverted with eighty-five per cent. of the
converted fibre makes excellent paper, and that about 30 grains by weight
of such paper rolled into a cylinder makes a proper and sufficient charge when
used with about 1 ounce by weight of shot.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I claim the combination
of converted cotton or fibre (pyroxylin) with unconverted or inert cotton or
fibre, both being in the state of rovings or yarns, by weaving or interlacing
thereof into fabrics as above described; I also claim the cutting such mixed
rovings or yarns into short lengths and composing charges thereof as above
described.
I also claim the mixing converted and unconverted cotton or fibres in the
desired proportions, and then forming rovings or spinnings, as above described.
And I also claim the making of paper or paper stuff or material of
mixtures or combinations of converted fibre (pyroxylin) and inert fibre, as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Eustace Carey Prentice, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
EUSTACE CAREY PRENTICE. (L.S.)