Improvements in or relating to Case or Mould Filling Apparatus.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 13th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 28th Feb.,
1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Case or Mould Filling Apparatus.
I, TELFORD CLARENCE BATCHELOR, of 8, Baron's Court Road; West
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention as will be evident may be used for a variety of purposes but is
especially applicable for filling cartridge cases for high explosives.
By this invention I am enabled to charge the case into which the material is
filled at an even density right through, and in carrying my invention into practice
I prefer to proceed as follows:-
I construct any suitable form of hopper and carrying frame or bed plate and
upon the frame or bed plate I arrange one or more suitable slides or equivalent
which carry the case to be filled. At the lower portion of the hopper I have one
or more Archimedean screws preferably arranged horizontally, and around each of
these I prefer to have a tube the upper half of which may be removed at that
portion which extends into the hopper. Where more than one screw is employed
prefer to connect them by gearing or otherwise so that the turning of a single
handle or equivalent may revolve all the screws.
The before described slides or equivalent are so arranged that they can be loaded.
by weight, friction or otherwise so that the pressure requisite to move them may
be adjusted as may be found desirable: The operation of this part of the mechanisin
is as follows:
The case to be filled is placed' upon the screw tube and the slide brought up or
the case may be first placed in the slide and then moved on to the tube. The
material to be filled is placed in the hopper and as the screw is revolved the
material is carried along the tube and into the case into which it is forced by
the end of the screw. By this means the case is gradually forced off the tube
as it is filled with the material so that as it finally leaves the tube the case is full
of the material compressed at an equal density all through; this density as will be
understood may be varied according to the load placed upon the slide or whatever
carries the case. --
It will be understood that the mechanism which carries the case, may be con-
siderably varied so long as the necessary pressure is obtainable upon the tube; for
example the tube may be simply passed through à bearing or opening in which
it is held sufficiently tightly to give the required pressure. Or again, the tube niay
be connected-with a cord and weight s
so as to obtain the pressure.
Or again,
friction may be caused between the case and the tube:
As a convenient means of stirring the materials in the hopper and supplying
them freely to the screw or screws I may place in the lower portion of the hopper
a shaft at right angles to the axis of the screw which carries preferably at each end
a worm or equivalent device which will draw or force the material towards the
screw and may also if desired stir it as well. Upon this sliaft I arrange a worm
wheel or equivalent adapted to engage with the filling screw. so 'that as the latter
is revolved the cross shaft will also be turned. Other means however may be
employed for revolving this shaft or an independent stirring and filling apparatus
may be employed.
Dated this.13th day of March, 1890.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Case or Mould Filling Apparatus.
I, TELFORD CLARENCE BATCHELOR, of 8, Baron's Court Road, West
Kensington, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention us will be evident may be used for a variety of purposes but is
especially applicable for filling cartridge cases for high explosives.
By this invention I am enabled to charge the case into which the material is filled
at an even density right through, and in carrying my invention into practice I prefer
to proceed as follows:-
I construct any suitable form of hopper and carrying frame or bed-plate and upon
the frame or bed-plate I arrange one or more suitable slides or equivalent which
carry the case to be filled. At the lower portion of the hopper I have one or
more Archimedean screws preferably arranged horizontally, and around each of
these I prefer to have a tube the upper half of which may be removed at that portion
which extends into the hopper. Where more than one screw is employed I prefer to
connect them by gearing or otherwise so that the turning of a single handle or
equivalent may revolve all the screws.
The before described slides or equivalent are so arranged that they can be loaded
by weight, friction, or otherwise so that the pressure requisite to move them may
be adjusted as may be found desirable. The operation of this part of the mechanism
is as follows:-
The
The case to be filled is placed upon the-screw-tube -and-the-slide. brought up;
or the case may be first placed in the slide and then moved onto the tube.
material to be filled is placed in the hopper and as the screw is revolved the material
is carried along the tube and into the case into which it is forced by the end of
the screw. By this means the case is gradually forced off the tube as it is filled
with the material so that as it finally leaves the tube the case is full of the
material compressed at an equal density all through; this density as will be
understood may be varied according to the load placed upon the slide or whatever
carries the case.
It will be understood that the mechanism which carries the case may be con-
siderably varied so long as the necessary pressure is obtainable upon the tube; for
example, the tube may be simply passed through a bearing or opening in which it
is held sufficiently tightly to give the required pressure. Or again the tube may
he connected with a cord and weight so as to obtain the pressure. Or again, friction
may be caused between the case and the tube. .
As a convenient means of stirring the materials in the hopper and supplying
them freely to the screw or screws I may place in the lower portion of the hopper a
shaft at right angles to the axis of the screw which carries preferably at each
end a worm or equivalent device which will draw or force the material towards
the screw and may also if desired stir it as well. Upon this shaft I arrange a
worm wheel or equivalent adapted to engage with the filling screw so that as the
latter is revolved the cross shaft will also be turned. Other means however may
be employed for revolving this shaft or an independent stirring and filling apparatus
may be employed.
In the accompanying drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of a simple form of the apparatus and
Fig. 2 a plan, partly in section, of a portion of the same.
Fig. 3 is a vertical longitudinal section and
Fig. 4 a vertical cross section of a similar apparatus provided with a stirring or
feeding device.
Fig. 5 is a plan of a double apparatus constructed according to this invention.

page_text: Fig. 6 is a plan and Fig. 7 an end elevation partly in section and-
Fig. 8 is a side elevation and Fig. 9 a front view of an apparatus provided with
three filling screws all operated simultaneously.
Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of an apparatus adapted for making the cartridge
and filling it with loose detonating material, and
Fig. 11 is a part sectional elevation of a modification in the construction of the
mandrel.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
Referring to Figs. 1, 2,
A is the hopper and B the filling screw adapted to be revolved by the handle C
or by any other convenient means. D is a carriage provided with a recess E
preferably of about the same shape and size as the case which is intended to be
placed within it. This carriage is adapted to slide upon the frame or bed and
may be lengthened out at D₁ so as to provide a longer bearing. The carriage 1)
may also have boxes or spaces D2 adapted to contain sand, shot or other weight
which it is desired to place in it, to cause the required amount of friction between
the carriage D and the bed upon which it slides and if desired any additional weight
may be placed on D¹.
Around the filling screw B a tube G which preferably extends throughout its
working length but the upper portion of which is cut away within the hopper as
shown to allow of the free access of the materials within the hopper to the screw.
In operating this simple form of the apparatus the cartridge case is placed upon
the tube G and the carriage D closed upon it or the case may first be placed in the
carriage D and the whole pushed up so that the tube G penetrates to about the
closed end of the cartridge case; the handle C is then turned or the filling screw B
is by other means caused to revolve and the contents of the hopper A. being
forced along the screw, are forced into the cartridge case by the open end of
the tube G and as the materials are forced forward the carriage D and case
are pushed away from the tube until they finally leave it when the case is full.
By this arrangement and the load upon the carriage D that is upon the cartridge
case being almost the same the material within the case will be of the same
density all through.
If it is desired that the cartridge should have a central longitudinal opening
through it as is sometimes required, a mandrel H may be passed through the centre
of the filling screw B which for this purpose would then be left hollow as illustrated
in Fig.
where a portion of the screw is shown broken away to indicate this.
The mandrel H would reach to the end of the cartridge case and being adapted to
slide freely within the screw B it would when gripped by the material as it was
compressed in the case be drawn along with it and would thus maintain the open
space in the centre of the cartridge. If necessary, however, positive means may
be employed to force the mandrel H along with the cartridge but in that case the
power applied must be constant or the compression of the material may vary and
where practicable the former plan is preferred; the mandrel H may be solid or a
simple tube, closed or not at the ends. If there be an opening in the end of the
cartridge case it does not matter as the mandrel H may be secured in the carriage
and thus caused to travel with it.
In Fig. 3 the arrangement is substantially the same as that indicated in Fig. 1
but within the hopper is a worm wheel I carried upon a spindle J having bearings
in the hopper or framework and upon this spindle are secured two feeding worms K
one right hand and one left hand, the arrangement being such that as the filling
screw B revolves it operates the wheel I and shaft J which carry round the feeding
worms K which operate to drive the material at the bottom of the hopper
towards the filling screw B and also serve to mix the materials more completely
than might otherwise be the case. If desired also the feeding worms K may be
roughened or provided with pins, projections, ledges or equivalent devices to facilitate
the mixing operations.
In Fig. 5 an apparatus similar to those previously described is shown, but having

page_text: The screws B carry gearing '
operated by the handle cause
Both these screws can therefore
two filling screws B and two cartridge carriages D.
which engaging with the central wheel L which is
the screws B to revolve as the handle is, turned.
be operated together; in this figure one of the carriages D. is shown in position
for starting the operation with the screw penetrating to the end of the cartridge
case and the other one is shown at the other end of its travel with the cartridge
case clear of the screw and its tube G.
In Figs. 6 to 9 is shown an arrangement with three filling screws B, each
with tube and carriage plate. In this case the carriages are shown fitted with
wheels to run on tracks provided in or upon the framework and chains or cords M
secured to the carriage and passing over pulleys N and carrying at their free
ends weights O which as will be seen have to be lifted as the cartridge case is
forced back from the tube G by the action of the screw B as the case is filled.
P are the cartridge cases. The principle and general construction of the device
illustrated in these figures is the same as that of the previous ones but as all the
screws are connected together by gearing as shown and driven by the primy
wheel L from one side of the apparatus the central screw is shown of the reverse
pitch to that of the two outside ones so as to produce the same result- though
revolving in the opposite direction. In Fig. 6 one of the carriages is shown half-
way off the tube G and the other two completely off.
If desired where more than one screw is employed in the same machine any
suitable means for disconnecting any of the screws may be employed so as to enable
the screws to work consecutively instead of simultaneously.
In Fig. 10 is shown means for making a hollow cartridge-and-filling the hollow
with detonating material-either the same as that of which the cartridge is composed
or a different material. Here the mandrel H instead of travelling is a fixture in
the bracket Qor other suitable part and extends to the bottom-of-the-hopper-R-to-
which it is open as in the case of the larger tube G. The screw B has secured
upon it a toothed wheel S which gears with a pinion S¹ upon the other end of the
shaft of which is another pinion T engaging with the toothed wheel T which latter
can be turned by the handle Cas before. The wheel T-or the handle Cor both
is connected with the small worm U which traverses the hollow interior of the
mandrel H and the operation of this mechanism is that as the handle C is turned
both the worms B and U are revolved the large worm B forcing forward the
material for the cartridge and the worm U receiving from the hopper R the
detonating material for the interior of the cartridge. The gearing S S T T may
be made of any desired proportion and the pitches of the screws may be varied as
required to produce the proper results. Other means besides the gearing shown may
be employed for operating one or both of the worms. The portion of the mandrel H
which projects beyond the worm B ensures the hollow all through the cartridge
which may be longer than the projecting portion of H.
In Fig. 11 the mandrel H is shown with its end closed and provided with a
central screwed opening into which is adapted to screw the solid or hollow
extension H¹. By this means the mandrel may be caused to extend beyond the
Screw B to any required extent according to the length of the extension H which
is screwed into it.
Where it is required to form pellets or plugs of the explosive material this may
be accomplished by extending the tube G beyond the worm B and forcing out a
plug, lengths of which can be severed according to requirement. Where the tube G
extends beyond the end of screw B the density of the cartridge or pellet may be
adjusted by the length of such extension; the longer the extension the greater the
density in a parallel tube. If the mandrel be also extended beyond the end of the
screw these plugs or pellets will have holes through them.
If desired either or both of the screws B and U may be made with two or more
threads so that the cartridge may leave the screw with a balanced pressure of the
threads upon opposite sides of it.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I
claim is:
1. The method of obtaining equal density in the contents of a cartridge or other
case by causing the material being filled into said case itself to propel the case
against a constant load substantially as described.
2. In apparatus such as described the combination with the filling screw B of a
surrounding tube such as G upon which the case to be filled is placed substantially
as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. In apparatus such as described the combination with the filling screw of a
carriage adapted to receive the case to be filled and to carry a constant load
substantially as described.
4. In apparatus such as described the combination with the filling screw B of a
mandrel such as H carried within said screw and adapted to slide longitudinally
therein substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
5. In apparatus such as described the combination with the carriage which
contains the case to be filled of a mandrel adapted to travel with said carriage for
the purpose of producing a central opening in the cartridge or packed material
substantially as described.
6. In apparatus such as described the combination with the filling screw of a
worm wheel such as I adapted to be operated by said filling screw and one or more
feeding worms K connected with and operated by said worm wheel substantially as
and for the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. In apparatus such as described the combination with the tube such as G and
worm B of a hollow mandrel such as H and worm U substantially as and for the
purpose described and illustrated in Figure 10 of the accompanying drawings.
8. In an apparatus such as described the combination with the hollow mandrel H
of a removable extension such as H¹ substantially as described and illustrated in
Figure 11 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th day of December, 1890.