IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING ARMS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING ARMS."-A communication from abroad
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 11th July 1868.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING ARMS," to be as
follows: "..
The chief object of my Invention is to prevent gas escaping through
the orifice for the pin by which the cartridge is fired in breech-loading
armis.
My first improvement is designed to cause the hermetic closing of the orifice
through which the gas might escape by the pin itself, and this I effect either
by an enlargement or cap formed on the pin or by making the pin conical.
Upon the descent of the hammer the pin is driven through the metal socket
into the fulminating compound to fire the cartridge, whereupon the enlarge-
ment upon the pin will close the aperture in the socket and prevent gas
escaping therefrom, or if the pin is made conical, then its increased circum-
ference will effect the same end.

page_text: My second improvement consists in securing, by rivetting or burring, the
metal socket of the cartridge to the movable paper or pasteboard bottom of
the case, so as to prevent the separation of these parts at the time of the
explosion.
My third improvement consists in stamping the metal socket complete in!
one piece without soldering or rivetting, and with the guide for the exploding
pin and the exploding chamber. I first punch out a plain disc of metal, and
then by top and bottom punches and dies stamp the socket into the required
form.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM. THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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 law-
fully 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 CARTRIDGES FOR BREECH-LOADING ARMS," (communicated
to me from abroad by Alfred Isidore Honoré Parent, of Paris, France,) upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman,
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 per-
formed, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW-YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
The chief object of this Invention is to prevent gas escaping through
the orifice for the pin by which the cartridge is fired in breech-loading
arms.
The first improvement is designed to cause the hermetic closing of the
orifice through which the gas might escape by the pin itself, and this I effect
either by an enlargement or cap formed on the pin, or by making the pin
conical. Upon the descent of the hammer the pin is driven through the metal
socket into the fulminating compound to fire the cartridge, whereupon the
enlargement upon the pin will close the aperture in the socket and prevent
gas escaping therefrom, or if the pin is made conical, then its increased
circumference will effect the same end.
The second improvement consists in securing, by rivetting or burring, the
metal socket of the cartridge to the movable paper or pasteboard bottom of
the case, so as to prevent the separation of these parts at the time of the
explosion.
The third improvement consists in stamping the metal socket complete in
one piece without soldering or rivetting, and with the guide for the exploding
pin and the exploding chamber, or with the guide for the exploding pin only.
I first punch out a plain disc of metal, and then by top and bottom punches
and dies stamp the socket into the required form.
The first improvement is represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accom-
panying Drawings. Figure 1 shows a pin a forward with an enlargement or
cap b. Figure 2 shows this pin partly introduced into the metal socket c of
the cartridge d. Figure 3 shews the pin forced into the cartridge, with the
enlargement driven into the socket c, and thereby hermetically closing the
orifice. When the hammer descends the end of the pin a strikes against the
fulminating powder and fires the charge, and the enlargement 6 is driven into
the orifice in the socket c, and prevents all escape of gas therefrom. Figure 4
represents a conical pin, which effects the same object as the enlargement b,
Figure 1. To prevent miss-fire from the copper pin adhering to the copper
guide in the socket, I prefer to coat the pin with silver, tin, or other suitable
metal to obtain a difference in the two metallic surfaces which come in
contact

page_text: The second improvement is represented in Figures 5, 6, 7, and 8. The
socket 9 is pierced in its centre to receive a small metal socket h, Figure 6,
which passes through the pasteboard bottom k, to which it is secured by
rivetting or burring, so that the separation of the socket ġ and the pasteboard
bottom k at the time of the explosion is prevented. In order to protect the
socket g from the effects of the explosion I sometimes use an inner socket l,
see Figures 9, 10, 11, 12, and 18, introduced near the bottom of the case m;
the base of this socket is recessed in the centre, as shewn, and pierced to allow
of the ignition of the powder. This socket may be prolonged to receive
the charge of powder, and thus constitute an independent cartridge, as shewn
in Figure 13.
In the manufacture of the metal socket of cartridges in one piece according
to the third improvement, I first punch out a plain disc of metal a¹, as repre-
sented in elevation and plan in Figure 14; I then place it in a matrix 6',
Figure 19, and by means of a punch c¹ give it the configuration shewn in plan
and section at a³, Figure 15; in this Figure'i represents the part for forming
the exploding chamber, which is in a piece with the part o' for forming the
guide for the exploding pin; I next submit the socket as to the action of a
matrix e and punch f, Figure 20, whereby I obtain the configuration repre-
sented in Figure 16, which shews the socket ready to be stamped in order to
form the projecting flange 9, Figure 17. This projecting flange is produced
by a circular groove ; in the matrix e, Figure 20, which when the punch fis
brought down upon the socket forms a flange, which projects below the socket,
as seen in Figure 16; the flange is afterwards stamped into the position
shewn in Figure 17, when the socket is complete, and in a piece with the
exploding chamber i and guide o for the exploding pin, which may be plain, as
shewn in Figure 18. Figure 16* shews the socket a stamped in a piece with
the guide o, only the exploding chamber being separate. The pin a may in
this case also be plain, as the guide o renders escape of gas impossible.
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 as the " Improve-
ments in Cartridges for Breech-loading Arms,"-
First, forming the exploding pin with an enlargement or cap thereon, as
shewn in Figure 1, or conical, as in Figure 4, for the purpose herein-before
described.
Second, securing the metal socket to the movable paper or pasteboard
bottom of the case, in manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Third, stamping the metal socket complete in one piece without soldering

page_text: or rivetting, and with the guide for the exploding pin and the exploding
chamber, or with the guide for the exploding pin only, substantially by the
means and in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.