IMPROVEMENTS IN BLASTING
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Norton, of Cork, in the County of
Cork, Esquire, Captain, late of Her Majesty's 34th Foot, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLASTING."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Norton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th October 1852.
I, JOHN NORTON, of Cork, in the County of Cork, Esquire, Captain,.
late of II. M. 34th Foot, do hereby declare the nature of the said:
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BLASTING" to be as follows:-
The improvements consist in employing tubes charged with fulmi-
nating mercury or other highly explosive compound, which are intro-
duced into holes bored in the rock to be blasted, in lieu of an ordinary
charge of powder, and ignited by percussion instead of by a fuse. The
tubes should be waterproofed by being dipped into solution of gutta
percha after the percussion caps have been placed on the ends of the
same. No tamping is required under this system, nor indeed could it
be admissible, as a very slight blow is sufficient to explode the percus-

page_text: sion caps.
The percussion tube, loaded with a charge proportioned to
the extent of the blast, is introduced into a cavity formed in the rock by
drilling or boring in the usual way; then a round bar of wood or metal
is carefully lowered in until it rests on the end of the tube, and by
striking the projecting end of this bar with a mallet, the caps are
detonated, and the discharge of the blasting compound effected. The
tubes may be formed of tin or sheet metal, or even paper stiffened and
waterproofed
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Norton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN NORTON, of Cork, in the County of Cork, Esquire, Captain,
late of Her Majesty's 34th Foot, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Norton, Her special licence that I,
the said John Norton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Norton, 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 BLASTICO," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Norton, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 month, next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that the said John Norton, do hereby
declare the nature of 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:
My improvements in blasting consist in employing percussion
cartridges or tubes charged with fulminating mercury or other highly
explosive compound, which are introduced into holes bored in the rock
or other substance to be blasted or ruptured, in lieu of an ordinary
charge of gunpowder, and are ignited by percussion instead of a fuse
as practised when blasting with gunpowder.
The manner in which I prepare my percussion cartridge is shewn
in the Drawings hereunto annexed; Figure 1, being an external
elevation; and Figure 2, a longitudinal section. A, is a plug of wood
or metal which forms the base of the cartridge, and to which the thin
cylindrical metal casing B, is attached. This casing may, however, be
formed of paper, linen, or other suitable material waterproofed by a
coating of caoutchouc or gutta percha. C, is a plug similar to the
base plug which forms the top of the cartridge. A pin D, passes
through the centre of the upper plug, and fits into a percussion cap
placed in a recess made for its reception in the centre of the lower
plug. The upper end of the pin D, might also be fitted with a
percussion cap, and thus the cartridge would be fired at top and bottom
simultaneously. Instead of the base plug being hollowed out for the
reception of the cap, the cap might be fitted over the end of the pin
and just rest on the top of the base plug. Previous to the pin being
inserted in its place the casing must be filled with fulminating mercury
or other highly explosive compound. The pin and upper plug must then
be inserted, and the casing fastened round or over the plug. When the
cartridge is about to be used a hole in the rock or other substance to
be blasted must be bored out, and the cartridge inserted therein; upon
the top of the cartridge a bar of metal or wood is placed, and by
striking the end of the bar which projects from the hole bored, the
cap will be detonated, and the discharge of the blasting compounds
effected.

page_text: And having now described the nature of my said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
I claim the blasting of rocks and other substances by means of the
percussion tubes or cartridges herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Norton, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
JOHN NORTON. (L.S.)