IMPROVEMENTS IN GUNS
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of 67 Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
GUNS, a communication to me from abroad by Albert Eastman, of Ashtabula, Ohio,
United States, Manufacturer, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
This invention relates to an improvement in Guns, the object of the same being
to provide an exploding chamber of such construction that the recoil shall be
diminished and penetration increased. With these ends in view the invention
consists of an exploding chamber larger at the breech end than at the muzzle end,
a transverse section of which taken at any point between said ends, is a plane
polygon.
The invention further consists of certain features of construction and com-
binations of parts as will be fully described and pointed out in the claims.
In the drawings, Fig 1 is a view of the chamber partially in section applied to
heavy ordnance. Fig 2 is a transverse sectional view, and Fig 3 is a view showing
the sides of the chamber arranged spirally.
A, represents the breech end of an exploding chamber. In the accompanying
drawings this end is represented as a regular octagon, the chamber itself forming
as represented in Fig 1 the frustum of a right pyramid.
a represents the upper base or muzzle end of the chamber at which point a
smooth round bore B begins. The sides C, of the chamber are plane rectilinear
figures, "trapezoids," the upper end c¹ of each plane C being shorter than, and
parallel to the lower end c, and the sides d incline toward each other. The bases A
and a are preferably regular polygons, and the chamber itself as before stated the
frustum of a right pyramid; but I do not limit myself to a chamber of any
particular number of sides as further experiment may prove, that a chamber whose
bases are polygons of a greater or lesser number of sides than eight, will produce
better results than those already attained. Nor do I confine myself to regular
figures in the construction of the several sides of the chamber, although I consider
it preferable to so construct it,

page_text: The powder which is supposed to fill the chamber is ignited by any approved
device at a point near the muzzle end of the chamber.
My experiments have shown that a chamber of the construction explained above
will give the projectile a great penetration, and the recoil will be comparatively
slight.
My theory for the results obtained from this construction, as far as I have
determined upon a theory, is as follows: The lesser part of the charge, and that
part in close proximity to the projectile being ignited first gives the projectile a
gradual start, as the greater portion of the charge becomes ignited the expansive
force of the gases increases, gradually accelerating the speed of the projectile until
it leaves the muzzle. These results would follow from the use of a conical chamber
which, I am aware, is not new. The advantages which I claim for my construction
over those of a simple conical chamber are the following: As the gases begin to
form from the ignition of the charge there is a tendency to force their motion in
every direction; a portion of the motion being lost to the projectile, in a conical
chamber, by the transverse whirls which the smooth surface of the conical chamber
allows. In my improved chamber, however, these whirls are obstructed by the
angles which are formed where the side surfaces of the chamber meet, and as the
edges of these diedral angles all tend toward the base of the projectile the force of
the gases will be guided in this direction and an increased velocity will be thereby
imparted to the projectile.
If the side of the chamber be slightly twisted, or set spirally as represented in
Fig 3, a whirl will be imparted to the projectile similar to that imparted by a
spiral groove in a rifled barrel, without the hindrance caused by the friction
between the projectile and such a groove.
This chamber is applicable to both breech and muzzle loading fire arms as well
as breech and muzzle loading heavy ordnance.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is :-
1. An exploding chamber for a gun, said chamber being larger at the breech end
than at the muzzle end, a transverse section of the chamber, passing through any
point in the slant height, being a plane polygon, substantially as set forth.
2. An exploding chamber for a gun, said chamber being larger at the breech end
than at the muzzle end, a transverse section of the chamber passing through any
point in the slant height, being a regular plane polygon, substantially as set forth.
3. An exploding chamber for a gun, said chamber being larger at the breech end
than at the muzzle end, and bounded by plane surfaces, substantially as set forth.
4. An exploding chamber for a gun, said chamber being in form, the frustum of
a right pyramid, substantially as set forth.
Dated thin and d 1001