IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Kennedy at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 1st March
1855.
I, THOMAS KENNEDY, of Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain,
Gun Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN WADDING FOR FIRE-ARMS" to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a novel form of wadding clothing for shot or
ammunition for fire-arms, the wadding being so contrived that it answers all
the purposes of an ordinary wadding, whilst it also prevents all wasteful escape
of the explosive gases, and completely shields the shot from contact with the
gun's bore.
This wadding may be made of various materials, as leather, pasteboard,
wood, or other cheap and partially clastic or soft substances. It is cupped or
dished, and pressed upon one end of the shot, the shot and its encircling
wadding then having a resemblance to an egg in its cup, the interior of the
cup being made to fit the front part of the shot, whilst the exterior of the
wadding cup piece fits closely to the bore. This wadding will generally be
placed on the front, but in some cases it may be at the rear end of the shot.
It is preferred, however, to be at the front when in the case of a cylindro-
conoid; it of course caps or encircles the conoidal portion. Provision is made
for the separation of this wadding from the shot at the gun's muzzle so that
it may not impede the shot's flight, and this is accomplished by forming the

page_text: wadding in two or more sections or separate pieces, the cup piece being cut
through accordingly, and the pieces held together by some slight tie or con-
nection. This binding together answers for the retention of the wadding in
proper shape until the gun is charged, and when the shot emerges from the
muzzle the pieces of the wadding separate and fly off. If adopted in rifle guns,
one or more of the wadding sections has a projection formed upon it to fit the
rifle grooves. In this way the waddling obtains the proper turn, and it carries
the ball round with it just as if the ball itself were filling the rifle grooves.
In smooth-bore work of course the wadding is plain. With such a wadding
clothing, a ball or shot much smaller than the gun's bore may be used with an
effect equal to that arising from the actual fitting of the shot itself in the bore.
The wadding may be used on both sides of the shot, or this cup wadding may
be used in front of the shot, and a plain disc or other form behind it. When
two cup waddings are used, the arrangement answers well for combining with
a guide-winged or rifle-feathered shot, on the general principal of the shot for
which Mr. Kennedy has already obtained provisional protection under the
title of "improvements in shot or projectiles," but with fixed guide wings.
The feathers or rifle guide wings are cast upon the shot, which when placed
between two cup waddings is entirely preserved from contact with the gun's
bore, whilst at the same time it acts as a rifle shot, although fired from a
smooth bore, as previously explained in Mr. Kennedy's carlier Provisional
Specification. The shot may itself fit the bore quite slack, and the under
wadding will prevent windage. This enables the shot to be made much longer
than is usual.