IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINES, RESERVOIRS, OR RECEPTACLES FOR STORING GUNPOWDER, CARTRIDGES, AND OTHER EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Palliser at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th
December 1870.
I, WILLIAM PALLISER, of the Army and Navy Club, Pall Mall, in
the County of Middlesex, a Major in Her Majesty's Army, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAGAZINES,
RESERVOIRS, OR RECEPTACLES FOR STORING GUNPOWDER, CARTRIDGES, AND OTHER
EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention has reference to the construction of magazines or
receptacles for storing gunpowder and other explosive materials of strong
metal tubes closed at one end and open at the other, and arranged in
such manner that when an explosion of the contents of one such tube
takes place the contents shall simply be fired out of the open end of the
tube without affecting the contents of the other tubes. For this purpose
I construct such magazines by preference of a long cylinder of cast iron,
closed at one end and open at the other, which cylinder is bored out and
lined with a coiled wrought-iron barrel of the same length, which barrel
if necessary is protected internally with a lining or coating of copper,
bronze, or other suitable material. The breech end of the coiled tube is

page_text: closed by a plug which screws into it, by preference with a relieved
thread on the barrel, and which abutts against the cast-iron breech of
the casing. A number of such cylinders or magazines are arranged to
radiate from a common centre with the closed ends inwards, and the
open outer ends are all closed with one or more removeable cupped
plugs, the cups of which are turned towards the opening, so that if an
explosion takes place in one of the cylinders the concussive action pro-
duced will tend to expand the cups of the plugs to the other cylinders,
and will thus effectually prevent any passage of the flame into the
contents thereof. The open ends of the cylinders are furthermore pro-
tected by means of strong vertical iron or other partitions placed between
them, and they are also closed in at top by a covering or roof. Several
tiers of such radiating cylinders or magazines may be arranged one above
the other. These magazines are by preference arranged in the centre of
a building with the open ends facing the outer walls thereof, which walls
are so constructed with closed openings opposite each magazine that on
the accidental firing of the contents of one of these the charge will
be blown through the opening opposite to the magazine without other-
wise damaging the building. The magazines may also be arranged in
a row instead of in a circle, as described, and they may even be placed
in a vertical position, though not so advantageously. I also employ
such magazines, constructed on a small scale and placed in a vertical
or inclined position, for containing the powder for filling cartridges in
workshops, which magazines are also closed at the upper open ends with
one or more cupped plugs, as before described. At the lower closed end
they have a passage formed communicating with a receptacle so arranged
with cocks or slides that a charge of powder equal to the exact amount
required for one cartridge may be caused to flow first into the receptacle
from the magazine, and then on closing the communication with the
latter the charge is allowed to flow from the receptacle into the cartridge
case.