IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS, AND IN THE APPLICATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE PROPELLING AGENTS WITH WHICH THEY ARE CHARGED
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Charles Douglas Waddell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
May 1860.
I, CHARLES DOUGLAS WADDELL, of Queen's Terrace, Bayswater, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, and Captain in Her Majesty's Indian Army,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE AND FIRE-ARMS, AND IN THE APPLICATION AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE
PROPELLING AGENTS WITH WHICH THEY ARE CHARGED," to be as follows:-
As charges are at present applied the object sought is to effect their nearly
instantaneous combustion almost before the ball has had time to move, by
which
means the gases are obtained in a highly compressed form at the breech
of the weapon used.
The principle of my Invention depends upon adopting an entirely different
method, its object is to generate the gases progressively and in a comparatively
gradual manner, so that they shall exert a continuously accelerated pressure
on the ball during the whole of the time of its passage from breech to muzzle,
and to regulate the rate of rapidity of this accelerated pressure and consequent
velocity of the ball at pleasure, by varying the nature, application, and
arrangement of the charge, other propelling agents besides gunpowder being
used where found appropriate. The means by which the above object is
accomplished are,-
I. By arranging the charge so as to burn seriatim by placing it in an
elongated chamber, and firing it at or near the front.
II. By regulating the time of burning of such charge as a whole by altering
the proportions of the length relatively to the diameter of the chamber in
which it is contained.

page_text: III. By varying the rate of rapidity at which the different portions of the
charge at different points in the length of the chamber burn in successive
instants of time, and by regulating the pressure at each instant of the gases of
those different portions of the charge on the projectile. Both of these con-
ditions are fulfilled by forming the charges of 2, 3, or more propelling agents
arranged in certain order, proportions, or combinations in the elongated
chamber, generally placing in a series that propellant from among those
selected to form the charge which gives least gas in a given time for a given
bulk, that is, the weakest propellant first for ignition, and that which gives
most gas in a given time for a given bulk, that is, the strongest propellant last
for ignition, but where desireable a certain portion of a strong propellant is to
precede the series above named; the second condition is also fulfilled by
making grooves in the bore straight in smooth bores, but conformed to the
rifling, though distinct from it in rifled bores of certain depth, width, and
number at the breech, but running to nothing near the muzzle; I call them
"windage grooves," and they may be used either with one or a series of
propellants, but not where a certain portion of a strong propellant precedes a
series of others as before mentioned.
This Invention can be adapted to any weapon using a projectile, not
depending on compression or expansion for its fit, by fitting it with an
elongated chamber to be fired from the front, and with the windage grooves
when appropriate, of course modifying their forms and dimensions according
to the nature, strength, and proportions of the weapon, and of the charge
used, the form and weight of projectile, and the velocity to be given it.
New weapons are also to be constructed according to the principles of this
Invention, the thickness of metal being generally more uniform than by the
present system, the proportions depending on the purposes to be fulfilled, extra
strength being allowed for the windage grooves.
The advantages of this Invention consist in reducing the strain on the
weapon, diminishing the violence of recoil, making velocity in ball more or
less independent of length of bore, enabling a short gun to do the work of a
longer one, lessening weight and thickness of metal, and obviating strengthening
processes. It is most applicable to large ordnance of short bore and great
calibre.