A NEW AND USEFUL PACKING FOR PROJECTILES FOR GUNS OR ORDNANCE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH ARE RIFLED OR GROOVED ON THEIR BORES
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John P. Schenkl, of Boston, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, for the Invention of "A NEW
AND USEFUL PACKING FOR PROJECTILES FOR GUNS OR ORDNANCE, ESPECIALLY
THOSE WHICH ARE RIFLED OR GROOVED ON THEIR BORES."
Sealed the 9th July 1861, and dated the 19th April 1861.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said John P. Schenkl at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Decla-
ration, on the 19th April 1861, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, BE IT
KNOWN, that I, JOHN P. SCHENKL, of Boston, of the State of Massa-
chusetts, of the United States of America, have invented "A NEW AND USEFUL
PACKING FOR PROJECTILES FOR GUNS OR ORDNANCE, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHICH ARE
RIPLED OR GROOVED ON THEIR BORES ;" and I do hereby declare the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which it is to be performed to be fully
described in the following Specification, and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
The object of this Invention is to provide for rifled guns of all descriptions
(whether ordnance or small arms, and breech-loading or muzzle-loading,) a
packing which may be readily and easily applied to a projectile, and inserted

page_text: with it in the gun; one also which, when the charge of the gun is exploded,
shall be expanded into the grooves of the gun, and receive the rifle or rotatory
motion in its passage out through the bore, and shall not lead or otherwise
materially injure the walls thereof; one, also, which shall not endanger the
lives of those who may be near its line of flight, and at the ordinary distance
in front. These results are obtained by my Invention, in the carrying out of
which the expanding packing for the main body of the projectile is made of
common papier machè or paper pulp, or its equivalent, having similar pro-
perties. The said packing, when properly formed, prepared, and fitted to
the main body of a projectile, or shot or shell, and fired from the gun for
which it may be intended, will be forced into the grooves thereof by the
explosion of the gunpowder or charge, and will retain the impressions of such
grooves in its passage through and out of the bore, the said packing being so
light and easily blown to pieces immediately upon issuing from the muzzle as
not to be dangerous to life, nor to impair the accuracy of the flight of the
projectile.
In making these packings of paper pulp, the material taken in a wet and
soft state is subsequently to be formed and pressed into the required shape by
means of a suitable mould, after which it is to be thoroughly dried, and may
then be pressed again if necessary. To prevent its being acted upon. by
moisture and atmospheric changes, and also to give greater tenacity and
firmness to its exterior surfaces, one or more coatings of drying oil, paint, or
varnish should be applied to it after it is dried, those kinds being preferred
which, containing oil or oily properties, will, when the packing is subjected to
the pressure caused by firing, exude from it, and serve to lubricate the gun,
and diminish the friction of the packing against its bore..
These packages may be applied to the main body of a projectile in. many, if
not all the ways in which lead is now used for the same purpose. A very
simple and advantageous method is the one shown in the accompanying
Drawing (marked Figures 1 and 2,) and which may be described as follows:
-The projectile itself shown in longitudinal section at A is made tapering
toward-its-rear end and the packing B for it is so made that its interior
surface shall fit snugly around this tapering portion of the shot, the exterior
surface of the said packing being cylindrical, and of a diameter very nearly
equal to that of the bore of the piece for which it is intended, and only enough
smaller to admit of such packing being forced down easily in the bore of the
piece during the process of loading it. The tapering end of the shot may be
allowed to project through and beyond the rear end of the packing in order to
protect the packing from injury during transportation of it and of the shot.

page_text: The packing above described is shown in front view in Figure 2, and in rear
view in Figure 3, and in side elevation in Figure 4.
The practical operation of this packing, when properly constructed and fired
from a rifled piece or fire-arm is, that being exposed at its rear end to the
direct action of the gunpowder, it will thereby be compressed into the grooves
of the gun before the full impetus is imported to the shot itself. The rear
end of the packing should be of an area sufficiently large in proportion to that
of the rear end of the shot to secure this effect. To prevent the packing from
rotating upon and around the tapering portion of the shot the latter may be
furnished with a number of grooves, into which the packing will be driven by
the explosion of the charge of the gun.
By being made of coarse paper pulp, and in other respects as described, the
packing not only has the requisite elasticity, but its surfaces become indurated
in a manner or to a degree which causes it to operate to peculiar advantage.
The hardened surface, besides facilitating the passage of the packing through
the grooves of a gun, will operate to prevent the packing from 'absorbing
moisture or water, such being a matter of much importance.
load of a gun,
claim the use of
I am aware that lead, copper, and various other metals, or composition of
metals have been employed as packings, and that felt, leather, and cloth have
been used as wads to projectiles while forming part of the
therefore I do not claim such in the abstract; nor do I
paper pulp, or papier machè as a substitute for lead under such circum-
stances. But I claim my improved manufacture of projectile packing as
made of paper pulp, and with its surfaces indurated, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this 28th
day of March 1861.
JOHN P. SCHENKL. (L.S.)