Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 26th Oct., 1887
Complete Accepted, 9th Dec., 1887
I, PIERRE AMBJÖRN Comte de Sparre of 1 Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to the manufacture of cartridges for military or sporting
purposes and is chiefly based on the employment of cases made of paper so prepared
as to be as capable as metallic cartridges of resisting the force of the explosion without
the size being increased, that is to say, the paper cartridges are of the same external
dimensions and contain the same quantity of powder as ordinary metallic cartridges.
The metal base of the cartridge is arranged to receive without the intermediation
of a cup and anvil a double cap exactly as in solid brass military cartridges now
in use.
For the manufacture of my cartridges I proceed as follows:-If the cartridge is
cylindrical I roll it in the way usually followed for sporting cartridges. If it is
conical like military cartridges I roll the paper on a conical mandril having the form
of the interior of the cartridge. In order to enable the paper to resist the pressure
of the gases I impregnate it with a solution of phosphate of ammonia or other like
When the paper
substances such as are used for rendering fabrics non-inflammable.
case or tube is quite dry and before applying the metallic base I coat all the inside
with melted wax, bitumen or other similar substance, the case being previously
well heated so as to allow the wax to well penetrate the paper; then after having
allowed the wax to cool I varnish the case inside and outside with gum lac.
In order to prevent the paper tubes swelling from damp, I mix the paste with a
chromic acid salt, such for instance as bichromate of potass or bichromate of ainmonia
and after drying I expose them for some time to daylight. After this the cartridge
is completed in the same manner as sporting cartridges except that instead of the
bulky cylinder of compressed paper that surrounds the cup at the base in sporting
cartridges, there is, in my cartridges, a compressed paper cylinder which does not
extend beyond the embossed part of the metal base that takes the place of the
said cup.
Hitherto when it has been desired to make conical military cartridges of compressed

page_text: paper the form has been attained by hammering or striking cylindrical tubes in a
conical matrix of the required fortn. This process is attended with the drawback that
the case always has a tendency to revert more or less to its original cylindrical form
and to thus become unsuitable for use. To obviate this when the case has one or more
conical inclinations I proceed in one of the ways about to be described according to
the quality and cost to be considered. I cut a sector corresponding to each inclination.
In order to insure solidarity between the several cones I continue the paper of the
first sector commencing from the base of the case by cutting the paper into finger
like pieces at the front end over which is rolled and fixed the next following sector
and so on up to that which holds the projectile.
In solid metal cartridge cases the projectile is held or set in the case by means of a
notch in the ball itself. An objection to this is that when the projectile is fired it is
checked by the setting, but in my cartridges this objection is overcome because the
case is rolled on a metallic mandril whose end corresponds exactly with the form and
size of the projectile. The paper that surrounds the projectile after having been
varnished with gum lac is inserted immediately while still wet into the case so that
the projectile becomes united to the dry gun lac which is fixed to the inside of the
case. The projectile is thus held with such force that it cannot be detached by any
ordinary blow. These cases are so strong that they are adapted for the cartridges of
cannon or large arms.
If a more solid cartridge case is required I proceed as follows:-Instead of rolling
one by one on a conical mandril cases composed of several pieces of paper in the form
of sectors I roll on an ordinary cylindrical mandril a single whole sheet of paper
prepared as previously herein described; the dry tube is cut into the desired lengths
for each case and these are stamped into conical form in a matrix by means of a piston.
These tubes are of a larger diameter than usual and before or after smoothing them
they are passed through a toothed or serrated hole to corrugate or flute them longi-
tudinally and consequently to diminish their diameter. They are then not liable to
burst if the chamber of the gun becomes enlarged by wear as is often the case. To
prevent the case when fluted and stamped into conical form reverting to its original
cylindrical form of larger diameter I cover the conical part with a very thin metal
sleeve formed all round with perforations into which the paper is forced by stamping;
a sort of small rivets of paper are thus formed of a height equal to the thickness of
the metal. The sleeve is also attached to the paper case by means of a mastic or
siccative varnish after which the case is enlarged internally to the same amount as
the thickness of the metal sleeve so as to preserve the same internal capacity. I
make the part of the sleeve that surrounds the projectile of the same thickness as a
metal cartridge case and I remove all the paper internally for this length; I thus
obtain a paper case with the projectile set in the mictal only.
Dad thi 14th day of Wah 1007

page_text: I PIERRE AMBJÖRN Comte de Sparre, of 1 Boulevard St. Denis, Paris, France,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:--
My invention has reference to the manufacture of cartridges for military or sporting
purposes and is chiefly based on the employment of cases made of paper so prepared
as to be as capable as metallic cartridges of resisting the force of the explosion
without their size being increased, that is to say, the paper cartridges are of the
same external dimensions and contain the same quantity of powder as ordinary metallic
cartridges.
The metal base of the cartridge is arranged to receive, without the intermediation
of a cup and anvil, a double cap exactly as in solid brass military cartridges now
in use.
For the manufacture of my cartridges I proceed as follows:-If the cartridge is
cylindrical I roll it in the way usually followed for sporting cartridges. If it is
conical like military cartridges I roll the paper on a conical mandril having the form
of the interior of the cartridge. In order to enable the paper to resist the
pressure
of the gases I impregnate it with a solution of phosphate of ammonia or other like
substances such as are used for rendering fabrics non-inflammable.
When the paper
case or tube is quite dry and before applying the metallic base I coat all the inside
with melted wax, bitumen or other similar substance the case being previously well
heated so as to allow the wax to thoroughly penetrate the paper; then after having
allowed the wax to cool I varnish the case inside and outside with gum lac.
In order to prevent the paper tubes swelling from damp I mix the paste with a
chromic acid salt such, for instance, as bichromate of potass or bichromate of ammonia
and, after drying, I expose them, for some time, to daylight. After this the cartridge
is completed in the same manner as sporting cartridges except that instead of the
bulky cylinder of compressed paper that surrounds the cup at the base in sporting
cartridges there is in my cartridges a compressed paper cylinder which does not
extend beyond the embossed part of the metal base that takes the place of the
said cup.
Hitherto when it has been desired to make conical military cartridges of compressed
paper the form has been attained by hammering or striking cylindrical tubes in a
conical matrix of the required form. This process is attended with the drawback
that the case always has a tendency to revert more or less to its original cylindrical
form and to thus become unsuitable for use. To obviate this when the case has one
or more conical inclinations I proceed in one of the ways about to be described
according to the quality and cost. I cut a sector corresponding to each inclination,
such as represented in Figure 4 of the annexed drawings. In order to insure

page_text: solidarity between the several cones I continue the paper of the first sector com-
mencing from the base of the case, by cutting the paper into finger like picces at the
front end over which is rolled and fixed the next following sector and so on up to that
which holds the projectile.
In solid metal cartridge cases the projectile is held or set in the case by means of a
notch in the ball itself. An objection to this is that when the projectile is fired it is
checked by the setting, but in my cartridges this objection is overcome because the
case is rolled on a metallic mandril whose end corresponds exactly with the form and
size of the projectile. The paper that surrounds the projectile after having been
varnished with gum lac is inserted immediately while still wet into the case so that
the projectile becomes united to the gum lac which is fixed to the inside of the case.
The projectile is thus held with such force that it cannot be detached by any ordinary
blow. These cases are so strong that they are adapted for the cartridges of cannon
or large arms.
The annexed drawings illustrate my invention.
Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of a complete cartridge. D is the paper body of
the cartridge case, A the base for receiving the body D, B the double cap, and C the
embossed part that takes the place of the cup and anvil.
Figure 2 shows on a larger scale the base of the cartridge and its embossed part C.
Figure 3 represents the conical metal mandril F for forming the cartridge case D.
Figure represents the paper sector G, the part H, K of which is rolled on the
part a, b of the mandril, while the cut part K, L is rolled on the part b, c of the
mandril and the ends L, M on the part c, d.
Figure 5 represents the sector I which covers the mandril from c to d above the
part L, M of the sector G (Figure 4) and thus finishes the body of the cartridge case.
The cutting of the finger like parts of the sector G is so arranged that at each
turn of the paper fuil parts come over the cut or open parts of the previous turn; in
this way a smooth surface is obtained.
If a more solid cartridge case is required, I proceed as follows: Instead of rolling
one by one on a conical mandril cases composed of several pieces of paper in the form
of sectors I roll on an ordinary cylindrical mandril a single whole sheet of paper
prepared as previously herein described; the dried tube is cut into the desired lengths
for each case and these are stamped into conical form in a matrix by means of a
piston. These tubes are of a larger diameter than usual and before or after smoothing
them they are passed through a toothed or serrated hole-see i, Figure 6-to corrugato
or flute them longitudinally-see, Figure 7-and consequently to diminish their
diameter. They are then not liable to burst if the chamber of the gun becomes
enlarged by wear as is often the case. To prevent the case when fluted and stamped
into conical form reverting to its original cylindrical form of larger diameter I cover
the conical part with a very thin metal sleeve-see j, Figure 8-formed all round
with perforations, n, into which the paper is forced by stamping; a sort of small
rivets of paper are thus formed of a height equal to the thickness of the metal-
see m, Figure 9. The sleevej is also attached to the paper case by means of a
mastic or siccative varnish after which the case is enlarged internally to the same
amount as the thickness of the metal sleeve so as to preserve the same internal
capacity. I make the part of the sleeve that surrounds the projectile of the same
thickness as a metal cartridge case and I remove all the paper internally for this
length; I thus obtain a paper case with the projectile set in the metal only.
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, in
respect of the manufacture of cartridges, is
:-
1. The employment, in the manufacture of cartridge cases, of paper impregnated
with phosphate of ammonia or other like substances such as are used for rendering
fabrics non-inflammable, for the purpose set forth.
2. The application to paper cartridge cases or tubes of a coating of wax, bitumen or
other similar substance, for the purpose set forth.

page_text: 3. The employment, in the manufacture of paper cartridge cases, of paste with
which a suitable chromic acid salt has been mixed, as and for the purpose set forth.
4. The fixing of the projectile to the cartridge case by means of gum lac, as and
for the purpose set forth.
5. The employment, for the manufacture of cartridges, of fluted or corrugated
paper tubes, as and for the purpose set forth.
6. The employment in cartridges having papes cases, of perforated metal sleeves
attached thereto, as and for the purpose set forth.
7. The manufacture of cartridges as hereinbefore described.
J. C. MEWBURN,
169, Fleet Street, London,
Agent.