IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE AND SMALL ARMS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Preston, of the City of Manchester, Machi-
nist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND IN PROJECTILES
FOR ORDNANCE AND SMALL ARMS."
Sealed the 22nd June 1855, and dated the 12th January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Preston at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th
January 1855.
I, FRANCIS PRESTON, of the City of Manchester, Machinist, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND
IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE AND SMALL ARMS," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention consists in drilling a hole, smaller than the
finished bore, through the entire length of the cannon or other piece of ord-
nance to be bored; through this hole an arbor is passed for supporting the
boring head, by which the hole is bored to the required size, as in the
improved way of boring steam engine cylinders; this enlarged bore terminates
at or near the touch-hole, and the distance between the touch-hole and the
breach is bored out conical. A conical plug is then driven into this conical
chamber, thereby closing the breach; and in order to prevent any injurious
effects of the action of the discharges on the conical plug, it is secured by a
drift pin, or by a plate dovetailed into the breach.

page_text: My improvements in projectiles are for the purpose of imparting to them a
rotary motion round their axis, and in dispensing with the grooves in the
barrels at present required to produce such rotary motion. My improved
projectiles are constructed on the same principle as those for the Minie rifle,
that is to say, a recess is formed, which expands by the action of the exploding
powder. The projectile is partly cylindrical, and I prefer to make the front
portion of it round, or nearly hemispherical. In the cylindrical portion of
the projectile I make three or other suitable number of grooves, which extend
to near the recessed end, and which gradually diminish in depth until they
entirely cease, thereby leaving the recessed edge of the projectile without
grooves. These grooves are diagonal; and the effect of these grooves, when
the projectile is passing through the air, is to impart the rotary motion
required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Francis Preston in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
PRESTON, of the City of Manchester, Machinist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Francis Preston, Her special license that I, the said Francis Preston,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Francis
Preston, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND
IN PROJECTILES FOR ORDNANCE AND SMALL ARMS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Francis Preston, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seál Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Francis Preston, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
Specification thereof, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings (that is to say):-
My said Invention consists, first, in an improved mode of boring cannon
and other pieces of ordnance; and, secondly, in an improved mode of con-
structing projectiles for imparting thereto a rotary motion.
I have in the said Drawings given Figures for shewing how my improve-
ments may be constructed, similar parts in each of the views being marked
with similar letters of reference.
Figure 1 of the said Drawings is a section through a cannon constructed
according to my improvements; and Figure 2 is an end view of the same. a is
the body of the cannon, which is cast solid in the ordinary manner, or through
which a small hole may be cast from end to end. If the cannon is cast solid,
I propose to bore it out first to the size of the hole indicated by the dotted
lines b, b; but if a small hole is cast through the cannon, I then enlarge the
said hole to the size indicated by the said dotted lines; through this hole an
arbor is passed for supporting the boring head, by which the hole is enlarged
to the requisite size of the bore of the cannon. This arbor and boring head
are constructed in the same manner as those employed in boring steam engine
cylinders, or other articles requiring a parallel hole through them; the metal
between the end of the enlarged boro and the end of the cannon is then
bored out conical, and a plug of a corresponding shape, marked c, is driven
in to close the breech. In order to prevent the injurious effects of tho
discharges on the conical plug c, the drift d is driven into a dovetailed groove
in the end of the cannon, to prevent the conical plug being driven further into
and acting as a wedge against the end of the cannon. The plug may also be
still further secured by studs or bolts, shewn at e, e, and hoops of wrought iron,
such as those marked f,f, may be shrunk on to strenghten the cannon.
Figure 3 is a section of the breech end of a cannon, representing another
mode of securing the conical plug c; in this instance the smaller end of the
plug abuts against the end of the tail screw g.
Figure 4 is a side view, Figure 5 a section, and Figure 6 a plan, of one
of my improved projectiles for ordnance. The body of the projectile is of cast
iron, and cylindrical, the front portion being rounded off, or nearly hemi-
spherical; the other end of the projectile is recessed, and is furnished with a
groove, into which a ring of melted lead, or other suitable metal, marked h,
is cast; this ring is caused to expand by the action of the exploding powder,
in the same manner as the Minié bullet, thereby preventing windage. Along
the cylindrical and partly on the rounded portion of my improved projectiles,

page_text: three or other suitable number of diagonal or slanting grooves i, i, are cast,
these grooves being deepest near the front, and gradually diminishing in depth
until they entirely cease, as shewn best in the section, Fig. 5. The object
and effect of these grooves is to impart a rotary motion around its axis to the
projectile without making grooves into the barrel of the cannon, the said
motion being derived from the resistance of the air acting on the sides of the
inclined grooves.
Fig. 7 represents an ordinary bullet for a Minié rifle, to which my im-
provements are applied; in this case the diagonal grooves i, i, are produced
by pressure, or in any other convenient manner. I am aware that projectiles
have before been made to derive a rotary motion round their axes from the
resistance of the air; I therefore wish it to be understood that I do not lay
any claim to imparting such motion to projectiles, but. only the improvements
described for obtaining the same.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that I claim,-
First, the improvements shewn and described for boring cannon and other
pieces of ordnance; and, secondly, the improvements shewn and described for
imparting rotary motion to projectiles for ordnance and small arms.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Preston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
FRANCIS PRESTON. (L.S.)