IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING CARTRIDGES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William-Callander_at_the_
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1868.
I, WILLIAM CALLANDER, of Newton Stewart, in the County of Wigton,
North Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FILLING CARTRIDGES," to be as follows,
that is to say:
This Invention has for its object the filling of cartridges with powder
and shot or balls by appliances which are for the most part self-acting,
and which operate in a rapid and efficient manner. The improved
apparatus comprises a circular table or holder with receptacles for the
cartridges disposed round it; this table is moved round step by step and
brings each cartridge in succession under a first tube or opening, from
which it receives its supply of powder; next under a second tube, from
which it receives a wad; then under a third tube, from which it received
a ball, if balls are used; next under a fourth tube, from which it receives
the shot, if shot are used; and then ünder a fifth tube, from which it
receives a second wad. The cartridge is afterwards carried under a
burnisher or closer, which turns in or closes the edge of the cartridge

page_text: over the contents, and the finished cartridge is finally pushed down
through and away from the table by a plunger or piston. The cartridges
may be inserted in the table receptacles by hand from below, or they
may be pushed up into them by a piston or plunger being put in the
way thereof by hand or otherwise. The several actions take place
simultaneously on different cartridges, as when a cartridge which has
received its powder from the first tube moves to the second tube another
one takes its place under the first tube, and similarly with the rest. The
several movements are derived from a horizontal main shaft, which may
be turned by hand by means of a handle fixed on one end of it. On
this main shaft there is a grooved cam, which acting on one of a series
of pins or rollers on the table causes this table to shift round the distance
between two receptacles, but this movement occupies only a small
portion of the revolution of the shaft, and during the greater portion
thereof the table is at rest. The powder is contained in a hopper, the
bottom of which communicates with the first tube. Two valve slides
work across the tube, and the space between them measures the quantity
of powder for each charge, whilst this quantity may be varied by
adjusting one side of the tube or casing between them, which is made
movable for that purpose. The valve slides are made with holes
which are not in line, so that when the upper one is open the bottom
one is closed, and vice versa. The wads are contained in a tube which
is not in line with the second tube, but at each stroke a slide carries a
single wad from the bottom of the wad tube to the second. tube, and a
plunger or piston then descends and forces the wad down into the
cartridge. The wad is prevented from toppling over into the second
tube by encountering a light spring which it pushes out of its way. The
wads are first arranged by hand in separate tubes, and a tube. full of
wads being inserted into the wad tube on the machine a plunger or rod
is held against the wads whilst the separate tube is drawn out. This
allows of the wad tube on the machine being rapidly filled and with the
wads in their proper positions. A weight is put on the top of the wads
if necessary to insure their descending as they are used. The balls may
be fed forward one by one by a slide like that for the wads, or a tube
containing a number of balls may be placed directly over the third tube,
being fitted with two slides which shut and open at different times. A
hopper similar to the powder hopper and with similar measuring slides
is provided for shot, and the second wad is supplied by appliances like
those described for supplying the first one. The necessary movements

page_text: are imparted to the slides and to the plungers or pistons by cams on the
main shaft. The burnishing tool for closing over the edge of the
cartridge is on the bottom of a vertical spindle, which is made to rotate
by gearing from the main shaft, whilst it is pressed down by a weighted
lever that is raised by a cam at the periods when the table is shifted
round.