US236678A - howaed hand - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

J. H. HAND. Cartridge Loading Implet nent.

No. 236,678. Patented Jan. 18, 1881.

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UN TED STATES PATENT FFICE.

J. HOWARD HAND, OF ASTORIA, NEWV YORK.

CARTRI DGE-LOADING IMPLEMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 236,678, dated January 18, 1881.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, J. HOWARD HAND, of Astoria, in the county of Queens and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Gartridgelrtammers, of which the following is a description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, where- Figurelis a side view of a common cartridgerammer in position for forcing a wad into a brass shot-shell, (for use in breech-loading shot-gun,) the shell and the funnel represented as cut in central vertical longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a similar view of my improved cartridge-rammer. Fig. 3 is a view of the lower end of my improved cartridge-rammer.

It is well known to users of breech-loading shot-guns that in loading the shells therefor wads must be used one or two sizes larger in diameter than the bore of the shell, in order to have the wads pack tightly into the shell. A No. 10 wad is usually used for a No.12 shell. To enable such a wad to be introduced into the shell a funnel, a, is made use of. The common rammer b is of substantially the same diameter (slightly less, of course) as the bore of the shell 0 itself. The result of its use is that the wad is more or less broken and turned up on the edge, on one side or the other, offering unequal resistance to the escape of the gases when the powder explodes, increasing the tendency of the wad to turn edgewise in the shell or gun when forced out, with consequent loss of force and accuracy in the charge, and making the wad liable to become loose in the shell by carriage thereof, or by the concussion incident to the explosion of a charge in a neighboring barrel. These and other difficulties are incident to the use of the common cartridge-rammer.

My invention consists, primarily, in giving the rammer an elastically-expansible end, so that at its first contact with the wad it may be diametrically of the same size as the wad, and therefore cover the whole upper surface of the wad, and, contracting by contact with the funnel and the interior of the shell, continue to cover the whole wad during its progress downward through the funnel and into I show this improvement embodied in a wooden rammer, .d, in Figs. 2 and 3. The radial movability of the end of the rammer, which comes in contact with the wad, is attained by making the slots 0, dividing the rammer, into sections cl, the elasticity of which is given by the natural elasticity of the wood. It is well to also bore the central hole, f. In order to have this end of the rammer round when compressed by being inserted into a shell, the central hole, f, may be bored and the cross-slots 6 made before the rammer is turned in a lathe, and the sections compressed and bound while the turning is being done.

It is necessary that the exterior surface of my improved rammer should have a slight continuous taper from the base or lower end to a point opposite the upper ends of the slots 0, in order that the expansible portion may properly enter the funnel and shell, and from the point opposite the upper ends of the slots to the enlarged head the exterior surface of my rammer may continue to taper, or be cylindrical with a diameter nearly that of the shell, so that after the eXpansible portion has entered the remaining portion above, it may be exactly centered over the wad, and fit snugly within the shellwithoutlateral play, to insure the pressure, when applied to the head, being uniformly distributed upon the wad,thus avoiding the liability of the wad being tipped and seated in an angular position upon the charge incident to cartridge-ramniers as heretofore constructed.

This improvement may be readily embodied in metal by making the rammer of a tube divided into sections the same as the wooden rammer, with appropriate ends fastened to the sections and the sections sprung radially outward. The wooden rammer can be made more durable by facing the sections with thin brass. I am also well aware that there are other methods of attaining radial expansibility of central hole extending up therein, in combithe end of the rammer than the specific methnation with a funnel or guide, a, for directing [O ods herein described. it axially, to enable it to squarely seat the Wad I claim as my invention within the shell, substantially as described. A cartridge-rammer slotted at its lower end, J. HOWARD HAND.

and with a slight continuous taper on the ex- Witnesses:

terior surface of its slotted portion, which is A. A. MCCOY,

otherwise smooth and unbroken, and with a I THEODORE V. AYERS.

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