US45319A - Improvement in cartridges for revolving- fire-arms - Google Patents

Description

J. M. COOPER. Q Cartl idge.

No 45,319; Patented D096. 1864. V

j Witneses: Q Inveptor: v

f W W Y. STAT-ES ammunition.

. metallic cartridges.

JAMES MASLIN ooornn; on

. PATENT '0 mrrsnune, P-EnnsYLvA'mA.

mrnovniuenr m CARTRIDGES eon nnvonvme FIRE-ARMS.

' Specification firming part of mm Patent No. 45,319, December 6,

To all whom it may concern Be it known thatL'JAMEs MASLIN (Joor'nn, 0f the city of Pittsburg, in the county of Alle-' gheny and State of. Pennsylvania, have in-.

V vent-ed a new and useful improvemeutin adaptation of metallic cartridges to breech-cylinders specification, in whi'ch- Figural is a longitudinal section through the axis of a revolving breech or charge cylinder of a pistol or otherfire-arm, showing one of the charge-chambers furnished with my car tridge, and the other with a cone for using loose Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of a-revolving breech with charge-chanibers loaded-with my metallic cartridges. Figs. 3, 4, and 5 are perspective representations of my My invention consists of a metallic cartridge case having afball projecting from the front end, anda perforated cone, suitable for percus- 'sion-caps, projecting from the rear end, adapted for, charging fire-arms with fixed ammunition from the front end of the. breech; Another feature of my invention is constructing my cartridge-case with ashort neck of reduced diameter to fit into a similarly shapedcavity at .the rear end of the breech-cylinder; the object of which is, that by the ball at one end and the neck of the cartridge-case at the other end the cartridge isnot only centered in the chamber of the breech,.but is also so held in place as to sustain the stroke of the hammer at the endof the nipple with suificient firmness to pre'.

vent'the cartridge being pushed forward, and

primedor' capped after it is inserted into the charge-chamber as readily as before by adapting the rear endof the breech to the projecting coneor nipple. The advantage thus aris- Y ing from the use of my improved cartridge is great, because when fixed ammunition is loaded into the front end of acharge-chamber, if the priming should be defective, and fail to'explode when struck, a great difliculty would exist in removing the useless charge, but by the use of my-cartridge the place of the cap may be supplied \by a good one, and the dilficulty surmounted.

To enable others skilled in the art to conto describe it more fully..

In the drawing, a is a revolving chargecylinder fora revolving pistohhaving, as is usual, :1 central bore, b, for the arbor or spindle of the revolver, surrounded by a number of charge-chambers, c 0, having their axes par allel with the axis of the cylinder. These ter fromthe frontend to within a short-distance of-the rear end, where the diameter contractsslightly.

or case, 0, most conveniently madeof thin sheetat the other the cylinder is open to receive the end of the ball g, which is of slightly larger dij is fitted with an ordinary percussion-cap. The cone may beef brass or of steel, either made in one piece with the cartridge-cases or inserted into and attached to it.

Figs. 3, 4, and 5 showfldiflerent modifications l of shape ofthe cartridge-case; In Figs. aand .end, while that shown in Fig. 3 is of the same diameter throughout. The rear end of the case may-be either a plane surface, at right angles to the axis of the cartridge-case, with the cone projecting centrally from it, as in Fig. 4, or the extremity of the cylinder may be beveled oli' toward the base of the conei as in Fig. 5,. so

at the base of the bore of the charge-chamber. v vWhere the cartridge-case and the chargechainhers are made slightly tapering, the. body home by the'ramrod, as a slight force applied to the end of the nipple, after the cartridge has been fired, 'will serve to loosen the cartridgecase, when it will readily drop out in front. These cartridge-caseswill serve for repeated use by filling them with h a ball in the open end.

struct and use my improvemena'l will proceed v charge-chambers c may be of the same diamej The cartridges consistofa metallic cylinder brass, with a cone or nipple, fiatone end, and

ameter than the cartridge-case.v The cavity of the case is filled with powder, and the nipple 5 the case is slightly tapering toward the rear as to fit into a corresponding yshaped cavity :of the cartridge-case may be made of the same diameter as the bore of the cylinder, and thus 3 fit tightly therein when the cartridge is rammed v powder and inserting When, however, the charge-chambers are of uniform diameter from the front end to the shoulder formed for the reception of the cone ornipple in cylinders'of ordinary'construction,

it will not do to have the had y of the cartridgecase fit tightly throughout its'entire length, as theex'plosion of the charge would tighten the cartridge-case in the charge chamber so that it could not he readily removed after firing; and as my metalliccartridges are intended to be used in revolving cylinders of ordinary construction, in mostoi' which the charge-chains here are of. uniform diametexg, I make use of cartridge-cases constructed as" shown inFig. 3. The cartridge-case e is cylindrical and of uniform diameter, which is less than that of the charge-chamber, At the rear end of the chamber the diameter is still further reduced for a short distance only from the rear end, forming 'a short necii, h,'(see Fig. 3,) and the cone or nipplef' projects from the rear end, as before described. in the rear end of v the charge-chamberths diameter is reduced so as to correspond exactly with the diameter of the neck'k of the cartridge-case. I The diameter of the ball attached to the cartridge-case is'such as to fit tightly'into the bore of the charge-chamber. Now, when the cartridge thus constructed is inserted into the front end of the charge-cham-' her, and forced home by the rumored, the cartridge-case touches the bore of the revolving cylinder only at the neck h,,leaving a -spaceall around the cartrid-ge-case, but the ball fits sufiiciently tightly in the hereto sustain the strokeoi'the hammer on the outlet the nipple f and when thecaitridge is firedthe case will still he loose the here oi"theicharge chamher;excepting alt-the, heel: it, which is easily-relieved by a slight pressureon the-nipple. @his construction of metalliccartridges with a ball projectingefrom-the' iront-, end, and--21. neck at the rear end, i'fsrnallerdia neter than the body of the .certrid ge, may aiso lieadvenztageously used with csrtridgeswithelnt cones, and primed with fulminatingpowder atjth'e rear end.

- Thegreat advantagis'cf thense of metallic I cartridges thus constructedgihyrerolvingtfirearmsis disease with .which-thepiece loaded, the cartrid go being inserted in the front instead of the rear. It also avoids the necessity of boring thecharge-cylinder clear through of uniform diameters and the consequent danger attendantoulhaviiig. the cylinder open at both ends. ,Itis. manifest also that there 1s no peculiar construction of the other parts of the fire-arm necessary, as a revolver so con:

structed as to use-a charge-cylinder furnishedwith nipples for using loose ammunition may. be used, the cylinder or breech having s; round: hole at the rear end of each charge-chamberibr the cone fof the, cartridge to project through, i 4 the cone of the cartridge thus'bearing the'same' relation to the hammer as the nipples of cylin: .-v

ders of ordinary const'ructionyas seen in Fig; 1, where one of the charge-chambers is repre; sented, for the purpose of illustration, with an ordinary nipple, d, inserted.

Having thus described my improvement,

what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A metallic cartridge case having a perfo rate metallic cone (for percussion-caps) projecting from-its rear end, and having no flange or other projection of greater diameter than that:

of the charge-chamber in which the cartridge is to be inserted, and having a neck at or near the rear end of the case to fita. cavity inthe chamber or equivalent construction forholdin'g the cartridge in place, so as to resist the pact of the hammer in firing, substantially as hereinhefore described.

Making metallic cartridge-cases with or without a nipple, and having a short neck at the rear end, of less diameter than the main 1 body of the cartridge, fitting closely into a corresponding cavity or perforation at the rear w. 3mm,

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