US977497A - Method of manufacturing cartridge-shells. - Google Patents

Description

G. A. BAILEY.

METHOD OF MANUPAOTURING CARTRIDGE SHELLS.

APPLICATION FILED AUG. 3, 1910.

. 977,497. Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY.

CHARLES A. BAILEY, OF GROMWELL, CONNECTICUT.

METHOD OF MANUFACTURING CARTRIDGE-SHELLS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1910.

Application filed August 3, 1910. Serial No. 575,300.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES A. BAILEY, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Cromwell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Manufacturing Cartridge-Shells, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact specification.

This invention relates to the art of manufacturing cartridge-shells and more especially to that class thereof which comprise paper tubes provided with caps or heads in which the primers are disposed, so that after the shell is thus complete, the same may be loaded with powder and shot by subsequent operations. 7

My invention has for its object an im proved method of manufacturing these shells or rather in assembling the shell proper with the cap or head, the base-wad, and the primer, all these several operations taking place without removing the paper shell from its holder.

The invention has, furthermore, for its object the improved method of assembling the shell or rather the firm embodiment of the base-wad in the shell-head as will hereinafter appear, and is clearly illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which similar characters denote similar parts, and in which Figure 1 is a longitudinal section of the paper shell which constitutes one element of the complete article. Fig. 2. is an end view thereof. Fig. 3 illustrates the first operation, namely: that of inserting the base-wad within the shell. Fig. at shows the next operation and illustrates the manner in which the head end of the shell is crimped or reduced so as to adapt the same for reception of the cap. Fig. 5 shows the shell supplied with the metal cap or head. Fig. (3 illustrates the base-wad compressed and also pierced for the reception of the primer and Fig. 7 shows the entire cartridge-shell complete, so that it now consists of the paper shell, the cap or head, the base-wad and the primer, all of these parts being firmly and rigidly held relatively to each other.

Briefly stated, the present in ention has for its object the provision of a method whereby cartridge-shells of the species above cited, may be manufactured accurately and expeditiously, and without requiring the withdrawal and reinsertion of the shell from and into the holder through the entire proceeding of the assembling of the several parts of which the shell is finally composed.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be seen that the shell 10 consists of a plain cylindrical tube made of paper or fiber. This tube is inserted in a holder H indicated by dotted and dash lines in all of the steps through which the shell has to pass in order to be complete. It will be noted that the head-end of the shell projects out for some distance beyond the front face of the holder H so as to permit the manipulation of that end without in any way aifecting the other portions of the shell. Cooperative with the holder H 1s a base or backing plate B against which the rear end of the shell rests during the manipulation of its front end.

Referring to Fig. 3, the shell 10 contains the base-wad 11 which here is in its normal or comparatively loose condition, and which has been inserted into place by a plunger P, the wad 11 being preferably entered into the shell 10 far enough to serve as filler whereby the shell is maintained in its normal condition during the crimping or reducing operation which affects the front end of the shell only, the amount of said reduction being just sufficient to permit the metal cap or head to be placed thereon. It should be remembered that in cartridge-shells of this nature, the outside diameter of the shell and also of the metal cap should be substantially the same so that the shell may be readily inserted into the barrel of the gun. Hence,

it will be understood that this reduction will be comparatively trifling as is clearly seen in Fig. 4, in which the head-end 10 is shown thus slightly reduced by means of a hollow reducing die R the forward end of which is slightly tapered so as to pass readily over the end of the shell, while at the same time, the plunger P can now serve as a mandrel whereby the head end of the paper shell is prevented from being collapsed during the reducing-operation. After the shell is now reduced in the manner above described, the metal cap or head is placed thereon by a cap plunger C provided at its forward end with a small projection 0 which is adapted to enter a central aperture in the head portion of the cap (see Fig. 5).

In the next operation, the backing-plate B is replaced by another plate B which permits the shell to be moved bodily through the holder H until the end of the shell strikes the bottom 6 of the base-plate B, at which time the head 12 of the metal cap 12 will be seated against a shoulder h of the holder H. This movement is im arted to the shell 10 by a seating plunger the forward end of which preferably fills the recess h" of the holder H, and which is also provided with a piercing point 8 whereby the base-wad is pierced for the reception of the primer, while at the same time the base-wad is being compressed by a forcer or compression-plunger F which is provided at its front end with a small recess f so as to clear the piercer point as the latter forces its way through the wad. It will be seen that by virtue of the movement of the plunger S against the outer surface of the head of the metal cap 12, the bead of the cap will also be compressed and thus impinge on the rim of the paper shell which, through the compression of the wad 11 has been forced into the bead, the bead being now standard size.

The next operation is that of inserting the primer 14 having a beveled head portion 14' and the body portion of which is of suflicient length as to project beyond theinner surface of the basewad 11. It should be understood that the opening established by the piercer s is slightly smaller than the size of the body portion of the primer 14, so that when the latter is pushed into place by the plunger D (Fig. 7) said inserting movement will tend to still more densify or compress the base-wad and, therefore, establish a firm union between all of the several parts, and thus decrease all liability of blowing out, to a minimum.

It will be noted that the base-wad 11 is shown slightly cup shaped on the head-side thereof. This construction is deemed preferable for the reason that when the compression of the wad takes place between the plunger F and the plunger S (see Fig. 6) both side faces of the wad are straightened out and the wad itself will, therefore, be somewhat densified besides the compression which it receives and whereby its original thickness is'reduced from that shown in Fig. 5 substantially to that shown in Fig. 6. Furthermore, this straightening-out action of the wad faces has a tendency of forcing the eX-- treme end of the paper shell into the interior of the bead of the metal shell or cap 12, so that, therefore, the metal cap, the head-end of the paper shell, and also the wad, are what may be termed locked together as clearly shown in Fig. 7 in which it will be noted that the rear portion of the wad fills or fits into the main body and thus forms a shoulder at the point where the paper shell is reduced to receive the metal cap.

I claim:

1. The method of applying the metal cap or head to the shell which comprises, first; the insertion of the base-wad into the shell for a distance substantially equal to the length of the cap, and then crimping the end of the shell projecting beyond the wad.

2. The method of applying metal caps to shells which comprises the insertion of the basewad into the open end of the shell for a distance substantially equal to the length of the cap, inserting a mandrel into the open head-end of the shell to gage the reduction of the shell at that point, and then reducing the cap-receiving end of the shell so as to adapt the latter to receive the cap. 3. The improved method of capping the shells of cartridges which comprises the insertion of the base-wad into the shell for a depth substantially equal to the length of the cap, then reducing the cap-receiving end of the shell, then placing the cap on said reduced end, and then forcing said w'ad into said capped end.

4. The improved method of capping the ends of cartridgeshells which comprises the reduction of the shell-end, then placing the cap thereon, then forcing the base-wad into place within the capped portion of the shell and simultaneously therewith piercing the wad for the reception of the primer.

5. The improved method of capping the ends of cartridge-shells which comprises the reduction of the shell-end, then placing the cap thereon, then forcing the base-wad into place within the capped portion of the shell and simultaneously therewith piercing the base-wad for the reception of the primer, and also compressing said wad so as to form annular lips to engage shoulders formed on the reduced end of the shell body.

6. The improved method of capping the ends of cartridge-shells which consists in reducing the shell end, then placing the cap thereon, then forcing the base-wad into place within the capped portion of the shell and simultaneously therewith piercing the basewad and forming a countersunk recess in the cap and wad for the reception of the primer. and also compressing the wad and the head of the cap and to establish a close union be tween the shell, the cap, the wad and the primer in one continuous cycle of operations.

CHARLES A. BAILEY.

Witnesses J. V. BIGSBY, C. F. SoHMELz.

Images