US136130A - Improvement in metallic cartridges - Google Patents

Description

U NITnn STATES PATENT OFFIGE.

BETHEII BURTON, OF BROOKLYN, 4NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO W. G. BURTON,

- l OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC CARTRIDGES.

Specification forming pari of Letters Patent No. 136,130, dated February 25, 1873.

To all whom fit may concern:

Be it known that I, BETHEL BURTON, of the city of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Cartridge-Shells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation ofthe same, reference being had to the annexed specification and to the tigures and letters of reference marked thereon, and in which- Figure I is a view of my cartridge prepared for use. Fig. II is a View of the shell as it appears, when drawn, before cut to length or eannelured. Fig. III is a section of the shell charged and primed with the bullet-in its place. t

As cartridges are now generally made from sheet metal, with a projecting ange and iiat base, powerful machinery is required to upset and form the head, and, at the saine time, the ber of the metal, which runs in a general longitudinal direction ofthe case, is either obliterated or broken, and thereby weakened just at the fold of the flange, and where the greatest strength is required, as that is the only part of a cartridge which is wholly unsupported by the walls or breech ot' a gun when the same is in place. The projecting ange is also an objection when the cartridge is to be used in a magazine-gun, as it requires a tube of a diameter greater than that of the greatest diameter of the cartridge; and, beside that, the cartridges do not lie in a true line with each other, and have a tendency to rattle in the tube. rIhe square end is objected to on the ground that if, by chance, there be 'a cartridge slightly shorter than the proper length it allows the next to project into the carrierguide and over the carrier, and its square head prevents the carrie-r from moving up as required, when a round-headed cartridge would be pushed back into the magazine and the carrier operate equally as well.

The object of my invention is to obviate the above defects and diiculties; and to this end it consist-s in a cartridge drawn from a single piece of sheet metal having the bers of the metal in a general longitudinal direction, gradually bent at and forming a rounded or spherical base, so that the ber is neither broken or destroyed, and having a cannelure cut or made just in front of the rounded base for the extractor to catch behind to withdraw it from a breech-loading gun, and having a shoulder produced by the usual Decking, which limits the extent to which it can be inserted into the gun.

Referring to the accompanying drawing, a is the shell; b, the bullet; c, the cannelure; d, the base or dome of the, cartridge; and c the primer.

The shell, as represented in Fig. II, is drawn from a blank in the usual way. It is then placed on a spindle revolving rapidly. On the same machine there are two cutters which move simultaneously, one of which cuts oit the cartridge to length and the other cuts the cannelure the form required. When done the `.cutters withdraw and the shell is thrown oit' the spindle.

This operation is repeated as rapidly as one person can place the cartridges on the spindle; or they may be fed to the spindle from a hopper; Whereas in makingeartridges with a head or iiange several machines are necessary to accomplish what I do with one.

The cartridge may be primed in the manner seen in Fig. III, or in any other desirable way.

By forming the base of the cartridge to that of a hemisphere I overcome the diiiiculty experienced with cartridges having a rim or tlat base..

In the manufacture of these fiat-based cartridges the greatest care is necessary to insure their being of equal length. Otherwise, when used in a magazine-gun, should one be too short, it allowsthe following cartridge protrude from the magazine and prevent the carrier from raising by reason of the at base. With the dome-shaped base of my cartridge, however, should it protrude by reason of a short cartridge, the carrier, in comin g up, slides up along the are, shoving back the cartridge into the magazine.

I do not conne Amyself to the particular shape of a hemisphere, or even to the frustum rier to rise.

of a cone, vvhich would answer as well, nt to ually bent and rounded at the base, andh'av. such curve-shaped endI as will allow the caring a cannelure and shoulder, substantially as rior to slide along the arc and cause the oar-l and for the purposes set forth. 1

I claim as my inventione The improved cartridgewase herein de. Witnesses:

scribed, drawn from sheet metal having its E. W. OLARKSON,

bers in 'a general longitudinal direction, grad- I. MURPHY.

BETHEL BURToN.-

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