CARTRIDGE, is a cylindrical case contain ing a charge of gunpowder or shot, or of pow der and ball, for fire-arms. Those used for loading muskets, carbines, and pistols, are formed of paper, and are styled ball or blank cartridges according as they contain both pow der and ball, or powder only ; while the larger cartridges for cannon and mortars, which al ways consist of powder only, are usually cased with flannel, though sometimes pasteboard, tin, or even wood, is employed. The North &mericans, during their last war with England, are said to have employed very thin sheets of lead, resembling those used for lining tea chests, for this purpose, thereby avoiding the danger of burning fragments of the cartridge case remaining in the piece after firing.
Wire cartridges, for containing a charge of small shot, without powder, have been intro duced for sporting purposes within the last few years. They consist of an inner case of wire network inclosed in a thin paper case, to the outer end of which a wadding is attached. The shot, with which it is usual to mix bone dust or some other substance to fill up the interstices, is put within this case, which is rammed down upon the charge of powder. When the gun is fired, the paper case is torn to pieces as soon as the cartridge leaves the gun, and the shot immediately begins to quit the cartridge by passing through the meshes of the iron network, which is carried forward with the charge until it is quite empty, when it falls to the ground. By this contrivance the heating of the gun is avoided, and the recoil produced by the discharge is lessened, the charge leaving the barrel like a bullet. The shot are also carried so much more closely than when loose, that lighter charges, and con sequently a lighter gun, may be used ; much time is saved in loading, especially as no sepa rate wadding is required ; and, as the cartridge has no inclination to move before it is impel led by the explosion of the powder, the danger arising from the accidental shifting or rising of loose charges is avoided.
Mr. Berney patented a few years ago a new kind of cartridge. The shot is enclosed in a spiral wire case, tapered towards the end, and provided with a cushion at bottom of wool, moss, tow, or any other soft elastic substance, to prevent by its elasticity the sudden explo sion of the powder from breaking the case or jamming the shot. The case expands after its discharge from the gun, and according as the coils are more or less apart, so does the dis tance vary to which the bulk of the shot may be carried before escaping through the coils. The object intended by this cartridge is to convey a greater number of shot to a given mark, without diverging or separating, than can be done by the use of the ordinary cart ridges ; and experiments made near Chalk Farm in 1840, with this object in view, seem to have borne out the intention of the patentee.
Another new form of cartridge was patented in 1840 by Mr. Bush. It is made by taking a circular disc of wood, or two card-board boxes, like two pill-box lids fitted one within the other, having a hole in the centre in which a percussion cap is placed, and held there by being covered with a piece of calico or canvas.