Shrapnel.

Application filed February 2,1904. Serial No. 191,593. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Pieter Daniel van Essen, lieutenant of the artillery, a subject of the Queen of Holland, residing at Utrecht, 43 5 Buys, Ballot straat, Holland, have invented new and useful Improvements in Shrapnels, of which the following is a specification.

My present invention relates to artilleryprojectiles, and more especially to that kind io of shrapnel-shells which contain two charges, · one for dispersing the shot being located in a chamber at the base of the projectile and the second, which is only ignited at the moment of impact, for bursting the projectile.

The invention has for its object to increase the effect of the projectile at the moment of impact without diminishing the advantages peculiar to the base-chamber system when it is used as a shrapnel.

In the projectiles hitherto constructed according to this plan the bursting charge was distributed over the whole length of the chamber containing the shot, and the space available for shot was thereby considerably/^re25 duced. A further disadvantageous consequence of this arrangement was the hollow cone of dispersal caused in the moment of impact directly by the explosion of the bursting charge and if the projectile was used as a 3° shrapnel by the comparatively large distance of the shot from the longitudinal axis of the projectile. Contrary to this disposition, my invention consists in arranging the bursting charge in a chamber located near the point of 35 the projectile and in disposing the shot partly between this bursting charge and the exterior wall of the projectile, partly between the bursting charge and the base-chamber.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is 4° a longitudinal section of a projectile constructed according to my invention, and Fig, 2 a cross-section on line 2 2 of Fig. 1.

In the drawings, a is the exterior skin or wall of the projectile.

b is the base-chamber, containing the usual charge for dispersing the shot.

c is the chamber containing the bursting charge, preferably consisting of a high explosive, and e is a detonator adapted to be fired 50 when the projectile strikes.

g is the usual time-fuse of double action.

A vent /, passing around the chamber c to the center of the projectile and connected to a second central vent A, serves to transmit the ignition of the time-fuse to the dispersing 55 charge b. The shot is partly disposed between the chamber c and the exterior wall of the projectile and . partly between that chamber and the base-chamber b.

I find it useful to add a sufficient quantity 60 of smoke-producing material to the high explosive forming the bursting charge c.

If the time-fuse is used, the action of the projectile is similar to that of an ordinary shrapnel, the bursting charge being not ig- 65 nited; but when the projectile strikes the detonator will fire the bursting charge c, the fore part of the projectile will first be shattered as a shell, and then the shot-dispersing charged will be fired and will throw the rest 7° of the shot forward.