Friedrich Engels

Cartridge

Written about January 21, 1858.
From the English.
[“The New American Cyclopædia”, Vol. IV]

Cartridge — a case or bag of paper, parchment, or flannel, containing the exact quantity of gunpowder required for the charge of a fire-arm, and to which, in some cases, the projectile is attached. In contrast to the ball-cartridge, the blank-cartridge for small-arms contains no projectile. In all cartridges for small-arms, paper is used as a wad and is rammed down. The cartridge for the French Minié and the English Enfield rifle is dipped in grease at one end to facilitate ramming. That of the Prussian needle-gun also contains the priming, which is fired by means of the needle. Cartridges for cannon are usually made of flannel or other light woollen stuff. In some armies, when practicable, at least for field service, the projectile is attached to the cartridge by means of a wooden bottom. The French have partly introduced this system even in their navy. With the British, the cartridge and projectile are still separate in field, naval, and siege artillery.

An ingenious method of making paper cartridges without a seam has lately been introduced in the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich in England. Metal, cylindrical hollow moulds, just large enough to slip a cartridge over, are provided with a multitude of small holes, and when they are placed in the soft pulp from which the cartridge paper is made, and then connected with the receiver of an air-pump, they are immediately coated with a thin layer of paper. After drying, this forms a finished paper case. Several moulds are used at the same time, and each one is covered with a woollen envelope, similar to a glove-finger, on which the pulp collects; and this, being removed together with it, serves as the lining with which the best kinds of cartridges are provided.

For hunting guns, a kind of cartridge is in use which is made of a wire mesh, containing only the shot. It is enclosed in a paper case. The shot charge is mixed with bone-dust to give it density. When the gun is fired, the shot flies without scattering over a longer distance than with any other kind of charge.