Whitworth projectiles
Date
1858
Creator - Organisation
Day & Son, Lithographers
Object type
Library reference
RCNR67791
Material
Technique
Dimensions
height (print): 213mm
width (print): 183mm
width (print): 183mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Shaped ammunition for specific purposes. Figure D shows a plan and elevation of a tubular hexagonal artillery shot. Figure E shows a flat-headed Whitworth hexagonal shot.
Plate 2 from the book Miscellaneous papers on mechanical subjects by Joseph Whitworth (Longmans, London, 1858), illustrating the paper on ‘Rifled fire-arms’, pp. 71-84.
In the accompanying text, the author states that: ‘This system thus admits of the employment of projectiles of different densities and shapes, suitable for special purposes. If for example, it be required to fire through plates of iron, a flat-fronted projectile of steel of the form in figure E, will be employed…For firing through elastic materials, tubular projectiles, as shown in fig. D are used…the tubular projectiles also penetrate deeper into masonry than those with any other shape I am acquainted with.’
Inscribed below: ‘Day & Son, Lithrs. To the Queen.’
Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803–1887), British mechanical engineer and machine tool manufacturer, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857.
Plate 2 from the book Miscellaneous papers on mechanical subjects by Joseph Whitworth (Longmans, London, 1858), illustrating the paper on ‘Rifled fire-arms’, pp. 71-84.
In the accompanying text, the author states that: ‘This system thus admits of the employment of projectiles of different densities and shapes, suitable for special purposes. If for example, it be required to fire through plates of iron, a flat-fronted projectile of steel of the form in figure E, will be employed…For firing through elastic materials, tubular projectiles, as shown in fig. D are used…the tubular projectiles also penetrate deeper into masonry than those with any other shape I am acquainted with.’
Inscribed below: ‘Day & Son, Lithrs. To the Queen.’
Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803–1887), British mechanical engineer and machine tool manufacturer, was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1857.
Associated place