The Details of the Rocket System

by Sir William Congreve

The 42 and 32-pounders are those which have hitherto been principally used in bombardment, and which, for the general purposes of bombardment, will be found sufficient, while their portability renders them in that respect more easily applied. I have therefore classed them as medium Rockets. These Rockets will convey from ten to seven pounds of combustible matter each; have a range of upwards of 3,000 yards; and may, where the fall of greater mass in any particular spot is required, either for penetration or increased fire, be discharged in combinations of three, four, or six Rockets, well lashed together, with the sticks in the centre also strongly bound together. The great art of firing these fasces of Rockets is to arrange them, so that they may be sure to take fire contemporaneously, which must be done either by priming the bottoms of all thoroughly, or by firing them by a flash of powder, which is sure to ignite the whole combination at once. The 42 and 32-pounder Rockets may also be used as explosion Rockets, and the 32-pounder armed with shot or shells: thus, a 32-pounder will range at least 1,000 yards, laid on the ground, and armed with a 5½-inch howitzer shell, or an 18 and even a 24-pounder solid shot.

The 32-pounder is, as it were, the mean point of the system: it is the least Rocket used as a carcass in bombardment, and the largest armed either with shot or shell, for field service. The 24-pounder Rocket is very nearly equal to it in all its applications in the field; from the saving of weight, therefore, I consider it preferable. It is perfectly equal to propel the cohorn shell or 12-pounder shot.

The 18-pounder, which is the first of the light natures of Rockets, is armed with a 9-pounder shot or shell; the 12-pounder with a 6-pounder ditto; the 9-pounder with a grenade; and the 6-pounder with a 3-pounder shot or shell. These shells, however, are now cast expressly for the Rocket service, and are elliptical instead of spherical, thereby increasing the power of the shell, and decreasing the resistance of the air.

From the 24-pounder to the 9-pounder Rocket, inclusive, a description of case shot Rocket is formed of each nature, armed with a quantity of musket or carbine balls, put into the top of the cylinder of the Rocket, and from thence discharged by a quantity of powder contained in a chamber, by which the velocity of these balls, when in flight, is increased beyond that of the Rocket’s motion, an effect which cannot be given in the spherical case, where the bursting powder only liberates the balls.

All Rockets intended for explosion, whether the powder be contained in a wrought iron head or cone, as used in bombardment: or whether in the shell above mentioned, for field service, or in the case shot, are fitted with an external fuse of paper, which is ignited from the vent at the moment when the Rocket is fired. These fuses may be instantaneously cut to any desired length, from 25 seconds downwards, by a pair of common scissars or nippers, and communicate to the bursting charge, by a quickmatch, in a small tube on the outside of the Rocket; in the shell Rocket the paper fuse communicates with a wooden fuse in the shell, which, being cut to the shortest length that can be necessary, is never required to be taken out of the shell, but is regulated either by taking away the paper fuse altogether, or leaving any part of it, which, in addition to the fixed and permanent wooden fuse in the shell, may make up the whole time of flight required. By this system, the arrangement of the fuse in action is attended with a facility, security, and an expedition, not known in any other similar operations.

All the Rocket sticks for land service are made in parts of convenient length for carriage, and jointed by iron ferules. For sea service they are made in the whole length.

The 24-pounder shell and case shot Rockets are those which I propose issuing in future for the heavy field carriages; the 18-pounder shell and case shot for the light field carriages; the 12-pounder for the mounted ammunition of cavalry; the 9 and 6-pounders for infantry, according to the different cases already explained.

Fig. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, and 9, represent the different implements used for jointing the sticks, or fixing them to the Rocket, being of different sizes, in proportion to the different natures to which they belong. They consist of hammers, pincers, vices, and wrenches, all to accomplish the same object, namely, that of compressing the ferule into the stick, by means of strong steel points in the tool, so as to fix it immoveably. The varieties are here all shewn, because I have not hitherto decided which is the preferable instrument.

Fig. 10, 11, 12, and 13, represent another mode of arranging the different natures of ammunition, which is hitherto merely a matter of speculation, but which may in certain parts of the system be hereafter found a considerable improvement. It is the carrying the Rocket, or projectile force, distinct from the ammunition itself, instead of combining them in their first construction, as hitherto supposed.

Thus, Fig. 10 is the Rocket, and Fig. 11, 12, and 13, are respectively a shell, case shot, or carcass, which may be immediately fixed to the Rocket by a screw, according as either the one or the other nature is required at the time. A greater variety of ammunition might thus be carried for particular services, with a less burthen altogether.