Also known as: Read shell, Read cup-sabot projectile.
| Class | Rifled-artillery projectile system |
|---|---|
| Inventor | Dr. John B. Read, Tuscaloosa, Alabama |
| Key patent | U.S. Patent 15,999, October 28, 1856 |
| Driving system | Cupped wrought-iron sabot cast into the projectile base |
| Service | Widely adopted by Confederate foundries for rifled shells |
Design and operation
Dr. John Braham Read, a surgeon from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, patented his "Improved Mode of Constructing Projectiles for Cannons" on October 28, 1856, as U.S. Patent 15,999. His method attached a cupped cylinder of wrought iron to the butt of an elongated shot or shell, its perforated bottom embedded in the cast metal of the body while its thinned sides projected beyond it.
On discharge the powder gas expanded those thin sabot walls outward so that they filled the bore exactly, eliminating windage and forcing the projectile to take the rifling. The cup was set in the bottom of the mould and the projectile completed by pouring the body metal around it, casting sabot and body as a single piece.
Confederate service
Read conducted his public experiments at his own expense during the three years before the end of 1859. After secession his expanding-cup principle became one of the attachment methods Confederate foundries adopted for rifled shells, and Read-pattern and Read-derived projectiles appear across surviving Southern ordnance. Identification rests on the wrought-iron base cup, the body profile, cavity form, and any surviving markings rather than on a maker's name alone.
On this site
Sources & further reading
- Melton, Jack W., Jr. Civil War Artillery Projectiles: The Half Shell Book. Blue Ridge, GA: Historical Publications LLC, 2018.
- United States Army, Ordnance Department. The Ordnance Manual for the Use of the Officers of the United States Army. 2nd ed. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1862.
- Hackley, Frank W. Civil War Explosive Ordnance. Revised November 10, 1960. U.S. Naval School, Explosive Ordnance Disposal.
- United States Military Academy Ordnance Museum. A Descriptive Catalogue of the Collection.