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Great Britain
DIAMETER: 3.42 inches across flats |
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| This pattern has been mistakenly called the Preston projectile, after the name of its manufacturer. Fawcett, Preston, and Company, of Liverpool, England, which under Blakely's patent, produced 12-pounder (3.5-inch caliber) Blakely rifles in 1860-1861. This projectile pattern was patented by Thoephilus Alexander Blakely, British patent #1,286, dated May 22, 1863. This pictured example has a flat base and six vertical inclined flanges to allow it to fit the Blakely rifle's saw-tooth rifling. The poor design of the Britten fuze caused many shells to be rendered harmless upon firing. The majority of the battlefield recovered 12-pounder (3.5-inch caliber) Blakely projectiles have come from the 1863 Siege of Port Hudson, Louisiana. | ||||