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William Greener (1806 - 1869) was an English inventor and gunmaker. He developed a self-expanding bullet
Bullet

A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a firearm, Sling , or air gun and is normally made from metal. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by tissue or mechanical disruption through impact or penetration....
 in 1835, an electric lamp in 1846 (patent specification 11076 of that year) some 33 years before Tomas Edison's patent in 1879. William Greener also invented the percussion system for firing cannon, made improvements to the miner's safety lamp and won a prize for designing a mechanical device by which four gates at railway/road level crossings could be opened or closed simultaneously.






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William Greener (1806 - 1869) was an English inventor and gunmaker. He developed a self-expanding bullet
Bullet

A bullet is a hard projectile propelled by a firearm, Sling , or air gun and is normally made from metal. A bullet does not contain explosives, but damages the intended target by tissue or mechanical disruption through impact or penetration....
 in 1835, an electric lamp in 1846 (patent specification 11076 of that year) some 33 years before Tomas Edison's patent in 1879. William Greener also invented the percussion system for firing cannon, made improvements to the miner's safety lamp and won a prize for designing a mechanical device by which four gates at railway/road level crossings could be opened or closed simultaneously. He also invented a self-righting lifeboat, which was exhibited with a rocket gun and, several of his famous percussion muzzle loading shotguns and rifles at the Great Exhibition of 1851, where he was awarded a gold medal.

The Greener bullet had a hollow base which was fitted with a plug which forced the base of the bullet to expand and catch the rifling. This allowed the bullet to fit easily into the muzzle of the rifle
Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls....
 so that it could be easily loaded, but then expand upon firing so that as little of the explosion as possible leaked out the muzzle. Thus the bullet's velocity was not damped. Tests proved that Greener's bullet was extremely effective but it was rejected because, being two parts, it was judged too complicated to produce. The Minié ball
Minié ball

The Mini? ball is a type of muzzleloader rifle bullet named after co-developer, Claude Etienne Mini?, inventor of the Mini? rifle. It came to prominence in the Crimean War and American Civil War....
, developed in 1847 by Claude Étienne Minié
Claude Etienne Minié

Claude-Etienne Mini? was a French Army officer famous for solving the problem of designing a reliable muzzle-loading rifle by inventing the Mini? ball in 1847, and the Mini? rifle in 1849....
, was based on Greener's ideas.

Greener was born in Felling, Northumberland
Northumberland

Northumberland is a Counties of England in the North East England of England. The non-metropolitan counties of England of Northumberland borders Cumbria to the west, County Durham to the south and Tyne and Wear to the south east, as well as having a border with the Scottish Borders council area to the north, and nearly eighty miles of Nort...
, England
England

native_name =|conventional_long_name = England|common_name = England|image_flag = Flag of England.svg|image_coat = England COA.svg|symbol_type = Royal Coat of Arms...
. He died 1869. See 'The Greener Story' by Graham Greener published by Quiller Press in 2000. See also http://www.wwgreener.com