A NEW METHOD OF RIFLING GUNS, AND OF FORMING PROJECTILES TO CORRESPOND THEREWITH
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Theophilus Alexander Blakely, of Montpelier Square,
in the County of Middlesex, late Captain Royal Artillery, for the Inven-
tion of "A NEW METHOD OF RIFLING GUNS, AND OF FORMING PROJECTILES TO
CORRESPOND THEREWITH."
Sealed the 18th November 1863, and dated the 22nd May 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Theophilus Alexander
Blakely at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 22nd May 1863.
I, THEOPHILUS ALEXANDER BLAKELY, of Montpelier Square, in the County
of Middlesex, late Captain Royal Artillery, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF RIPLING GUNS, AND OF FORMING PRO-
JECTILES TO CORRESPOND THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
My new method consists in rifling guns and in forming projectiles in such
manner that let the turning force come upon whatever point it may of the
projectile, it shall exert the same power or influence.
My rifling is formed thus:-I first decide at what distance from the centre of
the projectile the turning force shall act, the smaller the bore the nearer the
centre should this force act; let a circle be now drawn with a centre in the axis
of the barrel, the radius of which circle is this settled distance; then I form
the rifling of such shape that a line perpendicular to any point of its surface-
shall also be a tangent to this circle. I form the projectiles to correspond, and
follow the same mathematical rules for determining the shape of the external.
surface thereof.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st November 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THEOPHILUS
ALEXANDER BLAKELY, of Montpelier Square, in the County of Middlesex, late
Captain Royal Artillery, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely, Her special licence that I, the said
Theophilus Alexander Blakely, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "A NEW METHOD OF RIFLING GUNS, AND OF FORMING
PROJECTILES TO CORRESPOND THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next
and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
My new method consists in rifling guns and in forming projectiles in such
manner that let the turning force come upon whatever point it may of the
projectile, it shall exert the same power or influence.
My rifling is formed thus:-I first decide at what distance from the centre of
the projectile the turning force shall act, the smaller the bore the nearer the
centre should this force act; let a circle be now drawn with a centre in the
axis of the barrel, the radius of which circle is this settled distance; then I
form the rifling of such shape that a line perpendicular to any point of its

page_text: surface shall also be a tangent to this circle, as shewn in the accompanying
Drawing, wherein A B, C D, and E F, are bearing surfaces; lines perpen-
dicular to any part of these surfaces, as A G, HI, B K, all pass within an
equal distance from the centre O. I form the projectiles to correspond, and
follow the same mathematical rules for determining the shape of the external
surface thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Theophilus Alexander Blakely, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
T. A. BLAKELY. (L.S.)