IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSFORMATION AND MANUFACTURE OF RIFLED BREECH-LOADING
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Charles Marval, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING
TO THE TRANSFORMATION AND MANUFACTURE OF RIFLED BREECH-LOADING
"
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LETTERS PATENT to Henry Charles Marval, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING
TO THE TRANSFORMATION AND MANUFACTURE OF RIFLED BREECH-LOADING
FIRE-ARMS." A communication from abroad by General Hiram
Berdan, of the City of New York, in the United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Charles Marval
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 4th February 1873.
I, HENRY CHARLES MARVAL, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSFORMATION AND MANUFACTURE OF
RIPLED BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," being a communication to me from
abroad by General Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in the
United States of America, to be as follows:-
:-
"I funt mant of this Invantian valatus to contain muutaman

page_text: rifle to receive metallic cartridge cases instead of paper cartridge
cases, and it consists substantially in making the lands in the breech
tube narrower than the lands in the barrel, so that when the breech
Lube is inserted in the barrel its lands conceal themselves behind the
lands in the barrel and do not project on either side even although
the lands in the barrel may vary slightly in width from the barrels
having been rifled with cutters of different widths. By this improve-
ment I am enabled to rifle one long piece of breech tube and afterwards
to cut it into the lengths required, thus saving much time and trouble.
This could not be done when the lands in the breech tube were made
to suit exactly the varying lands in the barrel. I form inclined
surfaces in the rear end of the barrel, forward of the breech tube, and
also in the forward cnd of the rifled tube, so that the bullet shall
gradually enter the rifling in the barrel, and so that the said inclined
surfaces may guide the bullet into a central position and obviate the
ill effects of any slight discrepancies between the rifling in the tube
and that in the barrel.
The second part of my Invention relates to rifled breech tubes which
are to be employed in the conversion or transformation of the
barrels of breech-loading fire-arms, and to be employed also in the
manufacture of new barrels. In this part of my Invention I rifle the
forward end of the breech tubo to a larger diameter than the interior
of the barrel to which it is to be applied, so that the said forward end of
the breech tube shall fit the outside of a cartridge case having its
forward cnd also rifled both externally and internally, that is to say,
externally to fit the interior of the rifled breech tube, as aforesaid, and
internally to fit the exterior of a bullet which has been rifled so as
to exactly fit the barrel before being inserted in the said cartridge
casc. The employment of a breech tube rifled, as aforesaid, in tho
manufacture of new barrels removes the difficulty which has hitherto
existed in being obliged to rifle the interior of a new barrel to two
different diameters; namely, one for the cartridge case, and one for the
bullet when the said bullet has been rifled before being insorted.
Any kind of rifling may be employed, but I prefer to use a figure
of simple outline, hexagonal or octgonal for instance, in order that
the cartridge case may the more casily be made to take the required
shana

page_text: When the rifling of the barrel has narrow lands and broad grooves
I sometimes make various flat surfaces in the tube and in the cartridge
case in line with the lands in the barrel, so as to avoid the risk of
making narrow lands in the cartridge case. But I always prefer
making the bullet to fit accurately the rifling in the barrel, not-
withstanding the omission of the narrow lands from the cartridge case,
as aforesaid.
In order to facilitate the correct entry of the rifled bullet and rifled
cartridge case into the rifled breech tube I provide one or more springs
at the counterbore, or one or more points extending through the
chamber. Or the flange at the head of the cartridge case may have
flat surfaces formed upon it to assist in turning the case in the right
direction, or the cartridge case may be turned by the thumb or the
finger and thumb in the act of inserting the cartridge case:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Charles Marval in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 18th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
CHARLES MARVAL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the fourth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Charles Marval,
Her special licence that I, the said Henry Charles Marval, my
exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Charles Marval, 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 expressed, should and law-
fully 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 "IMPROVEMENTS RELATING TO THE TRANSFORMATION AND MANU-
FACTURE OF RIFLED BREECH-LOADING FIRE-ARMS," being a communication to me
from abroad by General Hiram Berdan, of the City of New York, in the
United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,

page_text: the said Henry Charles Marval, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, 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 Henry Charles Marval, 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 (that is to say):-
-
The first part of this Invention relates to certain improvements in
the internal breech tube which I use when converting a breech-loading
rifle to receive metallic cartridge cases instead of paper cartridgo
cases, and it consists substantially in making the lands in the breech
tube narrower than the lands in the barrel, so that when the breech
tube is inserted in the barrel its lands conceal themselves behind the
lands in the barrel and do not project on either side even although tho
lands in the barrel may vary slightly in width from the barrels having
been rifled with cutters of different widths. By this improvement I am
enabled to rifle one long picco of breech tube and afterwards to cut it
into the lengths required, thus saving much time and trouble. This
could not be done when the lands in the breech tube were made to suit
exactly the varying lands in the barrels. I form inclined surfaces in
the rear end of the barrel, forward of the breech tube, and also in the
forward end of the rifled tube, so that the bullet shall gradually enter
the rifling in the barrel, and so that the said inclined surfaces may
guide the bullet into a central position and obviate the ill effects of any
slight discrepancies between the rifling in the tube and that in the
barrel.
The second part of my Invention relates to rifled breach tubes,
which are to be employed in the conversion or transformation of the
barrels of breceli-loading fire-arms, and to be employed also in the
manufacture of new barrels. In this part of my Invention I rifle the
forward end of the breech tube to a larger diameter than the interior
of the barrel to which it is to be applied, so that the said forward end
of the breech tube shall fit the outside of a cartridge case having its

page_text: forward end also rifled both externally and internally, that is to say,
externally to fit the interior of the rifled breech tube, as aforesaid,
and internally to fit the exterior of a bullet which has been rifled so
as to exactly fit the barrel before being inserted in the said cartridge
casc. The employment of a breech tube rifled, as aforesaid, in the
manufacture of new barrels removes the difficulty which has hitherto
existed in being obliged to rifle the interior of a new barrel to two
different diameters; namely, one for the cartridge case, and one for the
bullet when the said bullet has been rifled before being inserted.
Any kind of rifling may be employed but I prefer to use a figure of
simple outline, hexagonal or octagonal for instance; in order that
the cartridge case may the more easily be made to take the required
shape.
When the rifling of the barrel has narrow lands and broad grooves I
sometimes make various flat surfaces in the tube and in the cartridge
case in line with the lands in the barrel, so as to avoid tho risk of
making narrow lands in the cartridge case. But I always prefer
making the bullet to fit accurately the rifling in the barrel, notwith-
standing the omission of the narrow lands from the cartridge case,
as aforesaid.
In order to facilitate the correct entry of the rifled bullet and rifled
cartridge case into the rifled breech tube it is possible in case of nced
to provide one or more springs at the counterbore, or one or more points
extending through the chamber. Or in case of nced the flange at the
head of the cartridge case may have flat surfaces formed upon it to
assist in turning the case in the right direction, or the cartridge case
may be turned by the thumb (or the finger and thumb) in the act of
inserting the cartridge case.
That my Invention may be fully understood I have annexed
Drawings thereof, which I will forthwith proceed to described.
All the Figures, (except Fig. 6 which is enlarged four times) are drawn
to a scale of twice their actual size. Figs. 1, 2, and 3, illustrate the
first part of my Invention. Fig. 1 is a transverse section of a barrel
containing a rifled tube made according to my Invention. Fig. 2 is a
longitudinal section through two opposite lands, and Fig. 3 is a
longitudinal section through two opposite grooves in the said rifled
tube

page_text: a is the barrel, the breech portion of which only is shown, the forward
portion having been cut off at the line b, b. c is the rifled tube fitted
into a slightly conical counterbore in the barrel itself. The part d of
the rifled tube is bored out to receive the body, and the part e to
receive the neck of a metallic cartridge case. f is the rifled portion of
the tubo having each of its lands g somewhat narrower than the land h
of the barrel. The difference in the width of the lands g, and the
lands, is such that ordinary irregularities of width of the lands h
resulting from the barrels having been rifled with cutters of different
width may occur without causing the land g to project on cither side
of the land h. By this improvement the.tubes c may be rifled in one
long piece and afterwards cut off and bored out to receive the cartridge
cases. i, i, are inclines forward of the rifled tube, and k, k, aro similar
inclines in the forward end of the rifled tube, by which the bullet
upon leaving the rifled tubo is caused to enter gradually the rifling in 1
the barrel and is guided into a central position, and by which also the
ill effects of any slight discrepancies between the rifling in the tube
and that in the barrel are obviated.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6; illustrate the second part of my Invention. The
forward end of the breech tube c is rifled to a larger diameter than :
that of the barrel so as to fit the outside of the cartridge case m, the
forward end n of which is rifled externally to fit the interior of the
rifled tube and internally to fit the exterior of the bullet o which has
been rifled to fit the barrel before being inserted in the cartridge
case m. By employing a separate tube to contain the enlarged rifling n
I obviate the difficulty of rifling the interior of the barrel to two
diameters.
I have shown in Figs. 4 and 5 a hexagonal form of rifling, and in
Fig. 6 a form having six narrow lands. Any kind of rifling may
however be employed although I prefer a figure of simple outline, a
such as in Fig. 5, on account of the greater facility it affords for making
the rifled cartridge cases.
In Fig. 6 the bullet has narrow grooves to fit the narrow lands of
the barrel, but I sometimes make flat surfaces p, p, upon the cartridge
case in line with the lands in the barrel, so as to avoid the risk of 3
forming the narrow lands in the cartridge case. I then make the rifled
tube to fit the exterior of the cartridge case, having the aforesaid flat

page_text: surfaces formed upon it, but in all cases I make the bullet to fit
accurately the rifling of the barrel before being inserted into the
cartridge case.
Having now fully described the nature of my Invention, and the
manner in which the same may be carried into effect, I desire it to be
understood that,―
First. I claim rifling tubes which are used for the purpose of bushing
the rear end of breech-loading barrels with grooves of sufficient width
to leave the lands narrower than the lands in the barrel.
Second. I claim rifling tubes which are used for the purpose of
bushing or lining the rear end of breech-loading barrels so as to admit
a mechanically fitting cartridge case and bullet, both of which have
been rifled before being inserted in the said rifled tube, substantially
as and for the purposes hercin-before set forth and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, tho said Henry Charles Marval, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of Junc in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
0 Witness,
G. R. HOLLAND,
Birmingham.
HENRY CHARLES MARVAL. (L.S.)