A NEW OR IMPROVED FIRE-ARM, A PORTION OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO ORDNANCE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Aspinwall Goddard, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Merchant and Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"A NEW OR IMPROVED FIRE-ARM, A PORTION OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO
ORDNANCE"
Sealed the 22nd June 1855, and dated the 3rd January 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard
at the Office of the. Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd January 1855.
I, SAMUEL ASPINWALL GODDARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Merchant and Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "A NEW OR IMPROVED FIRE-ARM, A PORTION OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE
FOR ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
My said Invention consists of a fire-arm constructed as follows:-I take
any convenient number of rifle or other gun barrels, and combine them
together. I prefer to use six rows, each row containing six barrels. The said
barrels are placed side by side, either parallel, divergent; or convergent. The
said fire-arm may be mounted on wheels, so as to be readily moveable on a
battle field, or on a swivel. The touch-holes are so combined that the whole
or any desired number of the barrels may be discharged nearly simultaneously.
In order to load my improved fire-arm, a disc or plate of wood is provided,
having holes so made therein that when placed against the open end of 'the

page_text: said fire-arm, the said holes coincide with the barrels. Cartridges are placed in
the said holes, and the plate so charged is presented to the end of the fire-arm.
A second plate, having a series of plugs coinciding with the holes in the former,
being brought against it, forces the cartridges therefrom into the barrels, and
at the same time opens the said cartridges. By a compound ramrod the charge
may be forced to the breech ends of the barrel. The touch-hole is made in a
plug inserted in the barrel, and held down by screws or otherwise, so that
when worn the said plug may be blown out or removed, and a new one intro-
duced. The touch-hole is lined with platinum. The last-described portion of
my Invention is applicable to ordnance, and when applied to ordnance renders
the spiking of guns ineffectual, as the plug in which the touch-hole is made
can be blown out or otherwise removed, and a fresh one introduced.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd July 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
ASPINWALL GODDARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchant
and Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard, Her special licence that I, the said Samuel
Aspinwall Goddard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard, 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 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 OR IMPROVED FIRE-ARM, A PORTION OF WHICH IS APPLICABLE TO ORD-
NANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Aspinwall
Goddard, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 (that is to say)
My said Invention consists of a fire-arm constructed in the manner herein
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
Figure 1 represents, in side elevation, my new or improved fire-arm; Figure 2
represents the same in plan, without its carriage; and Figure 3 represents a
section through the line a in Figure 2. My new or improved fire-arm is
composed of a number of rifle or other gun barrels combined together as
represented. The said barrels may be connected by means of metallic bands
passing round them, or by soldering, welding, bolting, or otherwise fastening
them together; the said barrels may either be parallel, or divergent, or con-
vergent. I prefer, however, to place the said barrels parallel when regarded
in a vertical plane, and divergent when regarded in a horizontal plane; by this
arrangement the projectiles discharged from the barrels may be directed on
nearly the same horizontal line, but extended laterally. In speaking of the
divergence and convergence of the barrels, I wish it to be understood that I
mean the said divergence and convergence to commence at the breech end
and proceed to the open end of the barrels.
The touch-holes of the barrels are connected together in the manner which
will be understood by reference to the section, Figure 3. Although I have
represented one-half of the barrels to be connected with and discharged through
the separate nipples c, d, yet the whole of the barrels. may be discharged
through one nipple, or through a greater number than two. The barrels may
either be connected by horizontal or by vertical connections. My improved
fire-arm is mounted upon a carriage e, and turns upon trunnions f, f, and is
raised and lowered by the screw g. Instead of being mounted on trunnions fƒ, f,
it may be mounted on a swivel, or in any other convenient manner. The
carriage e is mounted upon wheels h, and by means of the handle i my improved
fire-arm may be readily moved on a battle field; or my improved fire-arm may
be mounted like a small field cannon. In order to load my new or improved
fire-arm, I take cartridges prepared for use and placed in a cartridge box con-
sisting of a disc or plate of wood, Figure 4. The said cartridge box has a
series of holes 1, 1, made in it, the said holes being so situated, that when the
said cartridge box, Figure 4, is placed against the open end of the fire-arm,
as represented at k, in Figure 5, the said holes coincide with the barrels b.
The charged cartridge box is presented to the end of the fire-arm, as repre-
sented in Figure 5, and the cartridges are forced from the said cartridge box

page_text: into the barrels by the compound ramrod, represented in Figures 5 and 6.
The compound ramrod consists of a series of single ramrods n, m, n, fixed in
the handle o; the said ramrods also pass through holes in a guide plate p. The
compound ramrod is presented to the cartridge box or loading box, which is
placed against the fire-arm, as will be understood by reference to. Figure 5,
and the guide plate pis held in a fixed position; the handle o is pushed
towards the breech end of..the barrels; and the charge is thereby, forced to the
breech end..
Instead of transferring the cartridges directly from the cartridge box,
Figure 4to the barrels, I sometimes use an intermediate instrument,
Figure 7, which I call a loading box. The said loading box consists of a metallic
instrument resembling the cartridge box, Figure 4, excepting that it is made
of sheet metal, so as to be hollow and light, and is provided with holes, which
are conical, the said holes being large enough, at their narrow end to allow the
cartridges to pass through. The said loading box, Figure 7; is placed against
the fire-arm, the small ends of the holes: being presented to the barrels; the
cartridge box is then placed against the loading box, and by the use of the
compound ramrod the cartridges are forced from the cartridge box through
the loading box into the barrels; or the cartridges may be pushed from the
cartridge box into the loading box by a series of short ramrods prior to
the loading box being placed 'against the muzzles of the barrels. The use
of the: loading box is to prevent any inconvenience which may arise from
the warping of the wooden cartridge box; the said loading box directing the
cartridges with precision into the barrels. I make the cartridges; by preference,
with flannel; or other: woollen fabric which will permit of the fire of the per-
cussion cap, communicating through it to the gunpowder, and thereby render
it unnecessary to open the said cartridge on charging the fire-arm therewith..
The said flannel or woollen fabric also cleans the barrel, and does not leave
behind I any ignited portions of inflammable matter, as sometimes happens when
paper cartridges are used:
ידי
The discharge of the fire-arın is effected by means of percussion caps placed
upon the nipples c, d, and detonated by the hammers 9, 7, or by any other con-
venient method of discharge. All the barrels on the right of the line s;
Figure 3, being connected together as represented, are discharged by the
nipple c, and all the barrels on the left of the lines are connected together
and discharged by the nipple d. I prefer to make the touch-holes by drilling
vertical or horizontal holes through a series of barrels, and then connecting
the said barrels by nipples, similar to ordinary gun nipples, but screwed at each
end; or the touch-holes may be made by drilling holes and driving or screwing

page_text: therein perforated plugs, the perforation being lined with platinum, or unlined.
This plug, when not screwed, may be fastened down, by means of a short
screwed plug on the top of the plain plug, or by means of a strap across the
top of the said plug, the, said strap being fastened by screws, or otherwise.
When worn, the said plug may be blown out or otherwise removed, and a new
one introduced. The last-described portion of my Invention is applicable to
ordnance, and when applied to ordnance it renders the spiking of guns
ineffectual, as the plug in which the touch-hole is made can be readily
blown out, and a fresh one introduced.
"This part of my Invention is illustrated in..its. application to ordnance in
Figures 8, 9, and 10. In Figure-8, a perforated conical plug t is held down
by a perforated screw u, having a square head v. By the application of a
spanner or screw wrench to the head v, the screw u may be withdrawn, and the
plug t may afterwards be blown out. In Figure 9, the perforated plug w with
a square head is made of a length equal to the thickness of the gun. In
Figure 10 a perforated conical plug a is inserted in the gun, and held down by
a strap y and screws z, z.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described, as the same may be varied
without departing from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim as my
Invention,―
First, a new or improved fire-arm, constructed in the manner herein described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing; that is to say, by combining
together any convenient number of rifle or other gun barrels, whether large or
small, and connecting the touch-holes of the same in such a manner as that
the whole or a portion of the same may be discharged nearly simultaneously.
Secondly, the method of loading, herein described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing; that is to say, the transferring of the cartridges from
the cartridge box in which the said cartridges have been stored directly to the
barrels, or through the intervention of a loading box, the said transfer being
effected by means of the ramrod, as before described.
Thirdly, the method of making cartridges, herein described; that is to say,
by the use of flannel or other woollen fabric which will permit of the ignition
of gunpowder through it, which said fabric also cleans the barrel, and does not
leave behind particles of ignited inflammable matter.
Fourthly, constructing the touch-holes of fire-arms and ordnance in a per-
forated plug, whether lined with platinum or not, inserted and fastened in the
barrels of fire-arms and ordnance in the manner described, which said plug

page_text: one quickly substituted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Aspinwall Goddard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of June, in. the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
SAMUEL ASPINWALL GODDARD. (L.S.)