CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Deakin, of Great Barr, in the County of
Stafford, Iron Master, and John Bagnall Johnson, of Tettenhall, near
Wolverhampton, also in the County of Stafford, Roll Turner, for the
Invention of " CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN
BARRELS AND ORDNANCE."
Sealed the 10th November 1865, and dated the 15th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Deakin and John
Bagnall Johnson at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th May 1865.
We, WILLIAM DEAKIN, of Great Barr, in the County of Stafford, Iron
Master, and JOHN BAGNALL JOHNSON, of Tettenhall, near Wolverhampton,
also in the County of Stafford, Roll Turner, do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN
BARRELS AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows (that is to say) :-
Our improvements in the manufacture of gun barrels and ordnance directly
apply and are intended to be used in extension of and connection with certain
appliances and means described in a Patent granted to James Thompson, on
the 24th of April 1863, No. 1024, and further specified in a Patent granted
to the said James Thompson, on the 19th January 1864, No. 139, as also in
a Patent granted to the said James Thompson, on the 9th November 1864,
No. 2784, which Patents, together with one for rolling gun barrels, bearing
the same date as No. 1024, and Nod. 1023, we are the sole proprietors of by

page_text: purchase and assignment, and sole manufacturers, and which said improve-
ments will be understood, in connection with the said Patents herein-before
referred to, to consist in combining with the operation of punching, therein
described, the process of drilling, that is to say, we take a solid ingot, bloom,
or block either of steel or other metal, and proceed by means of tilting,
swaging, rolling, or other equivalent means to reduce the said ingot, bloom, or
block (in a heated condition) into the desired shape, either for a gun barrel
mould or moulds or piece of ordnance; and after dividing or shaping the said
bloom or block as fully described and set forth in the Patents herein-before
referred to, we have found it in some instances preferable while using certain
descriptions of steel (and which also may apply to other metals) to drill a
small hole concentrically through the mass in the direction in which it would
be perforated in the finished mould; this will have the effect of affording a
lead or perfect direction for the operation of the punch or drift, thus ensuring
great mechanical accuracy in concentrically displacing the metal radially
through the mass, ensuring the complete central position of .such displace-
ment, and affording additional means for operating on highly condensed metal
(which in some cases may be preferred), thus obtaining the effect of that
radial displacement which forms the essential element of this as well as our
former Patents, and at the same time affords us the opportunity, according to
the nature and density of the steel or other metal under operation, to vary the
size of the hole first drilled accordingly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the William Deakin and John Baguall Johnson in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 14th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, WILLIAM
DEAKIN, of Great Barr, in the County of Stafford, Iron Master, and JOHN
BAGNALL JOHNSON, of Tettenhall, near Wolverhampton, also in the County of
Stafford, Roll Turner, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us
the said William Deakin and John Bagnall Johnson, Her special license,
that we, the said William Deakin and John Bagnall Johnson, our execu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said William

page_text: Deakin and John Bagnall Johnson, our 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 Inven-
tion for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND
ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William
Deakin and John Bagnall Johnson, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, 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 we, the said William Deakin and John Bagnall
Johnson, do hereby declare the nature of our 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):-
Our improvements in the manufacture of gun barrels and ordnance directly
apply to and are intended to be used in extension of and in connection with
certain appliances and means described in a Patent granted to James Thomp-
son, on the 24th of April 1863, No. 1024, and further specified in a
Patent granted to the said James Thompson, on the 19th of January 1864,
No. 139, as also in a further grant of Letters Patent to the said James Thomp-
son, on the 9th of November 1864, No. 2784, which Patents, together with
one for Improvements in the Manufacture of Barrels for Fire-arms, and
other Description of Tubes, and in Apparatus or Machinery to be employed
for that Purpose," No. 1023, also of 1863, we are the sole registered pro-
prietors of by purchase and assignment duly made, and are now sole manu-
facturers and workers of the said Inventions; the object or essential quality of
which said Patents, with the exception of No. 1023, 1863, consist in the
operation of punching, which has the important and highly desirable effect of
densifying the internal granular construction of the metal so operated on,
which is further improved according to the degree of subsequent working by.
swaging, tilting, or rolling to which it is subjected to reduce it to the desired
shape. And our improvements in relation to the said before recited Patents
consist in combining with the operation of punching therein described, a pre-
liminary operation of drilling (that is to say), we take a solid ingot, bloom, or.
block either of steel, homogeneous, or other metal, and proceed by means of,
tilting, swaging, rolling, or other equivalent means to reduce the said bloom
or block (while in a heated condition) into the dosired preliminary shape

page_text: we may require either for a gun-barrel mould, or mould for a piece of
ordnance or part of ordnance; and after dividing up or trimming the said
bloom or block, as described and set forth in the respective Specifications of
the before recited Letters Patent, we have found it in some instances desirable
while using some descriptions of steel (and which also applies to the use of other
metals) to drill a small hole concentrically through the mass in the direction
in which we desire the punched hole to be; and the advantage derived from
this new and additional operation (which forms the sole feature of our Inven-
tion) is, that it will afford a positive concentric lead or direction for the sub-
sequent operation of the punch or drift, thus ensuring great mechanical
accuracy (which it is especially desirable to insure in working large masses
of metal for the largest ordnance) in concentrically displacing the metal
from the centre to the extent of the hole so punched into the surrounding
mass, the complete concentric position of such displacement affording addi-
tional means for centrally operating on highly condensed metal, the use of
which may for many purposes be preferred. Thus by the operation of drilling
we obtain a certain and satisfactory result from the effect of that radial dis-
placement which forms so essential an element in this as well as the several
Patents herein-before referred to granted to James Thompson, and at the
same time affords us the opportunity, according to the nature or density of
the steel or other metal under operation, to vary the size of the drilled hole
accordingly; and as this drilling and punching is a preliminary operation to
the yet more expensive manipulating for the further working, elongating, and
finishing of the said mould into a finished gun barrel, or ordnance, or part of
the same, they are important features of our separate or combined Inventions,
as at the early stage of drilling, or of drilling and punching an ingot, bloom,
or block intended for the manufacture of a gun barrel and ordnance, or part
of the same, we are enabled to positively determine after so drilling, or of
drilling and punching, whether the said metal so operated on is sound and fit
for the object desired, before the more expensive labour is bestowed on it to
reduce it to a stage or condition of manufacture near the finished state, for
these operations of punching, or drilling and punching afford the highest
proof and test of the condition, quality, and suitability for the purpose
desired of the metal after these operations are performed, that the sound and
suitable blocks or ingots so punched, or drilled and punched may be selected
at that stage for the further operations of hammering or tilting, with a
mandril inserted in the block or partially formed mould, as well as the sub-
sequent operation of elongating the so partially formed block or mould into
tubes or cylinders by the means of its being drawn off or over the bite of a

page_text: mandril as it is being passed through or between suitable grooved rolls, three
high or reversible, or with the aid of other means and appliances necessary
for the working or manipulating of large masses of metal for the purposes
herein named and referred to in the Patents within mentioned.
Having thus described the nature, object, and purpose of our Invention, it
will be seen that the principles of Patent No. 1018, 1864, with the other
Patents herein referred to, and this are in every respect identical, with the
exception of the additional preliminary operation of drilling, which for the
reasons herein-before named, is important and highly beneficial, and which
operation we claim as new and original, and of our Invention in connection
with the subsequent processes herein-before named, without purporting to
limit ourselves to any particular sized hole we may desire to make or form
by that process.
In witness whereof, we, the said William Deakin and John Bagnall
Johnson, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Thirteenth day
of November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-five.
20 Witness,
WILLIAM LOACII,
WILLIAM DEAKIN.
(L.S.)
JOHN BAGNALL JOHNSON. (L.S.)
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.