AN IMPROVE- MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Harris, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Barrel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS."
Sealed the 25th September 1862, and dated the 7th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Harris at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
April 1862.
I, ALFRED HARRIS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Barrel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in making gun barrels by welding together, by means
of rolling, drawing, or forging, a series of bars having nearly a wedge shape,
that is, such a shape that when a series of the said bars are placed together
side by side, they have nearly the figure of a hollow cylinder or tube.
My Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of the orna-
mented gun barrels called Damascus barrels, but is also applicable to the
manufacture of gun barrels from any kind of wrought iron or steel or mixtures
of these...

page_text: In making Damascus barrels I roll the twisted bars or plates used in
making the said barrels into bars of a wedge form, and arrange these in the
form of a hollow cylinder; I prefer to support the wedge-shaped bars by a
tube of iron in their interior which is welded to them, but is cut away or
removed by the boring process. After the bars are arranged in the form of a
barrel, I temporarily secure them together by means of wire, and after
heating the whole to a welding heat I weld them together by rolling, drawing,
or forging.
My Invention may be carried into effect by the use of any number of bars
exceeding three.
In order to give a twisted figure to the barrel it may be twisted on a
mandril after the welding process, and be passed through the rolls again, or
further drawn or forged to correct or perfect the figure of the barrel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Harris in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th
October 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
HARRIS, of Birmingham, 'in the County of Warwick," Gun Barrel Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh, day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Alfred Harris, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Harris,
my executors, administrators; and assigns, or such others' as I, the .said
Alfred Harris, 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 AN IMPROVEMENT
OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Harris, my executors ori adminis
trators, 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 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

page_text: calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said 'Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Alfred Harris, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in making gun barrels by welding together by means
of rolling, drawing, or forging, a series of bars having by preference nearly a
wedge shape, that is, such a shape that when a series of the said bars; are
placed together side by side they have nearly the figure of a hollow cylinder
or tube, as herein-after described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawing.
My Invention is particularly applicable to the manufacture of the orna-
mented gun barrels called Damascus barrels; but is also applicable to the
manufacture of gun barrels from any kind of wrought iron or steel or mixtures
of-these.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention in its application to the manu-
facture of Damascus or similar ornamented-gun barrels.**
In making Damascus barrels I roll the twisted bars or plates used in
making the said barrels into bars of a wedge, form, and arrange these in the
form of a hollow cylinder.
Figure 1 of the Drawing represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in
transverse vertical section, a gun barrel made up of a series of wedge-shaped
bars a, arranged lengthwise, or side by side, upon an iron or steel tube. 6 in
their interior.
After the bars a have been arranged in the form of a barrel or hollow
cylinder, as represented in Figures 1 and 2, I temporarily secure them
together by means of wire, and after heating the whole to a welding heat I
weld them together by rolling, drawing, or forging, the said bars. being
supported during the rolling, drawing, or forging, by the tube b in their interior.
The tube 6 may be wholly or partly cut away or removed from the barrel by
the boring process; or the said tube may be left in the barrel. In place of a
tube a solid steel or iron rod or core may be employed to support the wedge-
shaped-bars.
"
Figure 3 represents in side elevation, and Figure 4 in transverse vertical
section, a gun barrel in which the bars a are arranged and supported upon a
solid rod or core c. The solid rod or core c is wholly or partly cut away or
removed from the barrel by the boring.process.
Figures 5 and 6 represent in elevation and transverse section respectively.

page_text: another barrel made up of a series of small wedge-shaped bars arranged and
supported upon a solid rod or core.
My Invention may also be carried into effect by arranging, two or more
.concentric hollow cylinders made up of small longitudinal wedged-shaped bars
upon a tube or solid rod or core, and afterwards welding the whole together..
Figure 7 represents in side elevation, and Figure 8 in transverse vertical
section, a gun barrel made up of two concentric hollow cylinders of wedge-
shaped bars, as herein last explained, that is to say, I first arrange upon, the
solid rod or core d (or a tube may be used) a hollow cylinder or tube made up
of the bars e, e, and upon the said bars e, e, and concentric therewith I arrange
another hollow cylinder or tube made up of the bars f,f; the said bars e and
f, and rod or core d, are afterwards temporarily secured together and raised to
a welding heat and welded together.
My Invention may be carried into effect by the use of any number of bars
exceeding three.
In order to give a twisted figure to the barrel it may be twisted on a
mandril or without a mandril after the welding process, and be passed through
the rolls again or further drawn or forged to correct or perfect the figure of
the barrel.
When I manufacture Damascus or other ornamented barrels according to
my Invention, the ornamented bars which I employ. for that purpose, are
made by the ordinary method, and I therefore, do not think it necessary to
describe in detail the manufacture of the said bars; neither do, I think it
necessary to describe in detail the processes of rolling, drawing, or forging,
by which the bars are welded together, as the said processes are well known
and commonly practised, and constitute no part of my Invention.
Although I prefer to make the bars used in carrying my Invention into
effect of a wedge shape, which shaped bars I have found to answer well in
practice, yet any other shaped bars which can be arranged side by side upon
a tube or solid rod or core may be employed.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not
limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated in the
Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my
Invention; but I claim as my Invention the improvement or improvements in
the manufacture of gun barrels, herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawing, that is to say, manufacturing gun barrels by either
welding together a series of bars, by preference, of a wedge shape, the said
bars being arranged and supported longitudinally or side by side upon a tube

page_text: or solid rod or core, or welding together two or more hollow cylinders made
up of the said bars arranged longitudinally and concentrically upon a tube or
solid rod or core.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Harris, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
ALFRED HARRIS. (L.B.)