IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND ARTILLERY, AND OP OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE." OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Atkinson Longridge, of the Town and County
of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND ARTILLERY, AND OP
OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE."
OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE."
Sealed the 23rd November 1855, and dated the 24th May 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Atkinson Longridge
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
24th May 1855.
I, JAMES ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of the Town & County of Newcastle-on-
Tyne, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Iм-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND ARTILLERY,
AND OF OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE," to be as follows,
that is to say-
I construct or manufacture guns,, or cannon, or other vessels by first pre-
paring a solid or hollow cylinder of steel, iron, or other metal, of such dimen-
sions, that when bored out to the calibre required, it shall be of a suitable
thickness, say, of 1 or 1½ inches, more or less, according to the calibre and of
the length the gun or cannon is to be when finished; the breech end being
closed or solid, and of the requisite thickness or strength, unless intended to be
charged or loaded at the breech, when it is to be formed accordingly. I then
coil around the exterior of it as tightly and closely as practicable a wire or

page_text: wires, either singly, collectively, or in series, of iron, steel, or other metal, and
of a form or forms in the cross section or sections of such wire or wires, round,
square, or other shape or shapes, the coil or coils being helically or spirally
from end to end. There may be one, two, or more layers or series of coils, and
when two or more such layers or series of coils are employed, such may be
coiled one upon the other in the same or in different directions to that of the
first layer or coil. The ends of the wire or wires of the coil or coils I secure at
the ends of the gun or cannon by any convenient and secure method, as by
welding, or by hoops or rings of iron or other metal.
Another mode or modification of the method of manufacturing such guns or
cannon is, by coiling around a central core or mandril of suitable size a bar
or bars of steel, iron, or other metal, in a direction or directions helically or
spirally, subsequently removing the core or mandril, and then heating the mass
in a furnace to a welding heat, and while at that heat submitting it to an
bydraulic or other pressure sufficient to effect the welding of the layers of the
coil or coils into one mass, such hydraulic or other pressure being exerted in
the direction of the length of the gun or cannon, so as to press and force the
adjoining surfaces of the coil or coils into close contact, and effect a perfect
welding together of such surfaces. During the operation of welding, the gun
or cannon may be supported exteriorly and confined by a mould, and by a core
or mandril interiorly.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Atkinson Longridge in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ATKINSON LONGRIDGE, of the Town and County of Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, hearing date the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year or iler reigu,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Atkinson Longridge, Her special license that I, the said James Atkinson
Longridge, my executors, adininistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Atkinson Longridge, 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

page_text: make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OR THE MANUFACTURE OF GUNS AND ARTILLERY.
AND OF OTHER VESSELS INTENDED TO RESIST GREAT PRESSURE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, 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 immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, 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 :-
My Invention of improvements consists as follows:-They relate to tho
construction or the manufacture of cannons, guns, mortars, and other artillery,
and fire-arms, and other vessels or cylinders intended for the explosion of
powder and other explosive materials for the discharge of projectiles, and to
the cylinders of hydraulic presses and machines, and to pumps and other
vessels, to which a considerable pressure is intended to be applied; and these
I construct and manufacture by the use and employment therein of wires, rods,
or bars of steel, iron, or other metal, arranged in such manner that the strains
to which the guns or other vessels so constructed shall be subjected shall be
tensile strains upon such wires, rods, or bars, or in the directions of the lengths
of them, or nearly so, respectively.
I will now describe the method of constructing or manufacturing a cannon
according to my Invention; and in the manufacture of the several articles to
which my Invention is applicable, the same general method of proceeding is
adopted, but modified according to the nature and form of the article intended
to be produced, and to the purposes for which it is designed. I
prepare a
cylinder or core of steel, iron, brass, or other metal to form the body or bore
of the cannon. This cylinder or core is of a length suitable for the cannon
when finished, and when bored out (either now or subsequently) to the desired
calibre, shall be of a thickness or thicknesses of metal around for the whole or
portion or portions of its length, considerably less than that required and used
for the manufacture of cannon of equal calibre in the ordinary and solid
manner. This cylinder or core may be made and formed of one piece of metal,
or of two or more separate pieces or parts combined together to form the
cylinder or core; the end of this, which is to form the breech of the cannon, to

page_text: be of sufficient solidity and strength to resist the strains to which it shall be
subjected; and when the cannon is intended to be charged and loaded at the
breech, then such prepared cylinder or core must be made in conformity for
that purpose. This cylinder or core being thus prepared, I then coil or wind
on that thinner portion or portions of it previously described one wire, rod,
or bar, or two or more wires, rods, or bars, in a spiral or helical direction or
directions, (I will hero to continue to describe the operation of manufacture in
the singular number,) tho wire, rod, or bar to be coiled or wound around the
cylinder or core in a manner as closely and with such fixed or varying degree
of tension as may be found most suitable in practice, and the ends of such wire,
rod, or bar to be securely fixed or fastened by any convenient and secure
method, so as to prevent any uncoiling, unwinding, or slackening of such wire,
rod, or bar. In some cases of manufacturing cannon and other vessels, and
with some descriptions and natures of wires, rods, or bars, one such coil of wire,
rod, or bar I find to be sufficient; but in other cases, as when greater strength
is required, I use and employ two, three, or sometimes more coils or layers of
coils, each succeeding coil being coiled or wound around or upon the preceed-
ing coil or coils either wholly or in part of the length or the extent to which
such preceeding coil or coils has been coiled or wound, and also such succeed-
ing coil or coils may be coiled or wound all or any of them in the same spiral
or helical direction or directions, or in the opposite direction or directions to
that in which the preceeding coil or coils may have been coiled or wound.
Although I have described that where two or more coils of wires, rods, or bars
are used and employed, such succeeding coil or coils may be coiled or wound
wholly or in part over the surface or the surfaces of the preceeding coil or
coils. In practice I prefer generally to make such succeeding coil or coils
cover and extend over a portion only of the preceeding coil or coils in the
direction of the length of the cylinder or core, always, however, making suc-
ceeding coil or coils to cover and be coiled over the preceeding coil or coils at
the breech end, or that part where the greater strength is required.
I have herein previously described each coil to consist of one separate wire,
rod, or bar, and I prefer so to make my improved cannons and other vessels;
but my improved method of manufacture may be so far modified that some-
times employ for like results two or more wires, rods, or bars combined in each
coil or layer of coils, and these may be coiled or wound either individually or
collectively. The cross sections of the wires, rods, or bars used and employed
may be of any form or forms, but I prefer using and employing them of a rect-
angular form or shapo in such cross section, so as to leave as small interstices
as possible betwenn and amongst such coiled wires, rods, or bars. In those

page_text: descriptions of cannon & other artillery which require to be provided with
trunnions, I make previously, either by forging or casting the trunnions sepa-
parately, and then attaching or connecting them to the cannon in any
substantial and convenient manner; or they may be cast or formed with the
cylinder or core, upon which the wires, rods, or bars are subsequently coiled;
but as this does not constitute any part of my present improvements it is
unnecessary to describe it more fully.
A modification of my herein previously described method of constructing and
manufacturing cannon and other vessels is, to proceed as before described, and
using and employing always such wires, rods, or bars composed of materials as
have the property of being welded together by the application of heat and pres-
sure. I then proceed thus: when the wires, rods, or bars have been coiled or
wound, as before described, I submit them to the action of a furnace, so as to
bring the whole or a portion only of the wires, rods, or bars so coiled or wound
to a welding temperature, and then while at a welding temperature submit it
to the action of pressure by means of hydraulic or other pressure, such pres-
sure being exerted and applied in the direction of the length of the cannon or
other vessel, or nearly at a right angle to the direction or directions in which
the wires, rods, or bars have coiled or wound, so as to force and press such
wires, rods, or bars into close contact, and effect a perfect welding together of
such wires, rods, or bars, or a portion of them.
In manufacturing cannon, cylinders, and other vessels by my improved
method, I sometimes dispense with the use and employment of the cylinders or
cores around which or a portion of which the wires, rods, or bars are coiled or
wound, and which forms part of the finished cannons or other vessels; and I
use and employ such cylinders or cores or other mandrils as centres around
which the wires, rods, or bars are coiled or wound, and which are subsequently
removed, and the whole of the coil or coils of wires, rods, or bars are then
heated to a welding temperature, and the wires, rods, or bars are welded toge-
ther by the pressure exerted and applied, as before described.
With some descriptions of cannons and other vessels, subsequent to the
operation of welding the coil or coils of wires, rods, or bars, either wholly or
partially, I coil or wind over and around such-welded coil or coils, or a portion
or portions of them, one or more other coil or coils of wires, rods, or bars, in
mauner herein first described.
Having now herein-before described my present Invention of Improvements
in the Construction or the Manufacture of Guns and Artillery, and of other
Vessels intended to Resist great Pressure, I state that I hereby claim as
my said Invention,―

page_text: Firstly, the construction and the manufacture of cannon, guns, and fire-
arms, and of other vessels intended to resist great internal pressure, by the use
and employment therein of wires, rods, or bars of steel, iron, or other metal
coiled or wound spirally or helically around cylinders or cores of metal, and
covering wholly or partially the lengths of such cylinders or cores in one, two,
or more coil or coils or layer or layers of coils of such wires, rods, or bars, and
securing and fastening the ends thereof.
Secondly, the construction and manufacture of cannon, guns, and fire-arms,
and of other vessels intended to resist great internal pressure, by the use and
employment therein of wires, rods, or bars of steel, iron, or other metal coiled
or wound spirally or helically and wholly or partially together by means of
heat and hydraulic or other pressure, assisted by the expansion of the material
due to the heat to which such coil or coils of wires, rods, or bars are subjected,
such hydraulic or other pressure being applied and exerted in the direction of
the lengths of such cannons, guns, and fire-arms, and other vessels, or nearly
at right angles to the direction in which such wires, rods, or bars have been
coiled or wound.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Atkinson Longridge, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
JAS. A. LONGRIDGE. (L.s.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the said James
Atkinson Longridge, in the presence of
JOHN ROGERSON, Coal Fitter,
16, Quayside, Newcastle-Tyne.