IMPROVEMENTS IN the manufactuRE OF SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1885

page_text: I, GEORGE ROWELL of 18 Falcon Road London S.W. Doctor of Medicine do
hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN the manufactuRE
OF SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE to be as follows:-
Guns, large and small, are cast in a strong iron mould, surrounded by a non-
conductor of heat. A hollow taper iron mandril occupies the longitudinal axis of
the mould. Molten mild steel is run tangentially into the space between the mould
and mandril, which latter is then caused to revolve, a cooling fluid running through
it the while. When the metal of the casting has congealed to a pasty condition,
the taper mandril, by hydraulic pressure or otherwise, is caused to advance thereby
compressing from the interior the as yet semi-fluid steel. A breech-jacket of mixed
steel and wrought-iron is shrunk on, or placed in the mould before filling with
metal. The smaller sizes of guns are cast in short lengths, and subsequently rolled
out to the desired length; the larger are cast in two or more superimposed rings,
the ring next the bore being the first made. The inner laminae of be bore are
decarburized. The piece when cold is allowed to "weather" for a time before
boring.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Small Arms and Ordnance.
I, GEORGE ROWELL 42 Richmond Road South Kensington London S.W. Doctor
of Medicine do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SMALL ARMS AND ORDNANCE and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:→
The Drawing, hereunto annexed, in conjunction with the following description,
will show the nature of my invention.
Guns, large and small, are cast in a strong iron mould (Fig. 1, A.), surrounded by
a non-conductor of heat (Fig. 1, B.). A hollow taper iron mandril (Fig. 1, C)
occupies the longitudinal axis of the mould. Molten mild steel is run tangentially
into the space between the mould and mandril, which latter is then caused to
revolve, a cooling fluid running through it the while. When the metal of the
casting has congealed to a pasty condition the taper mandril, by hydraulic pressure
or otherwise, is caused to advance, thereby compressing from the interior the as
yet semi-fluid steel. A breech-jacket of mixed steel and wrought-iron is shrunk
on, or placed in the mould before filling with metal The smaller sizes of guns are
cast in short lengths, and subsequently rolled out to the desired length; the larger
are cast in two or more superimposed rings, the ring next the bore being the first
made. The inner laminæ next the bore at the breech are then decarburized. The
piece when cold is allowed to "weather" for a time before boring.
The result of the triple procedure, viz., (1) the centripetal revolution of the
molten metal, (2) the cooling and (3) the compression of it from the interior, is
that the metal next the bore is powerfully condensed, and compressed by the
circumferential layers, which, being the last to cool, aro left in a state of "initial
tension"; and that the planes of crystallization of the metal are circumaxial and
not radial as usual.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The method of casting guns by the joint and simultaneous, or almost
simultaneous, centripetal revolution of the molten metal, its condensation upon
the bore, and compression from the interior, substantially as described.
2. The apparatus necessary to carry out the aforesaid method of casting guns:
the combination of iron mould (Fig. 1, A.), of its surrounding of non-conductor of
beat (B), and of the axial hollow taper mandril (C), substantially as described and
delineated.
Dated thig 4th day of November 1885