IMPROVE- MENTS IN ORNAMENTING IRON AND OTHER METALS FOR USE IN THE MANUFAC- TURING OF GUN BARRELS, AND ALL OTHER ARTICLES TO WHICH THE SAME ORNAMENTED METALS MAY BE APPLIED
Year: 1849

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
BENJAMIN AINGWORTH, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Button Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS did by Petition humbly represent unto Her present
most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, that I had invented "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORNAMENTING IRON AND OTHER METALS FOR USE IN THE MANUFAC-
TURING OF GUN BARRELS, AND ALL OTHER ARTICLES TO WHICH THE SAME
ORNAMENTED METALS MAY BE APPLIED," and Her said Majesty, being
willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions that may be
for the public good, was graciously pleased by Her Royal Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the First day of August, in
the thirteenth year of Her reign, for Herself. Her heirs and succes-
sors, to give and grant unto me, the said Benjamiu Aingworth, iny
exors, admiors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that I or they, by myself or themselves, or by
my or their deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as I or they
should agree with (and no others), during the term of fourteen years

page_text: from the date of the said Letters Patent should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend my said Invention within that part of
Her said Majesty's Dominions called England, Her Dominion of Wales,
and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to me, my
exors, admors, and assigns, shall seem meet, and that I or they shall
enjoy the whole profit and advantage arising by reason of the said
Invention during the said term of fourteen years: And whereas the
said Letters Patent contained a proviso obliging me, the said Benjamin
Aingworth, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner...the-same is. to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, and to cause the same
to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent, as in and by the same (reference being thereunto had)
will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said Benjamin Aingworth, do hereby declare that the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
is described and ascertained in manner. following that is to say:..
My said improvements in ornamenting iron and other metals for use
in the manufacturing of gun barrels consists in preparing iron or steel
(by suitable means herein after described) so as to give ornamental
forms thereto (or forms which will ultimately produce ornament on
the gun barrels), and also consists in combining together (in manner
herein-after described) iron, and steel so prepared, the manner of..com-
bining being suitable as a preparation for; the combined. iron; and
steel being welded together. (by any approved mode of welding) into a
thoroughly incorporated mass of metal, which (after-being, wrought
into a suitable form or shape, such as a plate, or skelp. or riband.) will
be fit for use in the manufacturing of gun barrels that is to say, it
will be a fit material in the form or shape of a plate, or skelp, or
wil be a fit material in the form or-shape-of-bp ten or seep-on-
the usual manner of manufacturing gun barrels, either plain or spiral,
as may be required, and either for gun or, pistol or other barrel accord-
ing to the size as well as the form or shape into which the aforesai

page_text: "
incorporated mass of compound nietal. has been wrought after the
same has been, welded into such mass. And the intended-ornament
will ultimately become apparent on the external surfaces of the gun,
pistol, or other barrels (which are made of such compound metal);
after the said barrels have been finished, and acids-have-been applied.
thereto in the ordinary process of browning gun barrels.
One mode of preparing steel so as to give ornamental forms as
aforesaid is to cut out such ornamental forms in thin-sheet steel by
the well-known means of stamping, piercing, or cutting out in a fly
press or other suitable machine with suitable cutting out' tools of the
class commonly known as punch and bolster tools, like those used in
piercing open worked fenders, and other like open work. The steel
being thus cut out into forins suitable for the pattern of the ornament
required, suitable pieces of 'the said steel are then to be laid in duc
order upon the surface, of a piece of iron when the same has been
heated so as: to, become. softened: (but a welding heat is not requisite),
and the pieces of steel being in a cold state (except inasmucli as they
may become heated by being laid in contact with the heated iron);
those pieces of steel are forcibly pressed down upon the surface of the
heated iron so as to become sufficiently, imbedded into the iron for
remaining in due place. thercon whilst the iron and the steel together
are heated to a welding heat, and the: whole welded into one incor-
porated 'mass of compound. metal. In other cases portions of the sheet
of steel which remain after the. aforesaid ornamental forms have been
cut out from such sheet may be used, in inaniner aforesaid, instead of
the pieces of steel for first imbedding into and then welding together
with the iron into an incorporated mass of compound metal, as above
described, or in other cases drawn-steel wire of suitable size may be
bended to such an ornamental form of pattern; with such loops, twists,
curls, or bends, into curves or angles, as fancy may dictate, so as in
effect to forin a pattern in: wirework, which wire 'or wirework can be
laid down on the surface of the heated iron, instead of the pieces or
portions of steel plate aforesaid. The said wirework niay be first
flattened by hammering before it is so laid on the heated iron, or
pieces cut out of sheet steel as aforesaid; and portions of a sheet of

page_text: steel which remain after the cutting out as aforesaid, and wire or
wirework as aforesaid, may be used in concert for making up a pattern
by either two or all those three ways of giving ornamental form to the
steel. In any such case as aforesaid the forcible pressure whereby the
steel is to be imbedded into the iron may be given by any suitable
means, such as hammering or pressing with flat pressure, or passing
through between revolving rollers, the mode of giving the pressure
being immaterial, provided that it is sufficiently forcible to cause the
steel to become so far embedded into the heated iron as that the steel
will keep in duc place thereon until the subsequent welding heat and
welding operation has completely incorporated the iron and the steel
together into one mass of compound metal. It will be obvious that
the steel is to be on that side of the iron which will ultimately be the
outside of the barrel which is to be made out of suchi mass of com-
pound metal, which mass after having been welded may be wrought
into a skelp for making a plain barrel, or into a long riband to be
afterwards curled up into a spiral for making a spiral barrel; the
manner of making the barrel of either sort being the same as
usually practised. And note, although iron has been mentioned as
receiving steel upon it for obtaining the ornament, yet if barrels are to
be made of steel, then the ornaments may be cut out of a sheet of iron
plate, or made of iron wire, and applied upon a suitable piece of heated
steel, and embedded into the softened surface thereof, and afterwards
welded therewitli into an incorporated mass of compound metal, all in
the same manner as already described, if the word iron (wherever it
occurs in that description) is read steel, and, vice versa, the word stee
is read iron.
Another mode of preparing iron and steel in ornamental forms, and
of combining the two metals in a suitable manner for being welded
together into an incorporated mass of compound metal, is to cut out o
a sheet or-plate_of_steel (of a proper thickness) pieces of steel of the
required ornamental forms in the same-manner as already described
and with the kind of cutting-out tools already mentioned; then-doing
the same with a like sheet or plate of iron of the same thickness as the
piece of steel, using the very same cutting-out tools, and then inserting

page_text: the several pieces of steel into the corresponding holes in the plate of
irou until all those holes are filled up with steel, and the plate appears
complete, although it is iron inlaid or combined with steel according to
a pattern. The said plate is then to be heated, and welded into an
incorporated mass of compound metal, and that mass afterwards worked
into a suitable form of a plate, or skelp, or riband fit for use in the
manufacturing of gun barrels. And in like manner the pieces whichi
were cut out of the plate of iron aforesaid may be inserted into the
corresponding holes in the aforesaid plate of steel until all those holes
are filled up with iron, and the plate appears complete as aforesaid, and
is then to be heated and welded into an incorporated mass of compound.
metal, in the saine manner as in the former case of the plate of iron:
And note, in either of the two last-mentioned cases the aforesaid plate
of iron combined as aforesaid with pieces of steel in ornamental forms,
(or else the aforesaid plate of steel combined as aforesaid with pieces of
iron in ornamental formis.) may have a corresponding plate of iron
welded to one side of the combined iron and steel in order to give an
extra thickness thereto, such plate of iron being so welded thereto,
either at one and the same operation, with the aforesaid first-mentioned
welding together of the combined iron and steel to become an incor-
porated mass of compound metal, or else being welded to such
incorporated mass by a subsequent welling operation. And in eitlier
way the said extra thickness which will be given by welding together
such incorporated mass of compound metal and the aforesaid plate of "
iron may be more than may be requisite for obtaining the thickness
ultimately required for the plate, or skelp, or riband which is to be
made use of in the manufacturing of gun barrels; and also the afore-
said plate of iron- may be as much thicker at that end which is
ultimately to become the breech end of the gun barrel than at the
other end, as is requisite, in order that when the whole mass of the
compound metal and of the iron to which the same is welded has been
wrought into its intended form of a plate, or skelp, or riband (and of a
proper thickness for making the intended gun barrel), that the con-
-pound of iron and steel combined in the required ornamental forms
according to a pattern shall be only a part of the whole thickness of

page_text: such plate; skelp, or riband; and the said iron and steel combined
according to an ornamental pattern as aforesaid must be at the outside
of the barrel which is to be made,; the aforesaid iron-which has been
welded on in order to give an extra thickness as aforesaid being at the
inside. But in case, as already described, of no such iron being so
welded to one side of the compound mass of iron and steel, that com
pound must constitute the whole of the ultimate thickness of the plate,
skelps or riband, and it will therefore be immaterial which side of the
mass of compound metal is to be ultimately at the outside of the barrel
and which side at the inside thereof. And note, by way of variety in
the wirework herein-before mentioned as one of the means of obtain
ing ornamental forms, such, wire may be formed into chains, and heated
and flattened so as to become fit for being used in the manner herein-
before described for using wirework Or wires of iron and of steel
may be, twisted together to be used instead of plain steel wire in
formning wirework in ornamental. forms, as herein-before described.
And drawn wires of iron and; of steel may be twisted, or platted
together to form wire ropes of combined metals, of,suitable, size, and cut
into suitable lengths, for being first welded into an incorporated mass of
compound, metal, and then for that mass, to be, wrought into the
intended form and size of a plate, skelp, or riband fit to be used in the
manufacturing of gun barrels. Such wire ropes; either twisted or
platted, may be made by the means commonly used for such purpose;
and well known; except as to using both iron, and steel wire combined
together. And the said ropes may have the wires first united or
twisted together into strands, and then those strands united or twisted
together into ropes, all; as commonly practised in making wire ropes;
and the combination of iron and steel wires may be made in each such
strand with such arrangement of the iron and of the steel wires 'as may
be, most suitable for obtaining the intended ornamental effect; or soine
of the-strands for the wire rope may be composed, oft iron, wire and
others of those strands of steel wires, or of both steel and iron wires, so
that, when such different strands are united together into a rope that
rope will be a suitable combination of iron and of steel wires: And in
reparation for welding a piece (or length cut off) such a wire rope

page_text: into an, incorporated. mass; it should first be heated and hanimered or
otherwise compressed so as to close all interstices between the wires;
and bring them into close contact one with another; and then the wire
rope being heated again, but to a welding heat, the welding of the
whole into an.incorporated mass-of. compound nietal is to be performed
by any approved: method of. welding; or the iron and steel wires;
instead of being circular wires, may be..drawn of such forms and with
such flat sides to the wires as will. permit of the several wires coming
into tolerable close contact one with another when united together into
a wire rope, and with smaller interstices between the flat-sided.wires
than circular wires must have.
Another mode of preparing iron or steel.in ornamental forms is to
pass a strip of the metal in a heated and softened state through between
a pair of revolving rollers, the circumference of the uppermost of thosė
rollers being deeply engraved with the intended pattern, so that the
heated and softened metal, .in passing through between the two rollers;
will beconic imprinted with the said pattern in high relief at one side. of
the metal. Then a like strip of the other metal, but thinner; (that is
to say) if the first-mentioned strip was iron, then the strip. iow about to
be described is to be steel (and vice versa), and such strip of the other
mietal is to be placed flatways over. the said imprinted pattern on the
first-mentioned strip, and both strips being then heated together to a
welding heat are next to be welded together into an incorporated,mass
of compound metal by any approved: mode of welding, either by hai
mering or by passing between a pair of revolving rollers, which may be
the same, rollers before mentioned, but at different parts of those rollers,
and which, parts are not engraved with any pattern; and the mass of
compound metal may be afterwards passed repeatedly through between
other parts of the said pair of rollers until the compound' metal-is
brought to the required state of a iplate or skelp, or reband, fit
for use in the manufacturing of gun barrels, or nearly to that; state,
and-only requiring to be finished by hand hammering: And when such
plate-or-skelp of compound metal is, afterwards made into a gun or
other barrel the aforesaid thinner strip which was welded over the
imprinted strip is to be at the outside surface of the barrel, and ultimately

page_text: that outside surface. being removed by grinding, filing,, or otherwise
finishing the outside of the barrel, the imprinted pattern will be at the
outside finished surface, so that the-ornamental pattern will become
visible on that surface by action of the acids used in the ordinary process
of browning. And note, instead of the circumference of the uppermost
roller being engraved in manner above mentioned, the like kind of deep
engraving may be made upon the surface of a bar of steel or iron-by
first punching when hot, and finishing the engraving afterwards to the
intended pattern. And the strip of heated and softened metal already
mentioned, instead. of being passed through between the rollers.afore:
said, is to be laid upon the engraved surface of the said bar when the
latter is cold, and then both the bar and the heated metal being passed
together through.between a pair of revolving rollers (having no engrav-
ing thereon). The pressure of those rollers will imprint the heated metal
into the deeply engraved pattern on the bar; and after the heated metal
is removed from the bar it will be found to have become imprinted
with the said pattern in high relief in the same manner as if it had been
subjected to the engraved roller already described; and the strip of metal so
so imprinted with the pattern is afterwards to have a thinner strip of other
metal applied over the imprinted surface, and then both strips welded toge-
ther into an incorporated mass of compound metal, asalready described.
And another mode of preparing iron and steel for being welded
together is to cut up drawn wire of iron of suitable size into short
pieces of uniform length, and of steel wire the same, and then to
intermix together such pieces of iron and of steel wire, with such a
distribution of the pieces of steel wire amongst the pieces of iron wire as
will be suitable for ultimately producing a variegated pattern. The said
wire may be drawn-round, or oval, or square, or other shape as may be
"preferred, and may be cut off by any known means; for instance, by
shears or by machinery such as is well known and used in making cut
nails; and the said pieces of iron wire with steel wire intermixed amongst
them are to be-heated and welded into an incorporated mass of com-
-pound metal in the same manner as-is-well known and commonly prac-
stised for welding together small scraps of iron (and particularly stubs
For old horse shoe-nails) for obtaining-plates, or skelps, or ribands for use

page_text: in the manufacturing of gun barrels; but the difference is that I use
pieces of iron wire and of steel wire of uniform sizes intermixed, instead.
of small pieces of iron alone, whether scraps or stubs, or old horse' shoe
nails. And the compound metal obtained according to my improve-
ments (by any of the different modes of proceeding herein-before de-
scribed) may be used in the manufacturing of other articles than gui
barrels in case that the surface of the compound-metal is to be ulti-
mately finished by the well-known process which (as applied to gun
barrels) is called browning, and in which process it is that the surface
of the steel in the compound metal assumes a different shade of color
from that of the surface of the iron, and which browning process is
applicable to many other articles, provided that they are made of a com-
pound metal of iron and steel; but such compound being made according
to my improvements, as herein-before described, will exhibit an orna-
mental browned surface, with patterns more or less variegated and
distinctly defined, according to the forms previously given to the pieces
of steel, and according to their distribution amongst the iron, or the
pieces of iron, in the compound metal: And for other articles tlian gun
barrels the combined iron and steel may in some cases be united into a
sufliciently solid mass for such cases by soldering or brazing the iron
and steel together, instead of welding them. But in other cases the
two metals which are combined in the compound metal may be such
metals as cannot be welded together, but they may nevertheless be
united together into a sufficiently solid mass for such other purposes by
soldering or by melting instead of welding. For instance, the mode
herein-before described of cutting out pieces of ornamental forms in
two sheets or plates of iron and steel of like thicknesses, and then
mutually transferring the pieces cut out of one plate into the holes left
in the other plate. Such two plates may (for other articles than gun
barrels, be iron and brass, or iron and copper, so as to have sufficient
difference between the colours of the two metals; and after the holes in
the iron plate have been filled up with the pieces of brass or copper.
and reciprocally the holes in the brass or copper plate have been filled
up with the pieces of iron, then all the said pieces may be securely
fastened into their intended places by soldering or brazing, according to

page_text: well-known modes of performing such operations, and the combined
(but not incorporated): metals will, when polished on the surface;
exhibit the intended'-pattern, in the two natural colors of the metals
which are so combined without any browning or corresponding opera-
tion being requisite for bringing out the pattern: Also, for another
instance, respecting a strip or plate of iron whicli has been imprinted
on one side with an ornamental pattern. in higli relief in the manner
and by either of the two inodes herein-before described, (that is to say.)
either by means of an engraved uppermost roller of a pair of revolving
rollers, or else by means of an engraved bar for imprinting such pattern
on such strip or plate of iron. Then (instead of welding, as herein-
before described) the hollows of the imprint of that pattern may be run
in with brass or spelter, applied in the same manner as is commonly
practised in the operation of brazing with borax or other fluix, and
melting by heat. The imprinted surface of the iron having been
previously cleaned by suitable pickling with acid, and then brushing
with a scratch brush, or otherwise, so as to render the iron quite fit for
the melted brass' or-spelter, by aid of the borax or other flux, to adhere
firmly to the iron; and after the said imprinted-surface has been in
that manner entirely, filled up, and almost covered over with the brass
or spelter, then when that brass and the prominent parts of the iron are
reduced by grinding,- filing, or other like operation, to an even and
polished surface, that surface will exhibit the intended pattern in iron;
which will appear to have been inlaid into brass, so that the ornamental
pattern will be shewn by the difference of the natural colours, of those
two metals, without any browning or corresponding operation; and
metals so ornamenteil-may be used for fillets, borders, and other parts
of fenders, fire grates, and various articles other than gun-barrels.
Having now described-ny said improvements, I, the said Benjamin
Aingworth, do hereby declare that the new Invention, whereof the
exclusive-use is granted to me by the Letters Patent herein-before
recited, consists in the modes herein-before described of combining or
mixing iron and steel together, so as that when the two metals are
incorporated, by welding into a compound metal the steel will be
regularly intermixed amongst the iron: in, that compound..(or the iron

page_text: amongst the steel therein) according to some ornamental pattern or
variegated or diversified arrangement of the iron and steel, according to
that one of the modes herein-before described of combining and mixing
as aforesaid, which has been resorted to in order to render such com-
pound metal fit for use in the manufacturing of gun barrels, and so as
to obtain an improved style of ornamenting the same or other articles
which may be made of such compound metal of iron and steel, and the
outside surface thereof ultimately finished by the operation called
browning gun barrels. And in some cases of other articles than gun
barrels, which do not require the compound metal to be welded, then
soldering may be substituted in the manner herein-before described,
and the two metals may be iron and brass, or iron and copper, and they
will shew the ornamental pattern by the difference between the natural
colours of the two metals that are combined, without any browning or
other corresponding operation being requisite for bringing out such
pattern.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Aingworth, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of January,
Lichtbundled and cl..
BENJAMIN (L.S.) AINGWORTH.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-ninth day of
January, in the year of our Lord 1850, the aforesaid Benjamin
Aingworth came before our said Lady the Queen, in Her Chancery,
and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing
therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our Lord