CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANNON
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN FRITH, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Architect, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria,
by Her Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-fifth day of November, in the seventh
year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said John Frith, Her especial licence, full power,
privilege, and authority, that I, the said John Frith, my exors, adññiors,
and assigns, and every of them, by myself and themselves, or by my
and their deputy or deputies, servant or servants, or such others as I,
the said John Frith, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times thereafter
during the term of fourteen years, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CANNON," within that part of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland called England, Wales, and Town of Ber-
wick upon Tweed, and the now reciting Letters Patent contain a
proviso for making void the same, in case I, the said John Frith, should
not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in

page_text: writing under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in
the High Court of Chancery within six months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, as in and by the same, refer-
ence being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said John Frith, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly
described and ascertained by the Drawings in the margin hereof, and
in the following explanation:-
My improvements in the manufacture of cannon apply, firstly, to
the construction of a loose and removable breech to be connected with
the barrel or main body of the cannon, and secured with wrought iron
or steel tension rods attached to the trunnions, by means of which the
strain or force acting upon the breech, and occasioned by the explosion
of the cannon, will be borne by the tension rods and trunnions, which,
remaining comparatively cool during continued firing, the liability of
the cannon to burst, in consequence of the cohesive properties of the
metal in the neighborhood of the breech becoming affected by heat or
other causes, will be in a great measure removed. And, secondly, to a
duplicate breech for every cannon, so that when the cannon becomes
heated the hot breech may be removed, the barrel of the cannon cooled,
and the duplicate breech introduced. By this means a continued firing
may be kept up an indefinite length of time.
The accompanying Drawing, Figure 1, represents the vertical section
of a cannon drawn along the axis of the bore, in which A, B, is the
length of the cannon; A, also represents the breech, and B, the muzzle.
C, is the button of the breech; D, the axis of the cannon, and E, E,
the size of the bore. That portion of the cannon called the first rein-
force, (except the part forming breech A,) the second reinforce, the
trunnions, the chase, and the muzzle, marked F, F, F, F, is cast in
one piece. The first reinforce from F, to G, is hooped with strong
wrought iron or steel bands, driven on whilst hot, so that the contrac-
tion thereof in cooling will produce firm adhesion; thus that part of
the cannon most acted upon by explosion and heat is materially
strengthened. The cannon in this state (without the breech) is bored
of the requisite calibre entirely through the body of the metal; the

page_text: breech A, is cast, and turned to fit into the after part of the bore in
the first reinforce, as shewn at H, H.
Figure 2, in the accompanying Drawing is a view of the upper sur-
face, and Figure 3, of the side of the cannon, in each of which A, re-
presents the breech; K, K, the trunnions; and L, L, are wrought
iron or steel tension rods, used for the purpose of securing the breech
to the trunnions.
The breech is cast with brackets or projections, as shewn at M, M,
in Figure 4, with mortices to admit of the tension rods passing through,
which are then to be secured behind the breech by screws and nuts, or
by iron cotters, or by both, as shewn in Figures 2, and 3, and to the
trunnions by rings forged to the end of the tension rods, and turned
to fit upon the base of the trunnion, as shewn at N, N, in Figure 5.
The above contains an explanation of the nature of my Invention,
the novelty of which consists in the construction of the loose and re-
moveable breech to be attached to wrought iron or steel tension rods;
but my Invention is not confined to any particular form of breech or
manner of securing the tension rods.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Frith, have hereunto sub-
scribed and set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of May,
Lood night hundred and fauts four
Enrolled the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.