CERTAI IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MANU- FACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1854

page_text: το Sam
uer, of Dirungnam,
County or
Warwick, Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAI IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MANU-
FACTURING THE SAME."
Sealed the 23rd February 1855, and dated the 13th December 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fisher at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th December 1854.
I, SAMUEL FISHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN ORDNANCE, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MANUPAC-
TURING THE SAME," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of improvements in the production of wrought and
malleable iron ordnance. In making wrought-iron ordnance, I first forge the
breech into the desired form, and I then make a number of rings of wrought
iron and steel combined, and weld each of them securely; I then place the
breech into a furnace, and pile upon it any number of these rings, previously
made to a suitable form, until a sufficient length has been produced to make

page_text: the gun; the whole is then welded together in the furnace by means of
suitable apparatus, by which it may be raised, lowered, and turned, the gun
not being allowed to leave the furnace until every operation of welding is
complete; it is then ready for boring and turning, after which it may be
hardened if necessary. The metal I employ consists of steel and iron. A plate
of steel is laid on a plate of iron, and both welded by rolling together; this is
then formed into the rings, which, when turned up and formed into the piece
of ordnance, affords a steel lining to a wrought-iron gun. In making malleable
iron ordnance, I first make a wrought-iron breech, deep enough to answer for
the exploding chamber; I then cast a cylinder, and anneal it, after which I
screw this cylinder into the wrought-iron breech.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Samuel Fisher in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
FISHER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Samuel Fisher, Her special license that I, the said Samuel Fisher,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Samuel
Fisher, 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE, AND IN MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN MANUFACTURING
THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Samuel Fisher,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Samuel Fisher, 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,
reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thercon (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists of improvements in manufacturing ordnance of
wrought iron and steel combined, or of iron partially converted into steel,
or of malleable and wrought iron combined, and in peculiar arrangements
of apparatus or machinery specially adapted to the welding of the pieces
or parts of which the first two descriptions of ordnance above named are
Figure 1 is a section of the furnace I employ, shewing also in section the
various parts of the machinery employed; Figure 2, a plan on the line 1, 2;
Figure 3, a plan on the line 3, 4; Figure 4, a section of a wrought-iron gun;
Figure 5, a section of a malleable iron gun.
I will now proceed to describe the manufacture of the gun formed of
wrought iron and steel combined, according to the first part of my Invention.
I take a bar of faggotted iron, previously prepared for the purpose, of the
requisite breadth and thickness, and of superior quality, and having heated it,
I place it with a bar of steel of the same width, but not so thick, the thickness
I find suitable being about three-quarters of an inch for a twelve-pounder gun;
these two bars are then rolled together, after which the single bar thus formed
is turned round into a ring and welded securely. Having made a sufficient
number of these steel-lined rings, each one of which will of course vary in its
outer diameter to allow of the taper required for the form of the gun, I
prepare the breech end, which is turned and shaped from a solid mass of
wrought iron. I then proceed to form these parts into a gun in the following
manner, and by the use of the apparatus I am about to describe:-(A) is an
ordinary furnace, lined with fire brick, under the bed of which is sunk a well
or race (B), of sufficient depth, and lined with brick throughout. (C) is a
screw shaft, working through the toothed wheel (D), and supporting at the
upper end a table (E), upon which are small friction rollers (F), by which and
the pivot (G) another toothed wheel (H) is carried, and upon this toothed
wheel is a socket (1), provided with setting screws, and of a shape to receive
the partially formed wrought-iron breech of the gun, as seen at (J), upon which
is laid one of the rings (K) of iron and steel, before named, these rings having
been placed in the furnace until they have attained a welding heat. A hammer

page_text: (L), passing through the roof of the furnace and worked from the outside, is
now brought to bear upon one side of the gun, the gun being kept slowly but
constantly revolving by means of the wheel handle (M), (shewn in dotted lines,)
upon the shaft (N), connected at its lower end by an endless chain and pulleys
to a second shaft (N¹), on which a pinion (O) is mounted, which gears into
the toothed wheel (H), and thus the socket with the gun may by turning the
handle (M) be kept constantly revolving, and every portion of the gun will
come under the hammer. Ring after ring is thus added and welded until the
gun has attained its proper length, but as each successive ring increases its
height in the furnace, I provide the following apparatus, by which the lower
end of the gun may be lowered out of the furnace:-The screw shaft (C)
supports the table (E), which has lugs (P) working in grooved vertical shafts
(Q), bracketted from the sides of the well or race. A second wheel handle
(R), shewn in dotted lines, is connected by a rod to a pinion working a
small toothed wheel (S), which in its turn drives the larger wheel (D),
through which the screw shaft (C) works, so that on turning the handle (R),
the screw shaft with the table (E), and the apparatus, socket, and gun upon it,
are caused to descend the necessary depth to allow of each successive ring
being added, a space (T) being left below the well to receive the screw shaft.
The gun, having been formed of the requisite length, is removed from the
socket by suitable hoisting apparatus applied in front of the furnace and over
the front of the well. It is then bored, afterwards hardened, (if necessary,) and
finished in the usual manner. By the same operations I manufacture a gun
of iron partially converted into steel, preparing it in rings, and welding it on to
the previously prepared breech.
In carrying out the second part of my Invention, namely, the manufacture
of malleable iron ordnance, I first turn out of solid metal a wrought-iron
breech sufficiently deep to answer for the exploding chamber; I then cast a
cylinder in malleable iron, and anneal it thoroughly, after which I turn screws
in both the breech and the cylinder, and screw the two parts together, as will
be seen on reference to Figure 5. It is then bored and finished in the usual
manner.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into effect, I wish it to be clearly understood
that I do not confine myself to these precise details so long as the material
points of my Invention be retained; but that which I claim as of my Invention,
and desire to have secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent, is,
Firstly, the manufacture of wrought-iron steel-lined ordnance, or ordnance

page_text: manufactured of iron partially converted into steel, as herein described, by
forming the metal into rings, and afterwards welding those rings to the breech
whilst in the furnace by the means and with the apparatus or machinery
herein shewn and explained, or any mere modification of the same mechanical
parts that may be adapted to the same purpose.
Secondly, I claim the manufacture of malleable iron ordnance by combining
a wrought-iron breech with a malleable iron barrel or cylinder, in manner
herein fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fisher, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five.
SAMUEL (L.S.) FISHER.