CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN' THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Thompson, of Bilston, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN'
THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND ORDNANCE,"
Sealed the 14th February 1865, and dated the 9th November 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Thompson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th November 1864.
JAMES THOMPSON, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows (that is
to say):-
My improvements consist in the application of the homogeneous metal
known as "Bessemer's steel" to the manufacture of gun barrels and
ordnance, the said metal being taken in certain quantities according to the
size of the gun barrel or barrels or ordnance required to be made, or for the
convenience of working, and swaged, hammered, rolled, or otherwise worked
and manufactured into a solid bar,bloom, or block,and which when reduced
to the proper size according to requirements I purpose cutting, dividing,or
trimming the said mass into the form or quantity required; but with a view
of simplifying this description I will assume that such prepared metal is
intended for the manufacture of ordinary gun barrels, and in that case from
the prepared mass before described solid lumps may be cut, sawn, or other-
D7

page_text: wise divided of the desired size sufficient to form a mould after the fashion,
or its equivalent, described in a Patent granted to me on the 19th January of
the present year, No. 139, (which was obtained for the purpose of amending
or more clearly illustrating my Invention as indifferently specified and
expressed in two former Patents, in which the Invention was erroneously
divided the said Patents being No. 1023 and No. 1024, 1863 respectively;
as also a subsequent application made the 14th January of the present year,
No. 108, but such application was still found to be a defective description of
my Invention,) and which solid lumps of the description of metal herein-
before referred to I punch, pierce, drill, or otherwise perforate, and from this
condition, by preference with the aid of an internal mandril, I further tilt,
swage, roll, and elongate the same into a gun barrel, with or without lumps
left on the same from the process of rolling. Thus producing gun barrels
or ordnance in like manner as described in my former Patent or Patents
before referred to, from a solid lump of this homogeneous metal, in
such a way that all the operations conduce to stiffening, hardening, and
solidifying the said metal, so as to render it in the best condition for the use
'and purpose herein named.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Thompson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
THOMPSON, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Thompson, Her special license that I,the said James
Thompson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Thompson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 IMPROVE.
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS AND ORDNANCE," upon the condition

page_text: (amongst others) that
the said James Thompson, 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 Thompson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):
My improvements consist in the application or use of the homogeneous
metal known as "Bessemer's steel " to the manufacture of gun barrels and
ordnance iu manner following:-The said metal is taken in a heated con-
dition in certain quantities, either from a block, ingot, or otherwise, according
to the size of the gun barrel or barrels or ordnance required to be made, or
for the more convenience of handling or appliances at the use of the operator.
Such piece or lump of homogeneous metal I swage, hammer, tilt, roll or
otherwise work and elongate into a solid bar, bloom, or block; such opera-
tions being not only essential to the solidifying and improving the condition
of the said metal,and rendering it fit for the purposes herein stated, but also
to reduce it to the desired shape and size, which may be effected by the
operations herein stated, or by any other suitable equivalent appliances
worked by steam, water, or otherwise.
If such homogeneous metal be intended for gun barrels I may proceed to
divide it up into such quantities as may make two or more gun barrels, or
into lumps for single barrels, punching, piercing, or otherwise perforating
the said lumps by displacing the metal concentrically through the mass,
which I purpose effecting in the manner described in a Patent granted to me
on the 24th day of April 1863, No. 10.4,and subsequently on the 19th day of
January 1864, No. 139, or by such or similar equivalent means; but will
observe that in practice I have found that instead of fixing the punch in the
moveable pistou rod, the lower or face end of the said piston rod may be
faced as an ordinary stamp haminer, and the punch for displacing the said
metal may be held concentrically on such metal intended to be perforated by
the hand or otherwise of the operator, and by a few rapidly repeated blows
imparted (while the metal is in a heated condition) by the apparatus
described in the Specification herein-before referred to or other equivalent
means, the metal will be rea lily displaced, and a hole thereby made or formed
through the mass, which may be for one, two, or more barrels, whether

page_text: external support be used or not during the time of such operation, as
experience has taught me that such external support or pressure may be
dispensed with without much liability of injury to the work so produced,
notwithstanding I prefer the assurance of good work more certainly afforded
by the use of external pressure or support.
After such operation of punching, piercing, or perforating has been per-
formed, I. proceed as described in my former Patent of the 24th day of April
1863, No. 1023, and more fully expressed in a subsequent Patent granted to
me on the 19th day of January 1864, No. 139, to re-heat and apply a
mandril for internal support through the perforation, and again tilt, swage,
roll, draw, reduce, or otherwise elongate the said metal under operation,
which, if of sufficient quantity for one gun barrel, will then assume the form
technically called a gun mould; but if for two or more, the mass being
divided, will form two or more gun moulds according to the quantity under
operation.
From this condition the said mould or moulds can be further operated on
by rolling, (as particularly described in my former Patent herein-before
referred to,) hammering, swaging, or other equivalent means, separately or
combined, to draw out and elongate the said mould or moulds to the length
and size required, and with or without lumps left on them,as may be desired,
using an internal mandril or support for solidifying the metal as progressively
operated on; such operations being varied according to the skill, taste, or
appliances of the operator.
Having thus given a sufficient description of what my Invention consists,
and that the same appliances, means, and operations have only to be increased
with a sufficient quantity of the metal when ordnance or large guns are
required to be made, I will further add that I do not purpose wasting a
particle of this description of metal in my operations,as by taking the scrap or
small pieces, otherwise of little value,made by workers in general of this metal,
as well as from my own operations,aud re-melting and casting them into the
most convenient form I may desire for again working, such metal will be
found improved by the operations to which it had before been subjected, and
may be as economically worked into gun barrels or ordnance (with the facili-
ties as herein-before described or their equivalents) as if I had commenced
operations on lumps of homogeneous metal first poured into ingots or other-
wise formed from the furnace or refinery. From this it will be seen that I
do not purpose confining myself toany particular mode, means, or appliances
for reducing the said metal into seamless gun moulds or ordnance, whether
breech or muzzle loading; nor to the means and appliances for reducing the

page_text: said moulds down to near the finished shape, as the same may be otherwise
performed without affecting the spirit and object of my Invention; nor do I
claim the making of gun barrels and ordnance of steel,as that of itself is old,
and has been attempted in various ways with more or less success, and has
formed the subject of many Patents during the present century; and I may
further add that gun barrels have been made of solid bars of steel,converted
and finished on the Bessemer principle, the solid bar being reduced down to
the external shape of a finished gun barrel, and then drilled; but what I
substantially claim and wish protected by these my in part recited Letters
Patent is, the making of seamless gun barrels and ordnance of Bessemer's
homogeneous metal or steel in the manner and by the appliances herein
described or their equivalents, as being new and of my Invention, and by
which a greatly superior quality of gun barrels and ordnance is obtained at
much less cost than has hitherto been effected.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Thompson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
JAMES THOMPSON. (L.B.)
Witness,
WILLIAM LOACH,
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.