AN IMPROVEMENT IN GUN BARRELS
Year: 1820

page_text: WILLIAM DELL, of Southampton, Auctioneer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth
did, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdoni
of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twentieth
day of July, in the first year of His reign, give and grant unto me, the
said William Dell, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial licence,
full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said William Dell,
my exors, aditiors, and assigns, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-
upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN GUN BARRELS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that if I, the
said William Dell, shall not particularly 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
cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within two calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease, deter-
mine, and become void, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto
had) may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the
said William Dell, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed,
by the following description thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
and Figures annexed (that is to say):
My Invention of a safety chamber doth consist in so arranging the
bore of a gun barrel that the whole of the charge of powder may be
retained in a chamber, the bore of which shall be considerably less than
the calibre of the gun barrel, and which chamber shall extend towards
the muzzle several inches beyond the breech, as represented in the
Figure.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing represents a section of the barrel, safety chamber, charge
of powder and shot, and part of the breech, the remaining part of the
breech being an elevation. A, A, is a hollow cylinder of iron, steel, or
any other suitable metal, either cast or wrought, extending several inches
up the barrel, and which being introduced at such a distance up the
barrel that the breech may screw tightly up to it, is there soldered to
the barrel. B, represents the bore of the said cylinder having a cup at
its upper extremity C, and this bore with the cup forms the safety
chamber. For additional security a screw may be introduced through
the barrel into the cylinder as at S. The size of the bore of the cylinder
must depend on its length (which I prefer to be about three inches and
upwards), and the quantity of powder required to be contained in it. In
the Drawing the red line denotes the breech. The safety chamber may
be made of one piece with the gun barrel in its first boring, but I prefer
the subsequent introduction of a hollow cylinder, as before described,
with soft solder. Now such a safety chamber or arrangement of the
bore of a gun barrel as herein-before described being an Invention of
iny own, I am desirous to maintain this my exclusive right and privilege
to the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Dell, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty.
W. DELL. (L.8.)

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifth day of September,
in the year of our Lord 1820, the aforesaid William Dell came before
our said Lord the King, in His 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 stampt according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and twenty.