An Improvement or Improvements in the Manufacture of Twisted Gun Barrels.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Aug., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 5th May, 1891-Accepted, 6th June, 1891
An Improvement or Improvements in the Manufacture of Twisted
Gun Barrels.
I WILLIAM JAMES of No. 32 Legge Street Birmingham in the County of
Warwick Gun Barrel Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
In the ordinary manufacture of twisted gun barrels the barrel is made of two
coils or parts namely a coil or part of small diameter constituting the fore end or
muzzle end of the completed barrel and the other coil or part of larger diameter
constituting the breech end of the finished barrel. These two coils or parts are
welded together end to end. This the ordinary method of manufacture is attended
by defects and inconvenience the welding is frequently defective and considerable
loss of material results and the pattern or figure of the twist is distorted.
My invention has for its object to remedy these defects and inconveniences wholly
or in part and consists of the method of manufacture herein after described whereby
the barrel is made without any junction in the direction of its length and the defective
welding of the two parts in the ordinary manufacture avoided and the waste of
material occurring in the ordinary manufacture is also avoided and the pattern or
figure of the twist is not distorted.
In making a twisted gun barrel according to my invention I take strips of twisted
iron or twisted iron and steel the said strips being of sufficient length to form a coil
of the length required for the barrel to be made. These strips are not of uniform
size or diameter throughout two thirds of the length of the strip being of uniform
diameter one half of the remaining third being slightly conical and passing into the
other part of the remaining third which last named part is of uniform and greater
diameter than the first named two thirds of the strip. In the finished gun barrel
the first named two thirds of the strip constitutes the fore end or muzzle end of the
barrel and the remaining one third of the strip constitutes the breech end of the
barrel and the part intermediate between the muzzle and breech ends of the barrel.
I do not limit myself to any particular proportions between the diameters of the
different portions of the strip but I have found in practice that strips having the fore
end or muzzle end of about one eighth of an inch in diameter and the breech end of
about three eighths of an inch in diameter answer well.
I take one two three or more of the said strips and coil them side by side into a
compact coil or helix and weld them in the ordinary way.
When make the gun barrel from a coil consisting of a single strip (that is when
I make what is called a skelp barrel) I first give the strip the required taper.
I afterwards coil it and then weld it.
In making barrels of the kinds commonly called iron Damascus barrels laminated
steel barrels and Damascus barrels I employ one two or more strips and I conduct
the manufacture in the following way. I first roughly taper the strips. I next twist
them and again taper them to the required figure. I then coil and weld them in
the ordinary way.
Dated this 14th day of August 1890.
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: An Improvement or Improvements in the Manufacture of Twisted
Gun Barrels.
I WILLIAM JAMES of No. 32 Legge Street Birmingham in the County of
Warwick, Gun Barrel Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
In the ordinary manufacture of twisted gun barrels the barrel is made of two coils
or parts, namely a coil or part of small diameter constituting the fore end or muzzle
end of the completed barrel and the other coil or part of larger diameter constituting
the breech end of the finished barrel. These two coils or parts are welded together
end to end. This the ordinary method of manufacture is attended by defects and
inconveniences, the welding is frequently defective and considerable loss of material
results and the pattern or figure of the twist is distorted.
My invention has for its object to remedy these defects and inconveniences wholly
or in part and consists of the method of manufacture hereinafter described whereby
the barrel is made without any junction in the direction of its length and the
defective welding of the two parts in the ordinary manufacture avoided and the waste
of material occurring in the ordinary manufacture is also avoided and the pattern
or figure of the twist is not distorted.
In making a twisted gun barrel according to my invention I take strips of twisted
iron or twisted iron and steel, the said strips being of sufficient length to form a
coil of the length required for the barrel to be made. These strips are not of
uniform size or diameter throughout, two thirds of the length of the strip being of
uniform diameter; one half of the remaining third being slightly taper and passing
into the other part of the remaining third, which last named part is of uniform and
greater diameter than the first named two thirds of the strip. In the finished gun
barrel the first named two thirds of the strip constitutes the fore end or muzzle end
of the barrel and the remaining one third of the strip constitutes the breech end of
the barrel and the part intermediate between the muzzle and breech ends of the
barrel. I do not limit myself to any particular proportions between the diameters
of the different portions of the strip but I have found in practice that strips having
the fore end or muzzle end of about one eighth of an inch in diameter and the breech
end of about three cighths of an inch in diameter answer well.
I take one, two, three or more of the said strips and coil then side by side into a
compact coil or helix and weld them in the ordinary way.
When I make the gun barrel from a coil consisting of a single strip (that is,
when I make what is called a "skelp barrel ") I first give the strip the required
taper.
I afterwards coil it and then weld it.
In making barrels of the kinds commonly called iron Damascus barrels, laminated
steel barrels and Damascus barrels, I employ one two or more strips and 1 conduct
the manufacture in the following way. I first prefer to roughly taper the strips. I
next twist them and again taper them to the required shape. I then coil and weld
them in the ordinary way.
"
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawing represents in side elevation together
with end elevations a partially formed gun barrel technically known in the gun
barrel trade as a 56
skelp barrel" made according to my invention; that is, a skelp
barrel made by taking a long plain or untwisted strip rolled of the required section
and coiled on a mandril in the ordinary way ready for the welding operation. In
making according to my invention what is technically known in the gun barrel trade
as a "laminated or "Damascus," that is, a compact coil or helix from which a
laminated barrel or an iron or steel Damascus barrel is to be made, the strip is
first twisted and then rolled into a strip of the required section prior to the coiling
operation, the laminated or Damascus coil or helix resembling the "skelp barrel

page_text: represented in Figure 1 excepting that the coiled strip which has been twisted prior
to rolling is somewhat narrower than that represented in Figure 1. The "skelp
barrel"
represented, or the laminated or Damascus coil referred to, is made
or laminated
from a single strip of the required length the said "skelp barrel
or Damascus coil or helix being without any junction in the direction of its
length.
Figure 2 represents in side elevation, together with end elevations, a laminated
or Damascus coil or helix made according to my invention from two twisted and
rolled strips of the length required coiled side by side. Or a laminated or Damascus
coil or helix made according to my invention may be produced by the use of more
than two long strips coiled side by side.
It will be seen that the compact coils or helices Figures 1 and 2 have the same
or nearly the same internal diameter but have a conical form externally the part of
least diameter from which the fore end or muzzle end of the completed barrel is
made being marked a and the other part of largest diameter from which the breech
end of the finished barrel is made being marked b.
The different external diameters referred to of the coil or helix are produced by
using a rolled strip, or a twisted and rolled strip, having different thicknesses at
different parts or tapering from one end to the other end as illustrated in Figure 3,
where it will be seen that the part marked a² of the long rolled strip or twisted
and rolled strip extends through about two thirds of the strip and is of a thickness
proper for producing the fore end or muzzle end a of the partly made barrel and
that the other thicker part marked is of a size proper for producing the breech
end of the partly made barrel. The part of the strip marked intermediate
between the parts a² and 6 is slightly taper. In producing the strip Figure 3 for
making laminated or Damascus barrels the strip is preferably first roughly tapered
by rolling, the roughly tapered strip is next twisted as illustrated in Figure 4 and
again rolled into the shape represented in Figure 3 or other required shape. Strips
of the kind represented in Figure 3 are used for the production of laminated or
Damascus coils or helices having either a single coil or two or more coils side by
side. When strips of the kind represented in Figure 3 are used for the production
of "skelp barrels" the bar is not twisted prior to rolling it of the required sectional
shape.
It will be understood that the strip Figure 3 is represented folded or doubled at
two points only for the purpose of bringing it within the required size of the
drawing, the three parts of the strip being in the same straight line.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I claim as
my invention of "An improvement or improvements in the manufacture of twisted
gun barrels "
Making twisted gun barrels by taking taper strips of iron or steel or of iron and
steel (either made from twisted bars or from plain bars) the said strips being of
sufficient length to form a coil or helix of the length required for the barrel to be
made and coiling the said long strips singly or two or more side by side into compact
coils or helices and welding their convolutions together in the ordinary way of
manufacturing twisted gun barrels, by which method of manufacture gun barrels
are produced in one piece or without junction in the direction of their length about
two thirds of the welded helix or coil constituting the fore end or muzzle end of the
barrel and the remaining one third constituting the breech end of the barrel and
the part intermediate between the muzzle and breech ends of the barrel substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
Dated the Fourth day of May 1891.
WILLIAM JAMES.