AN IM- PROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CANNON AN AND OTH OTHER ORDNAMOR
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clay, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Iron and Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CANNON AN
AND OTH
OTHER ORDNAMOR"
Sealed the 4th May 1860, and dated the 12th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clay at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 12th December
1859.
I, WILLIAM CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron and Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED MODE OF MANUFACTURING CANNON AND OTHER ORDNANCE," to be as
follows:-
The object of this Invention is to reduce the cost of manufacturing cannon
and other ordnance, and materially to expedite the manufacture. My im-
proved process relates to the rolling of piles, blooms, or solid or hollow ingots
of iron or steel to the required tapering form, and either with or without the
use of a core or mandril by means of the rolling machinery for which I
obtained Letters Patent, bearing date December 16th, 1848, No. 12,373.
The metal to be reduced to the taper form I pass through the tapering rollers,
and at every repetition of the rolling action I turn the mass on its axis in order
to shift the nip of the rollers, and this operation I continue until a complete
welding and shaping of the mass is effected. The forms thus produced may be

page_text: bored out in the usual manner, and trunnions may be welded, shrunk on, or
otherwise attached thereto. When I desire to roll the cannon hollow, I take a
hollow pile bloom or casting, and insert a mandril therein, and roll the metal
at a welding heat, as above explained. The piles of iron or steel I prepare
in such a manner as to ensure the fewest possible number of joints, and these
joints I so arrange as to bind the whole pile together.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clay in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
12th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLAY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Iron and Steel Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clay, Her special license that I, the said William Clay,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Clay, 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE
OF MANUFACTURING CANNON AND OTHER ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Clay, 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 William Clay, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :—
The object of this Invention of "An Improved Mode of Manufacturing
Cannon and other Ordnance," is to reduce the cost, and materially to expedite

page_text: the manufacture of cannon, parts of cannon, and other analogous articles. My
improved process relates to the rolling of piles, coils, or solid or hollow ingots
or blooms of iron or steel, to the required tapering form for the purposes of my
Invention, instead of producing the required form by forging or hammering, as
heretofore. I propose to effect this object either with or without the use of a
core or mandril by means of rolling machinery in which the taper form is pro-
duced, by allowing one of the shaping rollers to recede gradually from the
other as the rolling operation proceeds, whereby the space or distance of the
rollers apart becomes enlarged, and the mass of metal in passing between them
assumes a gradually increasing thickness from one end to the other, either in
a conical or other form, according to the shape of the grooves cut in the rollers.
Various modes of permitting one of the rollers to recede from the other might
be devised; but the arrangement of machinery which I prefer to use for the
purpose is that described in the Specification of a former Patent granted to
me, and bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, One thousand eight hun-
dred and forty-eight (No. 12,373). In the process of rolling, the piles, coils, or
solid or hollow ingots or blooms of iron or steel may if desired be first re-
duced by means of a pair of billetting rollers, either of the ordinary construc
tion or provided with grooves of peculiar shapes, according to the form of iron
required, and if thought desirable these rollers may be made to recede from each
other as the rolling operation proceeds, by adapting thereto an a rangement
of apparatus similar to that described in the Specification of my former Patent
above referred to. In order to finish the mass of the required size and of a taper
form, I pass it between shaping or finishing rollers; it will of course be
understood that in order to reduce the pile, coil, ingot, or bloom to the desired
form and size, it must be passed several times between the shaping or finishing
rollers, a pair of which is shewn in the accompanying Drawings at Fig. 1, and
these rollers must be fitted with apparatus which will permit of their gradually
receding from each other in the manner described in the Specification of my
former Patent of the Sixteenth day of December, One thousand eight hundred
and forty-eight. In conducting the rolling operation in the shaping or finish-
ing process, it will be generally found desirable, each time that the mass is
passed between the shaping or finishing rollers, to turn it round on its axis in
order to shift the nip of the rollers, as will be readily understood by any prac-
tical workman. This rolling operation is to be continued until the pile, coil,
ingot, or bloom has attained the required shape or form. It will of course bo
obvious that a part of the mass may if desired be rolled parallel, and another
part conical or tapering, as described in the Specification of my former Patent,
above referred to. The shaped mass of metal thus produced, if made solid, is

page_text: to be bored out in the usual manner, and trunnions may be welded, shrunk on'
or otherwise attached thereto. When I desire to roll cannon hollow I make
use of a hollow pile, bloom, coil, or casting (if cast steel or homogeneous metal
be used), and if considered desirable I insert a mandril therein and roll the
metal in the manner above explained, so as to obtain the desired taper form.
When piles, coils, or cylinders of iron or steel are used, I prepare them in such
a manner as to ensure the fewest possible number of joints, and these joints I
so distribute as to bond the component parts of the mass effectually together.
In the accompanying Drawings I have shewn, as examples, a few of the
forms of piles, coils, or cylinders which I propose to use in carrying out my
Invention, but I do not mean to confine myself thereto.
Figs. 2, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 9" represent various modes of arranging
the material of which the guns or other ordnance are to be made. It is also
obvious that plates or bars of iron or steel may be rolled up in a convolute or
helical manner to form a mass, as shewn in Figs. 10, 11, and 12, and when
properly heated may be subjected to the taper rolling, as above described, for
the purpose of converting the same into cannon.
Having now described my Invention of an improved mode of manufacturing
cannon and other ordnance, and explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as afore-
said, the manufacturing of cannon and other ordnance as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clay, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Eleventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
THOMAS SIMPSON,
40, Clevedon St., Liverpool.
WILLIAM CLAY. (L.S.)