IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES FOR THE SAME
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Coope Haddan, of Bessborough Gardens,
Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES FOR
THE SAME."
Sealed the 26th July 1864, and dated the 30th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Coope Haddan
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th January 1864..
I, JOHN COOPE HADDAN, of Bessborough Gardens, Pimlico, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN ARTILLERY AND PROJECTILES FOR THE
SAME," to be as follows:-
My improvements embrace the altering Enfield rifles, and the rifling other
small arms and artillery with or to a particular description, section, or shape
of bore intended to support a projectile centrally in the bore, or very nearly so,
and to allow very little space for windage, being such only as may
be readily
closed by expansion of the soft or soft backed projectile intended to be used.
Such description, section, or shape of bore consists of or possesses in transverse
section three or more plane or very slightly concave surfaces, constituting or

page_text: replacing the ordinary "lands," and situate alternately between three or more
other surfaces, being curved sweeps or grooves of such depth only and no more
than is necessary for windage and to cause rotation. Each such sweep or
groove may be either uniform in depth or distance from the centre or the
angles formed by it with the lands, may be rounded off so as to give to it
somewhat of an elliptic character. The bore may have a progressive or
slackening or non-uniform amount of twist or inclination in respect of the
length of the arm or cannon, the intention being that the soft metal projectile
when expanded during discharge shall fit or be supported the more perfectly
by reason of the torsion of the projectile resulting from the want of uniformity
of the rifle twist.
And my improvements include the constructing or forming guns of cast
steel lined with wrought iron or hammered steel linings, and in some cases
jacketed or weighted externally with wrought or cast iron jackets. It is
intended to obviate the tendency to burst occasioned by the well known honey
combed or faulty character of the steel by distributing the pressure by means
of the linings which are to be turned, and the gun bodies to be bored out
accurately to fit each other by taper or other fittings. The tube or lining may
be rifled as above set forth, or in any approved manner, either before or after
being fitted and fixed within the body of the gun. The jacketing when applied
will add weight to resist recoil, and may advantageously have trunnions cast or
formed upon it. But when no jacketing is applied I intend a further improve-
ment or improvements in respect of the trunnions, consisting in forming them of
a diameter about equal to the external diameter of the cannon at the trunnions,
and of such comparatively narrow width as not to require of necessity that
the casting should have projections upon its block or mass left or cast for the
purpose, whereby in the process of forging, cutting, or producing them there
will result a less destruction of or interference with the fibre or structure of
the metal. Such trunnions may, if desired, be circular on only the lower or
under side, or otherwise not completely circular, but only so far as the bearing
or support in the carriage (so as to turn therein) may require, and in such
event to this feature may be added the improvement of constructing the
trunnion on the upper side with a circular recess concentric with the external
circular form on the under side, into which recess may fit a corresponding
holding-down piece attached to the carriage, thus converting the trunnion
into one of an incomplete annular form, and forming a new description of
bearing.
And my improvements in projectiles consist in furnishing or fitting hollow
elongated projectiles or shells with percussion or igniting projecting rods,

page_text: arms or strikers intended to strike an object or the ground, and to ensure the
ignition or explosion of the shell. These strikers may be situate either upon
the shoulder of the shell, in which case they will not require to be very long,
and two, or at most three, of them will probably be sufficient, as the rotation
of the shell will by bending, twisting, breaking, or partial breaking, bring one
or other of them into use. Or one single striker may be used situate centrally
in advance of the point or front of the shell, in which case it should be of such
a length as to ensure its striking the ground or object before the shoulder of
the shell in the event of the shell pitching or falling obliquely.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Coope Haddán in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 29th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COOPE HADDAN, of Bessborough Gardens, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Coope Haddan, Her special licence that I, the said
John Coope Haddan, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said John Coope Haddan, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS, AND IN ARTILLERY AND
PROJECTILES FOR THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said John Coope Haddan, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Coope Haddan, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
My improvements embrace, firstly, the altering "Enfield" rifles and the
rifling other small arms and artillery with or to a particular description,
section, or shape of bore intended to support a projectile centrally in the bore
or very nearly so, and to allow very little space for windage, being such only
as may be readily closed by expansion of the. soft or soft backed projectile
intended to be used. Such description, section, or shape of bore consists of or
possesses in transverse section three or more plane or very slightly concave
surfaces constituting or replacing the ordinary "lands," and situate alternately
between three or more other surfaces, being curved sweeps or grooves of such
depth only, and no more than is necessary for windage and to cause rotation.
Each such sweep or groove may be either uniform in depth or distance from
the centre; or the angles formed by the sweep or groove with the lands or
with the surfaces which have replaced the lands may be rounded off, so as to
give to it somewhat of an elliptic character. The bore may have a progressive
or slackening or non-uniform amount of twist or inclination in respect of the
length of the arm or cannon, the intention being that the soft metal projectile
when expanded during discharge shall fit or be supported the more perfectly
by reason of the torsion of the projectile, resulting from the want of uniformity
of the rifle twist.
The Drawing No. 1 illustrates the improvements above set forth, the
several Figures being for the sake of distinctiveness drawn to a scale of about
ten times the actual dimensions as intended for rifled small arms, or of the
actual size for cannon. The full lines in the Diagram, Figure 1, shew the
form of the section or shape of bore of the ordinary Enfield five-grooved rifle ;
a, b, a, being the "lands," and a, b, a, the grooves; c is a dotted circle
representing the cylindrical bore before rifling; d, d, are tangent lines to this
circle drawn to shew the projection of the shoulders a, a. By cutting away
these shoulders the section or shape of bore becomes altered in accordance
with these improvements, as represented in Figure 2, in which a*, b, a*, are
the plane surfaces constituting or replacing the lands, and a*, b*, a*, the
sweeps or grooves between them. In Figure 1 the line e, e, shews one of a
set of curved lines instead of tangents d, d; the shoulders a may be cut away
only to the extent of these lines, in which case the surfaces a*, b, a*, instead
of being plane would become slightly concave. Figure 3 is a Diagram
explaining construction with three surfaces 6 instead of five; Figures 4 and 5
both represent such section, the former with slightly concave surfaces a*, b, a*,
and the latter with corresponding plane, surfaces. In constructing new armis

page_text: they may be similar to either of the Figures 2, 4, or 5, or the grooves instead
of forming angles with the surfaces may, if preferred, be rounded off into
them, thus giving the elliptical character of the grooves. Or a somewhat
similar form with grooves struck from centres z, z, z, as in Figure 6, may be
substituted, the short lengths or surfaces y, y, y, intervening between the
grooves being portions of the cylindrical bore untouched, and practically; if
not theoretically, joining up with the grooves without forming angles. It is to
be understood that this part of the Invention, though having more especial
reference to small arms is also applicable to cannon. The progressive or
slackening or non-uniform amount of the twist of the rifling forms no feature
of the present Invention, excepting only in combination with the improved
sections or shape of bore.
My improvements embrace, secondly, the constructing or forming guns of
cast steel lined with wrought iron or hammered steel linings, and in some
cases jacketed or weighted externally with wrought or cast iron jackets. It is
intended to obviate the tendency to burst occasioned by the well-known honey-
combed or faulty character of the steel, by distributing the pressure by means
of the linings, which are to be turned and the gun bodies to be bored out
accurately to fit each other by taper or other fittings. The tube or lining may
be rifled as above set forth or in any approved manner, either before or after
being fitted and fixed within the body of the gun. The jacketing when
applied will add weight to resist recoil, and may advantageously have trunnions
cast or formed upon it.
In Drawing No. 2, Figure 7 shews one of the improved guns shewing cast-
iron jacket applied. h is the cast-steel body; i, the lining of wrought iron or
hammered steel properly welded up and having the external surface accurately
turned to fit the accurately prepared bore of the body, and fixed thereto by
screwed end at muzzle or otherwise; the, fitting may or may not be tapering.as
preferred. k, k, are trunnions cast on the jacket, but a wrought iron trunnion
band with trunnions thereon may be substituted. The vent through the
body may be made before the tube is inserted, and be continued through the
tube after insertion.
Thirdly, and in respect of cast-steel guns as above set forth (where no
jacketing is to be applied), my improvements embrace the forming.upon the
guns trunnions of a diameter about equal to the external diameter of the
cannon at the part where the trunnions are situate of such comparatively narrow
width as not to require of necessity that the casting should have projections
upon its block or mass left or cast for the purpose, whereby in contraction in
cooling and in shaping by forging or producing them, there will result a less

page_text: .destruction of or interference with the fibre or structure of the metal. Such
trunnions, may, if desired, be circular on only the lower or under side, or
otherwise not completely circular but only so far as the bearing or support. in
the carriage (so as to turn therein) may require, and, in such event, to this
feature may be added the improvement of constructing the trunnion on the
upper side with a circular recess concentric with the external circular form on
the under side, into which recess may fit a corresponding holding-down piece
attached to the carriage, thus converting the trunnion into one of an incom-
plete annular form and forming a new description of bearing.
Figure 8 is a plan view of a gun illustrating one of the last-mentioned
improvements; Figure 9, a side view of that part of same near to trunnions ;
and Figure 10 a section at A, A. 1, 1, are the improved trunnions completely
circular and projecting but slightly and not beyond the size of the original
mass or casting indicated by the dotted lines m, m, in Figures 8 and 10.
Figures 11, 12, and 13, are Figures corresponding with the three lastly
described, and representing a gun with the modified character of trunnions
above set forth, which I call my "half moon" or "crescent" trunnions, the
Figure 13 shewing two half sections taken at B, B, and C, C, respectively.
n, n, are the circular recesses in upper side of trunnions. The dotted lines
m, m; in Figures 11 and 13 denote the original mass or casting; Figures 14, 15,
and 16 are corresponding views illustrating the mode of mounting this
gun in
a bearing or bearings o, o, to be fixed in any convenient manner to a gun
carriage; p, p, are the holding down bars, which are formed with projecting
blocks p, p, with circular faces on the under side fitting into circular
recesses on the upper side of the trunnions. One only of these holding-down
pieces is shewn in Figure 14, the other being removed to shew more clearly
the bearing and the recess in the trunnion. If it be desired to reduce the
amount of projection of the trunnions this can be done in the case of those
not completely circular by increasing the diameter, as shewn by the dotted
lines v, v, in Figure 12, or it may be increased even up to double the diameter
of the gun.
Lastly, my improvements embrace the furnishing or fitting hollow elongated
projectiles or shells with percussion or igniting projecting rods, arms, or
strikers, intended to strike an object or the ground, and to ensure the ignition
or explosion of the shell. These strikers may be situate either upon the
shoulder of the shell, in which case they will not require to be very long, and
two or at most three of them will probably be sufficient, as the rotation of the
shell will by bending, twisting, breaking, or partial breaking, bring one or
other of them into use; or one single striker may be used situate centrally in

page_text: advance of the point or front of the shell, in which case it should be of such
a length as to ensure its striking the ground or object before the shoulder of
the shell in the event of the shell pitching or falling obliquely..
The remaining Figure of Drawing No. 2 illustrate these improvements;
Figures 17 and 18 shew an elongated shell with the improved arms, rods, or
strikers t, t, situate on the shoulder. In this case it is not desirable they should
project beyond the limits indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 17. Figure 19
is a Diagram illustrating the flight of this projectile and the manner in which
as it rotates one or other of the rods t, t, will strike the ground; Figures 20,
21, and 22, are corresponding views shewing a single improved arm, rod, or
striker situate centrally in advance of the point or front of the shell.
Either description of striker may be made either as friction tubes are now
made or with any approved percussion or igniting composition or contrivance.
In the Drawing No. 2 the several Figures excepting those numbered 19
and 22 are drawn to a scale of about one-eighth of the actual dimensions.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Coope Haddan, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. C. HADDAN. (L.S.)