IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Edward Vickers,, of Sheffield, in-the
County of York, Steel Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE."
1...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Edward Vickers
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th December 1862.
9.0 Da
I, THOMAS EDWARD VICKERS, of Sheffield, in the County of 'York, Steel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE," 'to be as follows:
1
My Invention of "Improvements in the Construction of Ordnance," rélates
to a novel mode of annealing and cooling blocks of steel or iron, or any other
KG
suitable metal or alloy, of which it is proposed to construct a gun or other
piece of ordnance.
The object of my Invention is to cool the block of metal in such a manner
as to cause that portion of its section which is nearest to the inside of the
bore to contract first, the other portions of the section being allowed to cool
upon it in the order of their respective distances from the axis of the
piece.
In carrying out my Invention, I first cast, roll, hammer, or otherwise form
a solid block of steel or iron, or other suitable metal or alloy of the required
form in any convenient manner, and I then bore out the solid block of steel,

page_text: iron, or other suitable metal or alloy to about the required size for the calibre
of the piece. When bored out the block of steel, iron, or any other metal
or alloy is to be subjected to heat in a reheating or annealing furnace, and
when brought to a heat sufficient to expand the crystals in the mass, and
while the block of metal is still in the furnace, I introduce into the hollow
portion of the gun, a stream or jet of water, which is continued until the
gun shall have cooled down entirely. I do not however confine myself to the
use of water alone, but I employ other fluids, or air, or any material which
is capable of being passed through the bore of the gun, and which possesses
a sufficiently low temperature to cool the metal. I also subject to the above
process of reheating and cooling from the centre, guns that have been cast of
steel in a mould made of fire-proof material, and with a hollow core.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Edward Vickers in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
EDWARD VICKERS, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Steel Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Edward Vickers, Her special license that I, the said Thomas
Edward Vickers, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Edward Vickers, 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF ORDNANCE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Edward Vickers, by an instru-
ment 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.

page_text: J
NOW KNOW YE,, that I, the said Thomas Edward Vickers, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be. particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):
.
**
My Invention of "Improvements in the Construction of Ordnance," relates
to a novel mode of annealing and cooling blocks. of steel or iron or any
other suitable metal or alloy of which it is proposed to construct a gun or other
piece of ordnance.
The object of my Invention is to cool the block of metal in such a manner
as, to cause that portion of its section, which is nearest to the inside of
the bore to contract first, the other portions of the section being allowed
to.cool upon it in the order of their respective distances from the axis of the
piece.
In carrying out my Invention I first cast, roll, hammer, or otherwise form
a solid block of steel, or iron, or other suitable metal or alloy of the required
form in any convenient manner, and I then bore out the solid block of steel
iron, or other suitable metal or alloy to about the required size for; the
calibre of the piece. When bored out the block of steel, iron, any other
metal or alloy is to be subjected to heat in a reheating or annealing, furnace,
and when brought to a heat sufficient to expand the crystals in the mass,
and while the block of metal is still in the furnace, I introduce into the hollow
portion of the gun a stream or jet of water, which is continued until: the gun
shall have cooled down entirely. I do not however confine myself, to the
use of water alone, but I employ other fluids, or air, or any material
which is capable of being passed through the bore of the gun, and which
possesses a sufficiently low temperature to cool the metal. I also subject to
the above process of reheating and cooling from the centre guns that have
been cast of steel in a mould made of fire-proof material, and with a hollow
core..
Xi
In the accompanying Drawing let Fig. 1 represent a transverse section of
the breech of a gun cast or otherwise formed in a solid block in any convenient
and well-known manner, and suppose this solid block to consist of a solid
core 1, and three concentric rings of metal 2, 3, 4, thereby forming one solid
mass, the first operation will consist of boring out the central part or core
of the gun of something less than the required calibre, or if desired the gun
may be cast with a hollow core as shewn in Fig. 2, and then afterwards bored
out to the desired calibre if required. This having been done the block is to
be reheated and gradually cooled in an annealing furnace, while the cooling

page_text: 1
operation is being carried on from the inside towards the circumference as
indicated by the concentric rings. It will now be understood that the ring 2
will be cooled before the ring 3, and the latter before the ring 4, or outermost
ring, and consequently 4 will shrink on 3, and 3 on 2, thereby greatly
increasing the strength of the gun. The operation of cooling a mass of
metal from the inside by causing a stream of water, air, or other suitable liquid
or fluid to pass continually through is so well known that I have not deemed
it necessary to enter into any detailed explanation of the operation, or of the
apparatus employed for the object, especially as the apparatus I employ for
the purposes of my Invention do not differ from that heretofore employed for
analogous purposes, it will therefore be understood that the essential feature
of novelty in the present Invention in contradistinction to that of cooling
molten metal from the inside of the block' as now practised consists in boring,
reheating, and cooling from the inside metal gun blocks made either by casting
rolling or 'forging the same, or of reheating and cooling, from the inside gun
blocks that have been made with a hollow core.
Having now described my Invention of Improvements in the Construction
of Ordnance," and having explained the manner of carrying the same into
"effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid
the boring, reheating, and cooling from the inside gun blocks made from cast
or other metal or alloy, I claim particularly the application of the process of
cooling from the inside after the gun has been bored out and reheated, I
'also claim making cast' steel guns without mechanical compression by casting
them with a hollow core, and after reheating, annealing, and cooling them from
the inside as herein set forth.
1.
'In- witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Edward Vickers, have hereunto
hand and seal, the Tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
set my
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
THOMAS EDWARD VICKERS.
(L.S.)