A METAL OR METALLIC ALLOY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles William Lancaster, of New Bond Street,
in the City of Westminster, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "A METAL
OR METALLIC ALLOY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FIRE-ARMS
AND ORDNANCE
"
Sealed the 5th April 1859, and dated the 8th October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles William Lancaster
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th October 1858.
I, CHARLES WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the City of
Westminster, Gun Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "A METAL OR METALLIC ALLOY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE MANU-
FACTURE OF FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
My metallic alloy is composed of copper and aluminium in or about the
proportions following, that is to say, 90 parts of copper to 10 parts of
aluminium.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles William Lancaster in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 8th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
WILLIAM LANCASTER, of New Bond Street, in the City of Westminster, Gun
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Charles William Lancaster, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
William Lancaster, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles William Lancaster, 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
"A METAL OR METALLIC ALLOY, ESPECIALLY ADAPTED TO THE MANUFACTURE OF FIRE-
ARMS AND ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Charles William Lancaster, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Charles William Lancaster, 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 thereof, that is to say:―
My metallic alloy is composed of copper and aluminium in or about the
proportions following, that is to say, 90 parts of copper to 10 parts of
aluminium. The mixture takes place in the melting of the metals. The new
inetal or alloy forges and rolls when heated precisely in the same manner as iron
and steel; its uses for military purposes are many and important, some of which
are as follows:-Employed as the material for artillery of all sizes, the new
metal or alloy presents great advantages, the tensile strain being 97,000 pounds
as compared with 32,000 pounds of the best gun metal used by the British
Government, consequently the difficulties attending the construction of breech-

page_text: loading and other artillery will be greatly diminished. From its non-liability
to oxidation, it may be advantageously used for rifle barrels, for the manu-
facture of elevating screws, tangent sights, &c., and the metal work of naval
and garrison gun carriages.
For the manufacture of the barrels of small arms, a cylinder, say, of two
inches diameter, and one foot in length, having a concentric hole of inches
diameter from end to end may be cast, then placed in a furnace and heated to
a "white heat," then rolled upon mandrils between grooved rollers in the
manner now followed in the manufacture of small arm barrels.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim the manufacture
of a metal or metallic alloy, especially adapted to the manufacture of fire-arms
and ordnance, in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles William Lancaster, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-nine.
CHARLES W. LANCASTER.
(L.S.)