IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE
Year: 1885

page_text: I PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS of Melbourne House Blackheath in the County of
Kent Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE" to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the manufacture of Ordnance from any suitable quality
of Bronze Brass or other alloy of Copper with Tin or Zinc or both in various
proportions and modifications of these alloys effected by the addition of Iron,
manganese, Phosphorus or other materials but I prefer to use for the purposes
of my Invention such alloys of the kind herein before indicated as will forge at a
red heat such for example as those known under the names Keir inetal,"
"Stirlings-metal," "Aich-inetal," "Sterlo-metal," "Navy Brass" and Nos 1 and 2
qualities of "manganese Bronze."
"
In the Specification of the Patent N° 1738 granted to me dated April 6th 1883
I described a method of casting this class of alloys in metal moulds under pressure
to form Ordnance which moulds were made in one piece the interior being of a
conical or taper form with the object of facilitating the driving of the casting out
of the mould. I have found that with these solid moulds in order to enable the
casting to be easily got out the interior of the mould has to be bored out very
smooth and true and it is necessary to give the mould a greater taper in some cases
than the form of the casting requires. The mould has also to be made of consider-
able thickness to resist the pressure which renders it liable to crack from unequal
expansion when the hot metal is poured in and moreover projections such as the
trunnions cannot be made on the casting as it would be impossible to force the
casting out of the mould with these projections on it. To obviate these imperfec-
tions is the principal object of my present Invention.
According to my present Invention I effect the casting of the orduance in moulds
formed in two or more parts separable longitudinally. The interior of this mould
can therefore be made of any form required to suit the object to be produced
therein. The external figure of the mould when the parts thereof are together
I make conical or taper from one end to the other or in both directions from the
mid portion to the two ends and the parts of the mould are held together by strong
rings of wrongh iron steel or other suitable metal driven or forced on. Or the
external figure of the mould can be other than taper or conical and the securing of
the parts together be effected by rings or clamps with wedges driven in between

page_text: them and the mould or by clamps secured by screw bolts or in other convenient
manner. If it be required to form projections (such as trunnions for example) on
the casting I make recesses in the mould the said recesses being of a size and shape
to enclose the required form of such projections but being extended at the top and
bottom sides (or sometimes only on one side) beyond the intended form of the pro-
jection with an inclined or curved surface the object of which is to prevent the
projections being sheared off or distorted as the metal is compressed and contracts.
The surplus metal filling the extended portion of the recesses can be removed when
the casting is taken out of the mould.
The parts of the mould having been put together I pour into it the molten alloy
and while it is in a fluid or soft state I subject it to pressure by forcing a plunger
into the mouth of the mould by hydraulic or other pressure.
A simple casting thus made if treated as hereinafter described will be sufficient
without reinforcing for rifled guns up to a considerable size say up to eight inches
or possibly nine inch calibre but for larger guns requiring a reinforce jacket or
which for convenience it is preferable to make in parts I prepare a mould in two
or more parts divided longitudinally and held together by rings clamps or bolts as
before described and made to clasp the breech end of the gun block previously cast
leaving an annular space between the said breech end and the interior of the mould.
I then pour into this annular space the molten alloy and while it is in a fluid or
soft state subject it to pressure by forcing in an annular plunger corresponding to
the annular recess between the gun block and the mould surrounding it. In very
large guns one or more additional jackets can in like manner be cast one on the
other.
In some cases particularly where extreme lightness combined with great strength
is required I employ one of the strong copper alloys before named which will
forge at a red heat and 1 cast an ingot thereof by preference in an iron mould and
by preference under pressure when the metal is in a fluid state as before described.
This ingot I draw down under a steam or other hammer or between powerful rolls
while at a red heat to form the inner tube of the gun and I shrink upon this inner
tube hoops of the same or other suitable metal or alloy or I cast upon it one or
more hoops or jackets of any of the suitable alloys hereinbefore mentioned.
The gun block thus made or built up by any of the before described methods is
then bored and finished as required to complete the gun.
In order to harden the surface of the bore and to put an initial tension upon the
metal of the exterior surface of the gun I make the calibre of the bore slightly less
than it is to be when finished and I expand the bore by forcing through it a series
of bulbs or mandrils of hardened steel of gradually increasing sizes until the bore
is expanded to the finished size required.
This system is peculiarly applicable to guns manufactured in the manner herein-
before described as the metal is rendered so dense strong and tough when thus cast
and forged that a very slight expansion of the bore suffices to put a sufficient initial
tension on the exterior metal of the gun.

page_text: I PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS of Melbourne House Blackheath in the County
of Kent Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :—
My Invention relates to the manufacture of Ordnance from any suitable quality
of Bronze Brass or other alloy of copper with tin or zinc or both in various
proportions and modifications of these alloys effected by the addition of Iron
manganese phosphorous or other materials, but I prefer to use for the purposes
of my Invention such alloys of the kind hereinbefore indicated as will forge at
a red heat such for example as those known under the names "Keir metal"
'Stirlings metal" "Arch metal" "Stereo metal" "Navy Brass" and Nos 1 and 2
qualities of " manganese Bronze."
In the specification of the Patont Numbered 1738 granted to me dated April 6th
1883 I described a method of casting this class of alloys in metal moulds under
pressure to form Ordnance which moulds were made in one piece the interior
being of a conical or taper form with the object of facilitating the driving of the
casting out of the mould I have found that with these solid moulds in order to
enable the casting to be easily got out the interior of the mould has to be bored
out very smooth and true and it is necessary to give the mould a greater taper in
some cases than the form of the casting requires. The mould has also to be made
of considerable thickness to resist the pressure which renders it liable to crack from
unequal expansion when the hot metal is poured in and moreover projections such
as the trunnions cannot be made on the casting as it would be impossible to force
the casting out of the mould with these projections on it. To obviate these
imperfections is the principal object of my present Invention.
. According to my present Invention I effect the casting of the ordnance in
moulds formed in two or more parts separable longitudinally, Figure 1 represents
in vertical section a mould made in two longitudinal parts marked A, B, The
interior of this mould can therefore be made of any form required in the pro-
duction of ordnance. The external figure of the mould when the parts thereof are
together may make conical or taper from one end to the other as shewn in
Figure 1 or in both directions from the mid portion to the two ends as shewu in
Figure 2, and Figure 3 is a plan of Figure 2.
The parts of the mould thus inclined exteriorily are held together by strong
rings C of wrought iron steel or other suitable metal driven or forced on-Or the
external figure of the mould can be other than taper or conical or partly conical or
taper and partly not and the securing of the parts together be effected by rings or
clamps with wedges driven in between them and the mould or by clamps secured
by screw bolts or in other convenient manner. Figure 4 shews in longitudinal
section and Figure 5 in plan a mould made in three longitudinal parts secured
together by rings C between which and the outsides of the mould, wedges D are

page_text: driven at the upper part, the rings at the lower part having screws E passed
through screwed holos in them, the said screws bearing on the exterior of the
mould; of course either the wedges or the screws may be used with all the rings if
desired. If it be required to form projections (such as trunnions for example as
indicated by the dotted lines at ƒƒ (Figure 6) on the casting I make recesses in the
parts of the mould as shewn in sectional elevation in Figure 6 in transverse section
(on the line 1, 2 Figure 6) in Figure 7 and in plan in Figure 8 the said recesses
being of a size and shape to enclose the required form of such projections but being
extended at the top and bottom sides as at ff2 (or sometimes only on one side)
beyond the intended form of the projection with an inclined or curved surface the
object of which is to prevent the projections being sheared off or distorted as the
metal is compressed and contracts-The surplus metal filling the extended portion
of the recesses at ƒ“ƒª can be removed when the casting is taken out of the
mould.
The parts of the mould having been fastened together I pour into it, the
molten alloy and while it is in a fluid or soft state I subject it to pressure by
forcing a plunger into the mouth of the mould by hydraulic or other pressure.
Figure 1 illustrates such a plunger at G operated by pressure admitted to the
cylinder supported by standards I from the base plate J on or in which the
mould rests.
A simple casting thus made if treated as hereinafter described will be sufficient,
without reinforcing, for rifled guns up to a considerable size say up to eight-incli
or possibly nine-inch calibre but for larger guns requiring a reinforce jacket or
which for convenience it is preferable to make in parts I prepare a mould
(illustrated in Figure 9) in two or more parts A B² divided longitudinally and
held together by rings clamps or bolts as before described and made to clasp the
breech end K of the gun block K previously cast, leaving an annular space (at L)
between the said breech end and the interior of the mould. I then pour into this
annular space L the molten alloy and while it is in a fluid or soft state subject it to
pressure by forcing in an annular plunger M corresponding to the annular recess
between the breech end of the gun block and the mould surrounding it. In very
large guns one or more additional jackets can in like manner be cast one on the
other.
Figures 10 and 11 are an elevation and a section shewing a mould in four parts
secured by clamps N hinged at n and bolted at n* to cause them to bind the parts
of the mould firmly together Figure 12 shews a mould in three parts secured by
rings and screws as explained with reference to Figure 4.
In some cases particularly where extreme lightness combined with great strength
is required I employ one of the strong copper alloys before named which will forge
at a red heat and I cast an ingot thereof by preference in an iron mould and by
preference under pressure when the metal is in a fluid state as before described.
This ingot I draw down under a steam or other hammer or between powerful rolls
while at a red heat to form the inner tube of the gun and I shrink upon this inner
tube hoops of the same or other suitable metal or alloy or I cast upon it one or
more hoops or jackets of any of the suitable alloys herein before mentioned.
The gun block thus made or built up by any of the before described methods is
then bored and finished as required to complete the Gun.
In order to harden the surface of the bore and to put an initial tension upon the
metal of the exterior surface of the gun I make the calibre of the bore slightly less
than it is to be when finished and I expand the bore by forcing through it a series
of bulbs or taper mandrils of hardened steel of gradually increasing sizes until the
bore is expanded to the finished size required.
This system is peculiarly applicable to Guns manufactured in the manner
herein before described as the metal is rendered so dense strong and tough when
thus cast and forged that a very slight expansion of the bore suffices to put a
sufficient initial tension on the exterior metal of the Gun,

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
First. The manufacture of Ordnance or parts of ordnance by casting any
suitable quality of bronze brass or other alloy of copper in metal moulds divided
longitudinally and held together by rings clamps or other suitable fastenings and
pressing the metal when in a fluid or soft state by forcing a plunger into the mouth
of the mould substantially as herein before described.
"
Second. The manufacture of ordnance by casting onto the inner tube or shaft
of the gun one or more jackets of any of the herein before named alloys in the
manner herein before described.
Third. The manufacture of Ordnance by casting an ingot of any of the herein-
before named alloys that will forge at a red heat and drawing it down to form the
inner tube or shaft of the gun and then shrinking or casting on this one or more
hoops or jackets substantially as hereinbefore described.