CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, of.
the General Patent Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire
of France, and 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for
the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN
BARRELS." A communication from Maurice Mondon, residing at
Feugerolles, in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 16th May 1865, and dated the 15th December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Armand Le Comte
de Fontaine Moreau at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 15th December 1864.
I, PETER ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the General Patent
Offices, 10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South
Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN-
BARRELS," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in manufacturing by mechani
cal means iron and steel damasked gun barrels and hollow malleable molten
steel
gun barrels, without soldering. For this purpose I take a bundle of.
pieces of small iron and steel of different thicknesses, and I arrange them:
according to the design to be produced. The bundle being heated and

page_text: soldered by the ordinary means, is placed in a cylindrical matrice, cut into
the lower drift of a hammer put in motion by steam, or any other power, the
upper drift carries a punch by which the bundle is hollowed and shaped as a
cylindrical washer. When a barrel of molten steel is to be made, the required
quantity of steel is put in a mould, having an earth or metal core, serving to
give to the steel the shape of the washer or cylinder. A mould without core
can be also employed, and in this case the washer is prepared as before
stated. Whatever means I use to prepare the washer or cylinder, I finish it
by rolling plates, a hammer, or any mechanical contrivance, and by passing
through the hole an ordinary mandril or a mandril composed of two branches,
into which I introduce a long wedge keeping separate the two branches;
when the hammering or milling of the washer is finished by a single blow of
a hammer, the wedge is withdrawn and the mandril leaves the barrel with the
utmost facility; instead of one, two wedges can be employed. The barrel
thus prepared is perfectly hollowed and without being soldered, the boring
becomes very easy, and the small shavings which are cut out do not in any
way interfere with the strength of the barrel, as is the case when the boring is
prepared on a solid mass.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 20th May 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PETER
ARMAND LE COMTE DE FONTAINE MOREAU, of the General Patent Offices,
10, Rue de la Fidélité, Paris, in the Empire of France, and 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, Her special
licence that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my
executors, administrators, and assigns,. or such others as I, the said Peter
Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, my executors, administrators, or
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

page_text: 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 "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF GUN BARRELS,"
(a communication from Maurice Mondon, a person resident at Feugerolles, in
the Empire of France), upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine Moreau, 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
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
The Invention, communicated to me, consists in manufacturing by mechani-
cal means damasked iron and steel gun barrels and hollow malleable molten
steel gun barrels, or merely iron gun barrels, without soldering. To manu-
facture damasked iron and steel gun barrels, I place in a reverberatory
furnace bundles of small pieces, or bars of iron and steel of different sizes, and
I arrange them according to the damaskeening intended to be produced, or I
arrange together small pieces of iron and steel already prepared. These
pieces or bands being well agglomerated and soldered together form a bloom
which can be bored in a cold state, but preferably while it is still heated, or I
heat it for that purpose, and place it in a cylindrical matrix cut into the drift
of a hammer put in motion by steam or any other power. The bloom takes
the form of a cylindrical washer. The place for the hole being reserved by
means of a jacket or casing. In the state herein-before described the bloom
can be at once rolled, but I prefer to use the hammer, stamper, and mill, by
passing through the bloom mandrils of different sizes, or a mandril composed
of two branches into which I introduce a strong wedge, keeping. them
separate. When the hammering, stamping, or milling of the washer is
finished, by a single blow of the hammer, the mandril leaves the barrel with
the utmost facility. Instead of one wedge, two can be employed. The
bammering, stamping, or milling has the advantage of well preparing the
washer for the rolling plate. The mandril which supports the internal .side
of the washer during the percussion greatly contributes to perfect the close-
ness of the metal and permits in certain cases of using metal of an inferior
quality. The barrel prepared, as herein-before described, could be finished by

page_text: hammering, but I prefer employing the rolling plate, as this last operation
saves both time and labour. To manufacture smooth gun barrels of molten
steel, and smooth gun barrels of iron, I follow the same operations as herein-
before described, except however that instead of using bands, bars, or pieces
of steel or iron, I cast into a mould malleable molten steel or molten iron.
The mould is prepared with a core serving to keep the hole in the cylindrical
washer; I also cast the washers without holes and bore them afterwards by
means of the matrix, as herein-before described. I also form the
gun barrels
out of square bars of steel or of iron. For those manufactured with cast
malleable steel or of iron, without soldering, I cut the bars into convenient
lengths and weights, and when each pair is sufficiently heated, I subject it to
the hammer, as herein-before described. I obtain the same result for pieces
of steel or of iron by the process of pressing. The lump can take any
required form, but I prefer to give it that of an elongated square. The angles
retaining it in the matrix, which I dispose in such a manner that a small
vacant space is left in the centre of each flat surface, to give room for the
enlargement produced on the metal when yielding to the pressure of the
punch forced in by the hammer. The lump having now taken the shape of a
tube nearly round, is either passed through the rolling plates, or hammered,
stamped, or milled, as herein-before described. The barrel is then solid and
strong, it only requires to have a thin paring planed or shaved off internally
and externally to render it perfectly smooth and nearly polished. This
process of manufacturing hollow gun barrels without soldering in steel or
iron has the advantage over all other kinds of gun barrels, and which are
bored in the whole of their length, of requiring no expensive and lengthened
labour and machinery, and especially of preserving the best parts of the
metal, which are taken off by the shavings when bored by the ordinary
process. The metal having thereby lost its elasticity cannot recover when
the explosion takes place by the expansion of the gases.
And having now described the Invention communicated to me and the
best manner to put the same into execution, I declare that I do not
confine myself to the precise details of the operations herein-before described,
as the same may vary without deviating from the principle of the In-
vention, but what I claim as new and intended to be protected by the
herein in part recited Letters Patent is,
First, the process of manufacturing mechanically damasked steel and iron
gun barrels, as herein-before described.
Secondly, the process of manufacturing mechanically hollow molten mal-
leable steel gun barrels without soldering, as herein-before described.

page_text: Thirdly, the process of manufacturing mechanically iron gun barrels
without soldering, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Armand Le Comte de Fontaine
Moreau, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of
May, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
five.
Witness,
H*. GILBEE,
10, Rue de la Fidélité,
Paris,
11th May 1865.
L. DE FONTAINEMOREAU. (L.B.)