IMPROVEMENTS IN URDNANCE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, of
the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for the
Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN URDNANCE.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Whitworth and
William Wilson Hulse at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their. Petition, on the 6th January 1868.
We, JOSEPH WHITWORTH and WILLIAM WILSON HULSE, of the City of
Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE," to be as
follows:
This Invention consists in the employment of an improved method of
manufacturing ordnance made of what is now termed homogeneous metal or
mild steel or steel iron.
We cast an ingot with a hole through it and afterwards hammer it between
an angular-shaped anvil block and a hammer head of a similar or a flat shape.
A mandril of a taper form is inserted through the hole cast in the ingot, and
the operation of hammering or forging proceeds till the mandril becomes too
hot from its contact with the heated metal of the ingot; it is then withdrawn
and a cold mandril is inserted in the place of the heated one, and the ham-
mering or forging is continued until it is made of the desired size and shape.
If preferred; a hollow mandril may be used and cooled internally. The ham-

page_text: mered tubular ingot is subsequently annealed. If necessary, the interior
surface of the tubular ingot may be "converted" to the required depth.
For heavy guns, for ships and fortifications, constructed on what is termed
the "built-up" system, we make the inner tube from a tubular ingot and
strengthen the inner tube with cylinders made of homogeneous metal, as above
described, and put on, by hydraulic pressure, in one or more series, as required.
For closing the breech of our built-up guns we employ a breech on which
screws of two or more different diameters are cut. The screw with the
smallest diameter takes into an interior screw in the breech end of the inner
tube, and the screws of the larger diameters take at the same time into
interior screws made in the second, or second and other series of hoops.
In the case of guns which do not require to be hooped we make the barrel
from an ingot cast with a hole through, as above described, and bore and rifle
it after it has been forged and annealed.
In making the trunnions of ordnance we cast them with a hole through,
employing homogeneous metal or strong pig iron. The hole is afterwards
bored, and for a portion of its length, or for its entire length, is screwed, the
barrel or hoop of the gun (as the case may be) being screwed to receive it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 6th July 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
WHITWORTH and WILLIAM WILSON HULSE, of the City of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, Her special licence, that
we, the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Joseph Whitworth
and William Wilson Hulse, our 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Joseph Whitworth and William Wilson Hulse, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of our
or 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 we, the said Joseph Whitworth and William
Wilson Hulse, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in the employment of an improved method of
manufacturing ordnance made of what is now termed homogeneous metal, or
mild steel, or steel iron, or other similar material..
We cast an ingot with a hole through it and afterwards hammer it between
an angular-shaped anvil block and a hammer head of a similar or a flat shape.
A mandril of a taper form is inserted through the hole cast in the ingot, and.
the operation of hammering or forging proceeds till the mandril becomes too
hot, from its contact with the heated metal of the ingot; it is then withdrawn
and a cold mandril is inserted in the place of the heated one, and the ham-
mering or forging is continued until it is made of the desired size and shape.
If preferred, a hollow mandril may be used and cooled internally. The ham
mered tubular ingot is subsequently annealed. If necessary, the interior
surface of the tubular ingot may be "converted" to the required depth.
For heavy guns, for ships and fortifications, constructed on what is termed
the "built-up" system, we make the inner tube from a tubular ingot and
strengthen the inner tube with cylinders made of homogeneous metal, as above
described, and put on, by hydraulic pressure or other suitable means, in one
or more series, as required. For closing the breech of our built-up guns we
employ a breech on which screws of two or more different diameters are cut.
The screw with the smallest diameter takes into an interior screw in the
breech end of the inner tube, and the screws of the larger diameters take at
the same time into interior screws made in the second, or second and other
series of hoops.
In the case of guns which do not require to be hooped we make the barrel
from an ingot cast with a hole through, as above described, and bore and rifle
t after it has been forged and annealed.
In making the trunnions of ordnance we cast them with a hole through,

page_text: employing homogeneous metal or strong pig iron or other suitable metal;
the hole is afterwards bored, and for a portion of its length, or for its entire
length, is screwed, the barrel or hoop of the gun (as the case may be) being
screwed to receive it; or the trunnions may be made with and form part of
the outer hoop, as shewn in the Drawing.
The accompanying Drawing represents the gun and the mode of constructing
and attaching the breech by means of a triple screw; a screw with two
different diameters is applied in the same way.
a, a, is the inner tube of a built-up gun with a first and second series of
hoops b, b, and c, c; A, A, is the screw for closing the breech, having three
series of different diameters, the smallest of which, z, takes into the screwed
end of the inner tube a; the medium-sized screw y takes into the screwed end
of the hoops b, b; and the largest size screw z, z, into the screwed end of the
third series of hoops. By this arrangement the free and sudden expansion
of the gun laterally by the action of the explosion is allowed, whilst the inner
tube with its strengthening hoops are each made to take their own proper
share of the end pressure arising from the explosion.
Having now described the improvements made by us, we claim the improved
mode of constructing ordnance and the combination of parts forming the
improved gun, made as herein described and shewn in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Whitworth, for and on behalf of
myself and the said William Wilson Hulse, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of July, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three.