IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Horatio Ames, of Fall's Village, in the State of
Connecticut, in the United States of America, at present residing at
Morley's Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County of Middlesex, for the
Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE.
Sealed the 19th June 1866, and dated the 6th January 1866.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Horatio Ames at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
6th January 1866.
I, ORATIO AMES, of Fall's Village, in the State of Connecticut, in the
United States of America, at present residing at Morley's Hotel, Charing
Cross, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
The nature of my Invention of improvements in ordnance is as follows:-
Within a casing or tube of wrought iron-I fix and permanently secure a tube
of steel, which inner tube forms the bore of the gun. The steel tube is
closed at the end which forms or corresponds to the breech of the gun, and
the outer wrought-iron tube or casing also completely encloses the breech end
of the inner tube. The outer wrought-iron casing need not in all cases
extend for the whole length of the inner tube, which tube may project more
or less beyond the wrought-iron portion of the gun. In the fabrication of
ordnance I screw the trunnions into the wrought-iron casing. In preferring

page_text: an inner tube of steel, I wish it understood that any intermediate compound
of iron and carbon between wrought iron and cast steel, which compound may
possess great hardness with strength, is to be equally considered as steel for
my purpose, although such compound may be termed "homogeneous metal,"
or "mild steel," or by other designations. In some cases, more especially
for ordnance of very great calibre, I propose to fix and secure one tube of
steel within another steel tube of larger diameter, and also closed at the
breech end, and to then fix and secure the compound tube so formed within a
casing of wrought iron. In fixing and securing the respective tubes one
within the other, and within the wrought-iron casing, I resort to the operation
of "shrinking, as well understood by smiths; but I do not adopt such a rate
of shrinkage as to give a permanent and definite initial tension to the outer
casing, the object being only to leave the inner tube securely in its place. I
form the wrought-iron casing in the manner described by me in the Speci-
fication of a Patent granted to me January 6th 1865, Number 54 (that is to
say), I form and weld together concentric rings of iron end to end until the
required length of the outer wrought-iron casing is attained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Horatio Ames in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th July 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HORATIO
AMES, of Fall's Village, in the State of Connecticut, in the United States of
America, at present residing at Morley's Hotel, Charing Cross, in the County
of Middlesex, 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-six, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Horatio Am, Her special licence that I, the said Horatio Ames,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Horatio Ames, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said

page_text: Horatio Ames, 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 Horatio Ames, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The nature of my Invention of improvements in ordnance is as follows:-
Within a casing or tube of wrought iron I fix and permanently secure a tube
of steel, which inner tube forms the bore of the gun. The steel tube is closed
at the end which forms or corresponds to the breech of the gun, and the outer
wrought-iron tube or casing also completely encloses the breech end of the
inner tube. The outer wrought-iron casing need not in all cases extend for
the whole length of the inner tube, which tube may project more or less
beyond the wrought-iron portion of the gun. In my own practice in the
fabrication of ordnance I prefer to screw the trunnions into the wrought-iron
casing. In prefering an inner tube of steel I wish it understood that any
intermediate compound of iron and carbon between wrought iron and cast
steel, which compound may possess great hardness with strength, is to bo
equally considered as steel for my purpose, although such compound may be
termed "homogeneous metal," or "mild steel," or by other designations. In
some cases, more especially for ordnance of very great calibre, I propose to
fix and secure one tube of steel within another steel tube of larger diameter,
and also closed at the breech end, and to then fix and secure the compound
tube so formed within a casing of wrought iron. In fixing and securing the
respective tubes one within the other, and within the wrought-iron casing, I
resort to the operation of "shrinking," as well understood smiths; but I
do not adopt such a rate of shrinkage as to give a permanent and definite
initial tension to the outer casing, the object being only to leave the inner
tube securely in its place. I form the wrought-iron casing in the manner
described by me in the Specification of a Patent granted to me January Sixth,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, Number 54, that is to say, I form
and weld together concentric rings of iron end to end until the required length
of the outer wrought-iron casing is attained.
The accompanying Sheet of Drawings shows the improvement as applied
to guns of the construction shown in the Specification of my Patent of January

page_text: Sixth, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five,
No. 54.
Fig. 1 represents the exterior of the gun in elevation; and Fig. 2 is a
longitudinal section.
A is the inner steel tube, shown separately at Fig. 3, and which is placed
tightly within the wrought-iron portion of the gun, as already described.
Figs. 4, 5, and 6 show one of the compound wrought-iron rings of which the
outer portion of the gun is made, and are described in my former Patent
above alluded to. If preferred, the inner steel tube may project beyond the
wrought-iron portion of the gun.
In witness whercof, I, the said Horatio Ames, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
Witness,
ZERAHI COLBURN,
37, Bedford St., Strand.
HORATIO AMES. (L.S.)