IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE
Year: 1865

page_text: Sealed the 27th February 1866, and dated the 26th September 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th September 1865.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE." to be as
follows:
The object of this Invention of improvements in fire-arms is to augment
the accuracy of the flight by the detention of the explosive gases, and to diminish
the recoil produced by the explosion by causing the gases to act in a contrary
direction, without the liability of the artillerist being inconvenienced by the
issue of the lighted gases.
The Invention consists in the employment of a number of holes pierced
through the barrel, and surrounded by an envelope placed concentrically so as
to leave a free space between the barrel and the envelope into which the
gases can enter and expand, and afterwards escape therefrom and out of the

page_text: muzzle of the gun. The holes can be of any form desired, and any inclination,
forward or backward, that may be thought proper. It will be convenient to
make the holes with their axes inclined forwards, so that when the system is
adapted to ordnance mounted on ramparts and fired through embrasures, the
issuing inflamed gases will not strike the revetment of the embrasures. The
envelope is formed of a thick gun metal or steel tube, and may be screwed or
otherwise fixed on to the gun, or it may be made of a number of hoops united
together on a thin tube of copper or sheet steel. If the holes are made near
the muzzle of the gun the cover or envelope will not be necessary. For very
heavy ordnance, instead of perforating the barrel or body of the gun with
transverse holes, as in the other instances, the grooves of a rifled gun may be
deepened towards the muzzle, so as to allow a portion of the gases to escape
in front of the projectile. If the gun be a smooth bore, longitudinal grooves
of gradually increasing depth may be made therein, so that when the projectile
has been started the gases may escape past it and expand in front as in the
other instances.
This Invention may be adapted to all kinds of fire-arms, from the ordinary
rifle or musket up to the heaviest artillery and ordnance.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th March 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as 1, the said William Edward Newton, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE," being a com-

page_text: munication from abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the sand
William Edward Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention of "Improvements in Fire-arms and Ordnance,"
is to augment the accuracy of the flight. of the projectile occasioned by the
expansion of the explosive gases, and to diminish the recoil produced by their
explosion by causing the gases to act in contrary directions, without the liability
of the artillerist being inconvenienced by the issue of the ignited gases from
the gun.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shews a cannon with receiver
open in front; Fig. 2 shews the receiver closed in front; Fig. 3 is a longi-
tudinal sectional view of a receiver provided with transverse diaphragms;
Fig. 4 is a transverse vertical section of a receiver provided with longitudinal
diaphragms, and Fig. 5 represents a longitudinal section of a mortar or
howitzer.
The Invention consists in the employment of a number of holes O pierced
through the barrel C, and surrounded by an envelope E placed concentrically,
so as to leave a free space or receiver R between the barrel and the envelope
into which the gases enter and expand, and afterwards escape therefrom, and
out at or near the muzzle of the gun. The holes can be of any form desired,
and placed at any inclination, forward or backward, that inay be thought.
proper. It will be convenient to make the holes with their axes inclined
forward, so that when the system is adapted to ordnance mounted on ramparts
and fired through embrasures, the issuing inflamed gases will not strike the
revetment of the embrasures. The envelope is formed of a thick gun metal
or steel tube, and may be screwed or otherwise fixed on to the gun, or it may
be made of a number of hoops united together on a thin tube of copper or
sheet steel; the envelope can be supported by longitudinal or transverse
diaphragms D placed on the gun between the holes 0 (see Figs. 3.
and 4)

page_text: Fig. 6 represents a modification of the above, in which the holes O are
made near the muzzle of the gun. In this case the cover or envelope will
not be necessary.
Fig. 7 represents another modification of the Invention as applied to very
heavy ordnance, where instead of perforating the barrel or body of the gun
with transverse holes, as in the other instances, the grooves of a rifled gun
may be deepened towards the muzzle, so as to allow a portion of the gases to
escape in front of the projectile. If the gun be a smooth bore, longitudinal
grooves of gradually increasing depth may be made therein, so that when the
projectile has been started the gases may escape past it and expand in front
as in the other instances.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I wish it to be understood that in the above
in part recited Letters Patent, I claim the several arrangements above described
for utilizing the escape of the gases in firm-arms and ordnance, and causing
their action to counteract the recoil caused by the explosion of the charge.
In witness whereof, 1, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)