IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES AND BARRELS FOR FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Thompson at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th January
1864.
I, JAMES THOMPSON, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES AND BARRELS FOR FIRE-ARMS AND ORDNANCE, AND IN
APPARATUS OR MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows, that is
to say:-
My Invention refers to the manufacture of solid tubes and barrels, or such
as have no weld, and consists of improvements upon former Inventions of
mine for which Her Majesty's Royal Letters Patent bearing date the Twenty-
fourth day of April, One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, have been
granted to me, and by which Inventions I produce, by the employment of a
steam hammer fitted with the requisite tools, masses or blocks of steel or
other metal punched through the centre, which blocks or billets, as I then
term them, are afterwards submitted to the operation of rolling between rolls
of peculiar formation, by which they are formed into barrels or tubes, with
solid breeches or parts rolled on them.
By my present Invention I remove the block or billet of steel or other
metal, thus punched through the centre, upon a mandril to a tilt or forge
hammer, under which the billet is drawn out or produced, and an enlarge-
ment or fullness of metal is formed upon the parts where the solid lump or
lumps are ultimately to be rolled on, thus easing the rolling process and
stiffening the metal. The tilt or forge hammer, fitted with the punch and

page_text: die already alluded to, may be employed to punch the block in the first
instance if preferred. I then take the billet drawn out under the tilt to a
hydraulic or other press of suitable description, furnished with a tool or punch
upon the plunger, and a die upon the bed, with guide apparatus similar to
that in the Specification of my former Patent for improvements in machinery
for punching metals and placing the block or billet as it comes from the tilt
hammer in a position reversed to that in which the hole was formed by the
punch upon the steam hammer; the punch upon the press, which is some-
what larger in diameter than the one upon the hammer, enlarges and
regulates the bore, and as the punches require to be rather tapered in form,
this plan of working the bore from both ends equalizes the thickness of
metal. A press thus constructed may also be employed, if preferred, for the
original formation of the bore, or a stamp of sufficient power, fitted with the
tool and bed already described, may be used for the same operations.
The next part of my Invention refers to a method of effecting a con-
siderable saving of labour in machining the breech or solid lump or lumps,
part or parts of a tube or barrel. This I also accomplish by means of a
stamp, fitted with dies of the requisite shape to produce the form ultimately
required for the breech or solid lump; the lower die being open through the
centre to allow the tube or barrel to pass through, and the breech or solid
part to rest in the under shaping die. In this position a plug is inserted into
the breech end of the barrel to maintain its form, whilst the solid part is
A treadle beneath the opposite
shaped between the upper and lower dies.
end of the tube or barrel allows the workmen to release it from the die when
shaped. The parts will of course be heated for these operations.