A DOUBLE-BARRELLED GUN WITH AN ELEVATED RIFLED TUBULAR RIB
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Child, Gun Maker, of Lower Loveday Street,
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, and Joseph Child, Gun Manu-
facturer, of Howard Street, Birmingham, in the same County, for the
Invention of "A DOUBLE-BARRELLED GUN WITH AN ELEVATED RIFLED
TUBULAR RIB."
Sealed the 23rd April 1858, and dated the 28th October 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Child and Joseph
Child at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 28th October 1857.
We, JOHN CHILD, Gun Maker, of Lower Loveday Street, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, and JOSEPH CHILD, Gun Manufacturer, of Howard Street,
Birmingham, in the same County, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention for "A DOUBLE-BARRELLED GUN WITH AN ELEVATED RIFLED TUBULAR
RIB," to be as follows (that is to say):
The present mode of constructing double-barrelled guns is to unite the two
barrels by soldering them to a top and bottom rib, and our Invention consists
in using the top rib hollow, which we purpose to rifle, so that small balls may
be fired therefrom. And in some instances we propose using two of those
hollow ribs, so filed and fitted together with the two barrels that they shall
lay along on the top, or between them. And close to the striking part of the
cock or cocks of such guns we propose forming an eccentric collar, which,

page_text: collar must be turned inwards when we wish to discharge the rifled barrel or
barrels, the nipple or nipples of which are so placed that they may be struck
by the eccentric collar or collars before referred to; this mode of construction
is also applicable to pistols.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Child and Joseph Child in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th April 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoпN
CHILD, Gun Maker, of Lower Loveday Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and JOSEPH CHILD, Gun Manufacturer, of Howard Street,
Birmingham, in the same County, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said John Child and Joseph Child, Her special license that we, the
said John Child and Joseph Child, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said John Child and Joseph Child, our 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 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 "A DOUBLE-BARRELLED GUN WITH AN ELEVATED RIFLED
TUBULAR RIB," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Child 'and Joseph Child, by an instrument in writing under our hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of "the said Inven-
tion, 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 Letter's Patent.
NOW KNOW YE," that we, the said John Child and Joseph Child, 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):-
i
Our Invention consists (as described in our Provisional Specification) of an
additional barrel or tubular rib placed between the two barrels, say, of an
ordinary double-barrelled gun, such tubular rib or barrel being bored and

page_text: rifled of any suitable desired size, capable of carrying a ball of the size, say, of
a pea up to one ounce, the loading of the smaller barrel being effected with
the small end of the ramrod, while the other barrels may be loaded in the
ordinary way; and in order to discharge the centre barrel we secure an
additional striker on the nose of either of the other cocks, which additional
striker may be elevated when it is not intended to discharge the centre barrel;.
but when it is so intended this additional striker is turned inward, that when
the cock is let down the projecting bit or striker will come in contact with the
centre nipple without allowing the nose of the cock to which this addition is
made to strike the nipple of the barrel on that side of the gun to which the
said cock is applied; thus the elevated and lower barrel, although acted on by
the same cock, nevertheless they are intended to be entirely seperately acted
upon; but as our Invention will be best understood by referring to the
Drawings liereunto annexed, we will now proceed to describe the same,
reference being made to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to
say):-
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 are side and top views of a gun made according to our
Invention, broke off at the stock and the forepart of the barrel for the con-
venience of space.
A and B are the two ordinary barrels, and C is the
clevated centre or rifled barrel which we have exhibited as arranged, to be
acted on by the cock exhibited at Figure 1; the part for striking the nipple
of the barrel C is exhibited in an elevated position marked D, and therefore
out of range for striking that nipple; e and fare sights for different elevations;
e is represented for distinction turned up in a vertical direction, a position that
both can easily assume by virtue of their being connected by a hinge joint in
the ordinary, way; the cocks are removed from Figure 2 to prevent confusion,
the squares and screws only being shown by which they are held. For the
purpose of combining lightness with strength we purpose making the ramrod
tubular, either of sheet steel, iron, or other suitable metal, such ramrod being
exhibited at g, Figure 1; Fig. 3 represents the muzzle end of the gun,
showing the relative position of the ramrod and the extra or additional barrel
with the two ordinary ones; Fig. 4 represents a cock in a reverse position to
that exhibited at Figure 1, showing the stop h for preventing the part D from
being elevated or depressed too much; this part works on a pin formed on the
nose, and which pin is exhibited in dotted lines, and is retained in the
position shown by a screw at the back at the cock at m, by being screwed on
to the end of the pin; Fig. 5 represents a front view of the cock, showing the

page_text: cavity n that strikes on the nipple o, and the additional striker D turned
down in position for discharging the centre barrel or striking the centre nipple
marked p; the dotted circle marked 2 shows the position of the additional
striker D when out of use.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same may be carried into effect (which may be well understood by
any gunsmith of ordinary capacity), we wish it understood that we do not
purpose confining ourselves to the precise details herein described and
exhibited, as they may effected in various ways without departing from the
main object of our Invention, as, for instance, a solid ramrod may be used
as well as a tubular one, and the centre barrel may be discharged by the
additional striker being placed on the near or the off-cock, as taste or caprice
may desire; nor do we claim for any particular size of bore of the centre
barrel, but for the convenience of handling and lightness we think the size
here exhibited most appropriate; but what we claim and wish to protect by
these our in part recited Letters Patent is, the application to double-barrelled
guns of an elevated rifled tubular rib, as herein described and exhibited.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Child and Joseph Child, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fourth day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
JOHN CHILD.
(L.S.)
Witness,
ALFRED PERRY,
JOSEPH CHILD. (L.S.)
Clerk to J. S. Cockings, Patent Agent,
26, Ann Street, Birmingham.