An IMPROVED GUN BARREL;
Year: 1825

page_text: TO ALL PERSONS TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN BEEVER, of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Third day of December, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Beever, special licence, full power, and sole privilege and authority, that I, the
said John Beever, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, and every of them, or such
others as I, the said John Beever, my exors, admors, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during
the term of fourteen years, to be computed from the date of the now reciting
Letters Patent, should and lawfully might use, exercise, and vend, within that
part of the said United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England,
the Dominion of Wales, and Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"An IMPROVED GUN BARREL;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said John Beever, by an instrument in writing under
my hand and seal, to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately ensuing the date of the now
reciting Letters Patent, to cause a particular and exact description of my said
Invention, and the manner of making and using the same, in default whereof

page_text: the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and privileges thereby granted, were to
cease, determine, and become void.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Beever, do hereby declare that,
My Invention consists in giving to gun barrels an oval, elliptical, or other
similar form, in order to give a more effective range to the charge of shot than
the cylindrical barrel now in general use. To effect this object, I procure
barrels of the ordinary kind, with good and cylindrical bores, and the outsides
of which have been ground to a cylindrical form. These barrels, being
gradually heated in a furnace to a blood red, are then put, in the manner
herein-after described, upon a mandrel of the required form (and, from the
experiments I have made, I prefer an oval prism, the conjugate diameter of
which is equal to two thirds of the transverse diameter), and of a length greater
than that of the barrel for which it is intended. The size of the mandrel
should be such that the mean of the transverse and conjugate diameters will be
equal to the internal diameter of the barrel; and one end of such mandrel
must be tapered, in order more easily to enter the barrel. When one of the
barrels is sufficiently heated I take it out of the furnace, and hold one end
with a pair of tongs, whilst the other end rests upon a bottom swage), the size
and form of which are such as to fit the underside of the barrel when fitted
upon the mandrel. The tapered end of the mandrel is now introduced into that
end of the barrel which lies on the bottom swage, whilst the other end of the
barrel is supported by a rest. When part of the mandrel is thus intro-
duced I beat the barrel with a mallet (or, which is better, I place a top swage
on the barrel, and beat it with a hammer,) until the barrel will admit the
mandrel to the bottom. The barrel (which was previously of one thickness
from end to end) is now to be ground or filed to the proper form on the out-
side, the inside to be made smooth by draw boring, and the breach to be turned
or bored out and screwed in the usual manner. I then proceed to stock the
barrel, placing the transverse diameter in such a way that it will be parallel
with the horizon when the gun is held horizontally to the shoulder.
And I declare that I do not claim as of my Invention, or any part thereof,
the peculiar mode herein-before mentioned for giving the requisite form to the
barrel, as the same may be effected in a variety of ways, which will readily
occur to any competent workman; nor do I confine myself to any particular
sizes or dimensions of the barrels, or of the mandrels or other implements
herein-before mentioned; but I do claim as my sole Invention the making
and using of gun barrels of such oval, elliptical, or other similar form, whether
the same be made and formed by the means and contrivances herein-before

page_text: mentioned, or any other whereby the effect of increasing the horizontal and
diminishing the vertical range of shot will be produced.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Beever, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
Inrolled the Sixth day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and twenty-six.