AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM- PROVEMENTS IN GUN AND PISTOL FURNITURE
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Edmunds, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Gun Maker, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GUN AND PISTOL FURNITURE."
Sealed the 29th January 1864, and dated the 13th August 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Edmunds at the
Office of the Commissiouers of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th August 1863.
I, JAMES EDMUNDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun
Maker, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IN-
PROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN AND PISTOL FURNITURE," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in making gun and pistol furniture of the alloy of
copper and aluminium called aluminium bronze. The said alloy consists of
about ninety-two and a half parts by weight of copper and seven and a
half parts by weight of aluminium. The parts of guns which constitute
the furniture are heel plates, trigger plates, guards, tail pipes, escutcheons,
and thumb bits, and the parts which constituto the furniture of pistols are
guard, and trigger plates, escutcheons, thumb bits, caps, and tail pipes.
By making the said parts or furniture of guns and pistols of aluminium
bronze, they are less liable to corrode than when made of iron, they are also
tougher and less liable to injury during the use of the gun or pistol than when
made of German silver. In making the gun and pistol furniture of aluminium
bronze I cast the said parts and finish them by the processes of filing, polishing,
and engraving as commonly practised in working other alloys of copper, such as
brass and German silver.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said James Edmunds in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th February 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
EDMUNDS, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Gun Maker, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said James Edmunds, Her special licence that I, the said
James Edmunds, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Edmunds, 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
"AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN AND PISTOL FURNITURE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Edmunds, 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 bo
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 James Edmunds, do hereby declare the
nature of the 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 thereof, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in making gun and pistol furniture of the alloy of
copper and aluminium called aluminium bronze. The said alloy consists of
about ninety-two and a half parts by weight of copper and seven and a half
parts by weight of aluminium. The parts of guns which constitute the
furniture are heel plates, trigger plates, guards, tail pipes, escutcheons, nose
caps, and thumb bits; and the parts which constitute the furniture of pistols
are guard and trigger plates, escutcheons, thumb bits, caps, and tail
pipes.

page_text: By making the said parts or furniture of guns and pistols of aluminium
bronze they are less liable to corrode than when made of iron; they are also
tougher and less liable to injury during the use of the gun or pistol than when
made of German silver. In making the gun and pistol furniture of aluminium
bronze, I cast the parts constituting the said furniture and finish them by the
processes of filing, polishing, and engraving, as commonly practised in working
other alloys of copper such as brass and German silver.
In carrying my Invention into effect I proceed as follows:-In casting the
parts of gun and pistol furniture of aluminium bronze, I prepare the moulds
and cast the parts therein in the same manner as is ordinarily practised in
casting the said parts of brass or German silver, excepting that I cast the parts
of the aluminium bronze furniture of a size considerably greater than the
finished articles are required to possess. I next forge in a cold state the said
parts or furniture by the ordinary forging or hammering process, and thereby
reduce thein nearly to the required size. The said parts are then finished by
filing, polishing, and engraving. I have found that generally the castings of
aluminium bronze are more or less porous and unsound. By subjecting them
to the forging process described the porosity is removed or diminished, and the
articles are hardened and toughened, and better fitted for the subsequent
finishing processes than if they had not been forged. Although the several
parts constituting the gun and pistol furniture may be cast of the shape they
are required to have in the finished state, yet I find it more convenient to cast
some of the parts of a different form from that which they are required to have
in the finished state, and by means of the hammering or forging process, or
after the said hammering or forging process, to bend them into the required
form. For example, the heel plate may be cast flat or nearly flat, and the
trigger guard and tail pipe may also be cast flat or nearly flat, and after they
have been consolidated by hammering they may be annealed and bent into the
required form. By casting the curved parts flat they can be more readily
consolidated by hammering than they can if cast in the curved form. Although
I prefer to use an alloy of copper and aluminium having the proportions
herein-before described, and which alloy is known as aluminium bronze,
yet the proportions of the said copper and aluminium may be varied within
considerable limits without materially affecting the properties of the resulting
alloy.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I claim as
my Invention the improvement or improvements in gun and pistol furniture
herein-before described, that is to say, making gun and pistol furniture

page_text: of the alloy of copper and aluminium called aluminium .bronze, or of an
alloy of copper and aluminium having substantially the composition of
aluminium bronze.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Edmunds, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES EDMUNDS. (L.S.)