IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANNON AND OTHER ORDNANCE, AND OF SOLID AND HOLLOW CYLINDERS FOR SHAFTING AND OTHER PURPOSES, OP WROUGHT IRON OR STEEL, OR BOTH COMBINED
Year: 1862

page_text: Newton, of the Once for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANNON AND OTHER
ORDNANCE, AND OF SOLID AND HOLLOW CYLINDERS FOR SHAFTING AND OTHER
PURPOSES, OP WROUGHT IRON OR STEEL, OR BOTH COMBINED."-A com-
munication from abroad by David Tomlinson Yeakel, of Lafayette, State
of Indiana, United States of America.
Sealed the 5th September 1862, and dated the 16th April 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th April 1862.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lanc,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANNON AND
OTHER ORDNANCE, AND OF SOLID AND HOLLOW CYLINDERS FOR SHAPTING AND OTHER
PURPOSES, OF WROUGHT IRON OR STEEL, OR BOTH COMBINED," to be as follows:-
One of the improved modes of constructing cannon and other ordnance,
which forms the subject of the present Invention, consists in rolling or
winding a plate or sheet of iron or steel, or several (if more than one is
required), around a central mandril of wrought iron or steel; the whole mass
is to be welded together as it is rolled up, or after it is rolled up the welding to

page_text: be done by the pressure of rollers, or the impact of a hammer or hammers at
a welding heat. The mandril should be of less diameter than the desired
bore of the gun barrel or shaft cylinder, if the latter is intended to be hollow,
so that the boring may remove all of the mandril.
Another mode of carrying out the Invention consists in using a cold
mandril of wrought or cast metal, and rolling the sheets or plates of iron or
Sheets or plates are to
steel around it till the desired size is produced.
be rolled around the mandril at a welding heat and welded together as rolled,
then removing the mandril, and boring, reaming, and turning in the manner
now pursued with cast guns or hollow shafts.
Another mode consists in rolling up the sheets or plates in the same formi,
but without the mandril, then inserting the mandril, and welding the whole
mass together. The mandril should always be less than the bore or hollow to
be produced if the mandril is to be bored out, or otherwise removed. The
plate or sheet used should be of sufficient length when used in one piece to
produce when rolled and welded the barrel or cylinder of the desired thick-
ness or diameter before turning, and of a breadth several inches wider than
the desired length of the barrel or cylinder. The sheet or plate of iron or
steel may be used of a uniform thickness, or it may be tapered from one edge
of its breadth to the other, so as to produce when rolled or welded the
approximate shape of a barrel before turning; if used of an uniform thickness
the rolling must be continued till a sufficient diameter at the breech is
obtained.
The application of these modes of making hollow cylinders for heavy
shafting is obvious; shafting is required for large class steamers of the greatest
possible strength, and as generally used in the form of casting or solid forging
they are of immense and inconvenient -weight, rendering it impossible for them
to be carried in duplicate form. But by my process they could be made in the
hollow form very much lighter, and in sections, one or two duplicates of which
if carried as ballast could readily, in case of accident to the shaft, be adjusted
at sea. By the improved process of making cannon or shafting the most
carefully consolidated plates of iron or steel are welded together in one. con-
tinuous length, thereby producing a quality, viz., uniform consolidation of
metal, and a form of barrel composed of concentric welded folds, capable of
offering a resistance to the explosive force of gunpowder which cannot be
obtained in any other way.

page_text: 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 16th October 1862.
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 Sixteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special license that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CANNON AND OTHER ORDNANCE,
AND OF SOLID AND HOLLOW CYLINDERS POR SHAFTING AND OTHER PURPOSES, OF
WROUGHT IRON OR STEEL, OR BOTH COMBINED," being a communication from
abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should-par-
ticularly 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 Drawing hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
One of the improved modes of constructing cannon and other ordnance, and
shafting or cylinders, which form the subject of the present Invention, consists
in rolling or winding a plate or sheet of iron or steel, or several (if more than
one is required), around a central mandril of wrought iron, steel, or other
suitable metal. The whole mass is then to be heated to a welding heat, and
welded together as it is rolled up, or after it is rolled up. The welding
operation is to be effected either by the pressure of rollers, or by the impact of

page_text: a hammer or hammers while the metal is at a welding heat.
If a gun or
piece of ordnance is to be produced, the mandril should be of less diameter
than the desired bore of the gun or cylinder if the latter is intended to be
hollow, so that the boring operation will remove all of the mandril.
Another mode of carrying out the Invention consists in using a cold
mandril of wrought or cast metal, and rolling the sheets or plates of iron or
steel around it until the desired diameter and thickness is obtained. The
sheets or plates are to be rolled around the mandril at a welding heat, and
welded together while being rolled. The mandril is then to be removed by
boring out, and the gun is finished by reaming and turning in the manner
now pursued with cast guns or hollow shafts.
Another mode consists in rolling up the sheets or plates in the same form,
but without the mandril, then inserting the mandril and welding the whole
mass together. The mandril should always be less than the bore or hollow to
be produced, if the mandril is to be bored out, or otherwise removed. The
plate or sheet used should be of sufficient length, when used in one piece, to
produce when rolled up and welded the barrel or cylinder of the desired
thickness or diameter before turning, and of a breadth several inches wider
than the desired length of the barrel or cylinder. The sheet or plate of iron or
steel may be used of a uniform thickness, or it may be tapered from one edge
of its breadth to the other, so as to produce when rolled up and welded the
approximate shape of a barrel before turning; if used of an uniform thick-
ness, the rolling must be continued till a sufficient diameter at the breech is
obtained.
•
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 is an end or transverse sectional
view, showing the sheet or sheets, or plate or plates, rolled around the mandril
ready for welding; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section of the same taken through
a central line.
A indicates the mandril, and B, B, B, the sheet or sheets, or plate or plates
of metal rolled round the same.
If it should be desired to construct a barrel or cylinder of the same or
different qualities of metal and with the fibres arranged in a different manner,
a plate or sheet of determinate length would first be rolled and welded to or
on the mandril, presenting the fibre transversely to the mandril, then a plate
or sheet would be rolled and welded, presenting its fibre longitudinally, and so
continued till completed. If the gun to be produced is to be a muzzle-loading
gun, it may be bored as gun castings now are, but a breech pin of superior
metal should be screwed into the bore at the breech.
The application of these modes of making hollow cylinders for heavy shafting

page_text: is obvious; the shafting for large steamers is required to be of the greatest
possible strength, and as generally used in the form of casting or solid forging
is of immense and inconvenient weight, rendering it impossible for them to be
carried in duplicate form; but by the improved process they could be made in
the hollow form very much lighter and constructed in sections, one or two
duplicates of which, if carried as ballast, could readily, in case of accident to
the shaft, be adjusted at sea.
By the improved process of making cannon or shafting, the most carefully
consolidated plates of iron or steel are to be welded together in one continuous
length, thereby producing a quality, viz., uniform consolidation of metal and
a form of barrel composed of concentric welded folds, capable of offering a
resistance to the explosive force of gunpowder, which cannot be obtained in
any other way.
The objections urged against many other plans used to produce a strong
barrel for ordnance, viz., imperfect welding and the great expense of the same,
do not apply to this process, for the welding is uniform, and the expense will
not greatly exceed the cost of the rolled iron or steel in the form of plate.
Having now described this Invention of improvements in the manufacture
of cannon and other ordnance, and of solid and hollow cylinders for shafting
and other purposes, and having explained the manner of effecting the same, as
communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, I claim as the Invention
secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the modes herein set forth of
manufacturing or constructing cannon or other ordnance, or large iron or steel
cylinders or shafts for various purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Fourteenth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
D
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)