IMPROVE- MENTS IN ORDNANCE, FIRE-ARMS, AND PROJECTILES
Year: 1863

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Perceval Moses Parsons at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
18th December 1863.
I, PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN ORDNANCE, FIRE-ARMS, AND PROJECTILES," to be as follows, viz. :-
My Invention relates, firstly, to guns which are built up of wrought iron or
steel tubes, rings, or hoops, and to guns formed of cast iron lined wholly or
partially with wrought iron or steel tubes, rings, or hoops, and its object is to
ensure a more perfect union and combination of the parts, by which their
longitudinal as well as their circumferential strength will be imparted to the
inner tube, and contribute to the general strength of the gun, and so that the
strain thrown on the metal of the various parts, especially those formed of
cast iron, may be properly distributed. In order to effect these objects I
form the tubes with shoulders, and I employ screws in connection therewith,
by the united action of which a sufficient portion of each tube is embraced at
both ends, and confined longitudinally as well as circumferentially by the one
surrounding it; and in the case of cast-iron guns lined with wrought iron or
steel tubes, I form a screw thread on the whole, or part or parts of the
wrought-iron or steel lining tubes, and screw them into the outer cast-iron
casing, provided with corresponding female screws; and I so arrange the form
and dimensions of the cast-iron casing at the breech and reinforce, that the
area of its transverse section will be as nearly as possible the same throughout

page_text: a sufficient length thereof, and when a breech screw is used behind the lining
tube, I increase the external diameter of the metal around it sufficiently to
ensure the area of its cross section being fully equal to the area of the largest
part of the reinforce, so that the extension due to the longitudinal strain may
be distributed over a sufficient length, and not accumulated at, and thereby
throw an injurious strain on any one part, and when the lining tube is built
up of several layers, I arrange it so that the inner tube only shall be confined
longitudinally between the breech or other screw and the other end of the
recess in the cast-iron casing, and I proportion the dimensions of the inner
tube in relation to the cast-iron casing, and regulate its fit so that the strain
caused by its expansion from the heat produced in firing the gun will not be
more than the cast-iron casing and screw will be able to sustain without
injury; and I apply lining tubes of wrought iron or steel to mortars, and
secure them therein and confine them longitudinally by screws, and I construct
the lining tubes and secure them in the mortars in the manner herein-before
described as applied to guns. For the purpose of expanding the rings, hoops,
or tubes during the process of manufacturing ordnance, I immerse them in
baths of heated water, oil, or other suitable liquids, or molten metals, or alloys,
according to the temperature necessary to produce the amount of expansion
required.
My Invention relates, secondly, to guns and small arms which load at the
breech. In order to effect this object, I employ a sphere, or so much of a
sphere as is necessary for the purpose, having an aperture through it corre-
sponding to the bore of the gun. The sphere occupies a chamber formed in
the breech of the gun, and is mounted on centres or pivots in the sides of the
chamber, or in lugs formed on the breech screw behind it. The sphere is
made to turn on its centres or pivots by a pinion or endless screw, by which
the breech is opened and closed as required, and the breech screw is used to
draw back and force up the sphere when necessary. In some cases I make
the plug a solid piece mounted on a pivot or axis at one end, and having only
its other end which closes the breech made of a spherical form, and the breech
is opened and closed by turning it on its axis, and thereby moving the spherical
end in or out of the line of the bore. A stop is used to secure the plug in
position when the piece is discharged, and in small arms this is formed on the
tumbler axis of the lock, and so arranged that the plug is locked either at
full cock, or when the hammer is on the nipple, but is free at half cock. The
joint at the breech is made gas-tight by means of a tube or ring of steel, or
other suitable material, which is fitted into a recess in the bore of the gun,
and partly extends into a recess made in the sphere or other breech plug, or

page_text: abuts against it; an annular recess or recesses is or are made on the exterior
of the ring, or in its seat in the gun and breech sphere, or plug, so that the
surface of the parts in contact will be less than the interior surface of the
ring, and when the ring is made to abut against the breech sphere or plug,
the area of the surface in contact with it is made less than the area of the
opposite end of the ring, by which means the pressure of the powder gases
acting on the larger surface will have sufficient preponderance to expand the
ring and force it into close contact with the interior of the gun and breech
sphere, or plug, and when made to abut against the latter, to press the
ring back with sufficient force against it to maintain the joint. The ring may
in some cases be closed at the end next the plug, and attached to or made in
one with it, and this arrangement may also be employed to make the breech
of muzzle-loading guns gas-tight when closed by a plug or screw.
My Invention relates, thirdly, to a new method of rifling guns, which is
also applicable to small arms, and consists in the peculiar form given to the
grooves which is thus produced, viz., the figure of each groove in cross section
is described by two arcs of circles, which form the two sides of the groove,
and the centres from which the arcs are struck are placed at any convenient
points on a line passing through the centre of the bore at right angles to a
line drawn from that centre to the centre or bottom of the groove; or one
side only of the grooves may be thus formed, and the other side may be of any
other suitable form.
My Invention relates, fourthly, to a new form and method of constructing
projectiles for rifled ordnance and small arms. I make the body of the
projectile of a tube of steel, and close its rear end by a plug of any suitable
metal, which extends a sufficient distance beyond the rear end of the tube, and
is moulded to the form of the rifling. If the projectile be intended for a shell
the tube is left hollow, its front end being either made solid, or closed by a
plug; if for a solid shot the plug at its base is made to extend through and
fill up the interior of the steel tube. For the purpose of lessening the
resistance to the passage of projectiles through the air, I make the rear end
of a rounded or conoidal form, and provide a canelure or canelures at or near
the commencement of the rounded part, in order to steady their flight.