IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Oliver Macomber, of Utica, New York,
United States of America, now of Arundel Street, Strand, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Oliver Macomber
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th January 1872.
I, DAVID OLIVER MACOMBER, of Utica, New York, United States of
America, now of Arundel Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
The said Invention relates to the construction of ordnance of sections
of wrought iron welded together. The said sections are formed of any
size necessary for the required diameter of the gun, and are set or
expanded either before or after welding together by pressure from the
ป

page_text: centre, until the strain of such pressure is equalized between the
inner and outer surface of the said sections or gun. These sections may
be formed with a central aperture or may be formed solid, and the
aperture be bored after they are welded together.
The chamber for containing the powder, which is enlarged, is closed
at the rear with a screw fitted to the inner or outer portion of the
breech chamber, and is moved by a lever or handle to open or close
the breech. When this screw is withdrawn to load the gun the said
screw turns on a centre to allow another ball and charge to be inserted,
and this centre or socket is firmly welded to or formed on the breech of
the gun. The portion of the screw which enters the chamber may be
detached by means of an inner screw or cross bolt. A. gas check
formed of a steel or other metal barrel or open cone is made to fit the
rear of the breech chamber, and this check may be made to extend
when closed the whole or a part of the length of said chamber.
The charge may be fired by means of a needle penetrating the powder
from the rear, or by the usual fusee through a hole formed in the top of
the breech.
When the needle for central-fire is employed, it is made hollow, and
fixed to the screw inside the gas check, and the gun may be discharged
by a fusee conducting the fire from the rear or other part of the screw
through the same to any point of the charge desired, thus varying the
quickness of the discharge according to the length of needle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Oliver Macomber, in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 27th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
OLIVER MACOMBER, of Utica, New York, United States of America,
now of Arundel Street, Strand, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the

page_text: thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said David Oliver Macomber,:
Her special licence that I, the said David Oliver Macomber, my:
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
David Oliver Macomber, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORDNANCE,”.
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said David Oliver
Macomber, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing'
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particu-
larly 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.
1.
› NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said David Oliver Macomber, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
:
The said Invention relates to the construction of ordnance of sections
of wrought iron welded together. The said sections are formed of any
size necessary for the required diameter of the gun, and are set or
expanded either before or after welding together by pressure, from the
centre, until the strain of such pressure is equalized between the inner
and outer surface of the said sections or gun. These sections may be
formed with a central aperture or may be made solid, the aperture being
bored after they are welded together.
The chamber for containing the powder is enlarged, and is closed at
the rear with a screw fitted to the inner or outer portion of the breech
chamber; the said screw is moved by a lever or handle to open or close
the breech. When this screw is withdrawn to load the gun, the said
screw turns on a centre to allow another ball and charge to be inserted,
and this centre or socket is firmly welded to or formed on the breech
of the gun. The portion of the screw which enters the chamber may
be detached by means of an inner screw or cross bolt. A gas check

page_text: formed of a steel or other metal barrel or open cone is made to fit the
rear of the breech chamber, and this check may be made to extend
when closed the whole or a part of the length of said chamber.
The charge may be fixed by means of a needle penetrating the powder
from the rear, or by the usual fuse through a hole formed in the top of
the breech.
When the needle for central-fire is employed it is made hollow, and
fixed to the screw inside the gas check, and the gun may be discharged
by a fuse conducting the fire from the rear or other part of the screw
through the same to any point of the charge desired, thus varying the
quickness of the discharge according to the length of needle.
Having thus fully described my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I wish it understood that I claim, the im-
provements in the manufacture of ordnance, substantially as herein set
forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Oliver Macomber, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
Witness,
CHAS. J. Gooch.
D. O. MACOMBER. (L.S.)