IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTING, CONSTRUCTING WROUGHT-IRON ORDNANCE
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Lynall Thomas, of No. 9, Union Street, Berkeley,
Square, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of,
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTING,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Lynall Thomas at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th November
1861..
I, LYNALL THOMAS, of No. 9, Union Street, Berkeley. Square, in the County.
of Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTING
WROUGHT-IRON ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
'My Invention consists in obviating the defective welding which at present
usually occurs in guns made with iron coils, and to realize the utmost amount
of strength and durability in the metal employed with the minimum amount of
weight. I propose to make the gun or piece of ordnance out of one, two,
or more different qualities of iron or alloys of iron and carbon, giving to each
a position in which it is capable of exerting its greatest strength. The core
or. inside piece; wherein the bore is to be made, is composed of hard, tough,
elastic, and granular iron, whilst the outer portion is composed of tough,
elastic, and fibrous iron, both being soundly welded together so as to form one
solid block, with its component parts distributed in such a manner as to
present the greatest possible amount of resistance.. The welding of such a
piece of ordnance is, parallel to the axis of the bore and not at nearly right
angles to it, as in the present mode of manufacture. I do not propose always
to weld the outer to the inner portion, for the one may be shrunk on to the

page_text: other after the outer one has been bored out and the inner one turned to fit
it, the disposition of the metals remaining as described above.
The mode of making or constructing the gun is as follows:-I take hard,
tough, granular iron, or any tough alloy of iron and carbon, out of which to
forge or roll the core or inside of the gun, which is done in the usual way,
either by "fagoting" or drawing out of the solid, slabs, if forged, but if rolled,
out of well hammered slabs. The outside of the gun is formed by rolling or
winding sheets of tough fibrous iron round the forged or rolled core until the
requisite thickness is obtained, when the whole is carefully and thoroughly
welded together in furnaces specially adapted for the purpose and heated with
gaseous fuel, whereby a pure flame is obtained which neither deteriorates nor
oxidizes the metal, and thus causes perfect welding. The roll of plates is
either first made on a mandril corresponding to the already forged or rolled
core, or it is wound round the core itself by simple machinery specially adapted
to the purpose. If the roll or cone of rolled-up plates be first made on a
mandril, which method I prefer, then it is forced on to the core by means of
hydraulic pressure, thereby ensuring a tight fit and subsequent solid welding
together. When the gun is of very large dimensions, and plates for the outside
portion of the gun not easily procurable of sufficient breadth, they will be
scarfed or lap-jointed under the trunnion ring or belt. If another joint be
necessary, a ring can be shrunk on at that place. The outside plates may
be wound on spirally or in an oblique direction instead of the layers passing
completely over each other.
⚫ WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Lynall Thomas, Her special licence that I, the said Lynall Thomas, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Lynall
Thomas, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agrée.
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND CONSTRUCTING WROUGHT-IRON ORDNANCE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Lynall Thomas, 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 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 Lynall Thomas, do hereby declare the
nature of my 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, 'that is to say :-
The object of my Invention is to obviate or avoid the defective welding of
guns or other pieces of ordnance made of coils of iron for the purpose of
making available the utmost amount of the strength and durability of the
metal employed. Various sorts or qualities of iron of adequate strength and
durability, either pure or alloyed with carbon, may be used, according to the
description of gun to be manufactured, and in some cases it may be expedient
to use more than one description of metal. My improvements consist in
making guns' of coils of sheet iron wound upon a staff or core bar, or upon
each other, in such manner as to avoid as much as practicable the necessity
for having welded joints or surfaces at right angles or nearly so to the axis of
the bore of the gun; as in the usual mode of manufacture.
In the manufacture of guns and ordnance of coils of sheet iron I proceed as
follows: The staff or core bar upon which the gun is to be made is to be
either forged or rolled, and is generally to be 'composed of a fine-grained, hard,
tough, and elastic iron, or iron alloyed with carbon. Upon this is to be placed
or wound sheets or slabs of the.description of iron proper to form the interior
surface of the gun; or slabs of iron of various sizes' may be used, and a
succession of them may be coiled around the staff or core bar; or a single
sheet or slab, if sufficiently large, may be wound round the staff or core bar
until the requisite strength and thickness is obtained. The mass of iron so
coiled is then to be welded together and drawn slightly down under very heavy
hammers in order that the metal may be rendered as sound. and dense as
possible. Round this solid or cylindrical formation I then proceed to coil
further sheets or slabs of iron and weld them together in like manner as above

page_text: described; and I repeat the operation until the metal for the piece of ordnance
is sufficiently thick. That the whole mass may be properly mellowed, after
the severe. hammering to which it has been subjected, and to give the crystals
or grains of its variously constituted metals adequate time to find their appro-
priate settlement, it is finally subjected to the ordinary process of annealing;
The welded.mass I, have described is then to be converted into a gun or piece
of ordnance in the usual way..
:
A variation in the process of construction may be mentioned. The slabs or
sheets of metal may be wound round a mandril corresponding in size to the
already prepared: staff or core bar. The cylinders thus formed may be forced
by hydraulic or other pressure upon or over the staff or core bar, and the
united mass then thoroughly welded -together, drawn out to the finished size,
and finally annealed.. In order to facilitate the manufacture of a piece of
ordnance, and give it from the commencement a configuration resembling the
finished gun, plates tapering on one side may be employed, the widest part
of the plate being placed at the end intended to be the breech of the gun. It
will be observed that the welding surfaces are, with the exception of a very
small fraction, in a direction parallel or nearly so with the longitudinal axis of
the gun, and that the various layers of metal are welded together, and not
shrunk on, as is now the case when coils placed in a rectangular position with
regard to the axis of the bore of the gun are employed. I prefer furnaces
heated with a gaseous fuel for welding the plates, because the flame from this
species of fuel does no injury to the iron and imparts a greater and more
thoroughly soaking heat than any other..
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which the
same is to be carried into effect, I now claim as novel and original, the mode
of constructing ordnance by rolling or winding sheets or slabs repeatedly
around a staff or core bar of iron and welding them into one cylindrical or
conical mass, in manner herein-before described, for the purpose of being
formed into the intended piece of ordnance.
-In-witness whereof, I, the said Lynall Thomas, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight bundred and civte two.
LYNALL THOMAS. (L.S.)