IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND PROJECTILES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Perceval Moses Parsons, of Blackheath, in the
County of Kent, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ORDNANCE AND PROJECTILES."
Sealed the 24th February 1865, and dated the 2nd September 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Perceval Moses Parsons
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd September 1864.
I, PERCEVAL MOSES PARSONS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND PROJECTILES," to be as follows:-
My improvements in ordnance relate to guns and mortars wholly or par-
tially built up of or strengthened by carbonized wrought-iron or steel tubes
or hoops, and its object is to impart to the tubes or hoops surrounding the
inner tube or gun increased strength and toughness by hardening or tem-
pering them in oil, and likewise to place each tube or hoop on to the one
it surrounds in a state of initial tension.
To accomplish this object I prepare the outer tube or hoop the requisite
amount smaller in internal diameter than the exterior of the tube or part of
the gun it is intended to surround. I then heat the outer tube or hoop
sufficiently in a furnace, place it on the tube or part of the gun it is intended
to surround, and plunge both into oil.

page_text: In some cases
temper the outer tube by heating it and plunging it into
oil first, and then reheat it up to a temperature which will not injure the
temper, (when this will give the requisite expansion,) place it on the tube or
part of the gun it is intended to surronnd, and then cool it or allow it to cool ;
or 1 force it on by hydraulic or other mechanical pressure, either when cold
or slightly heated.
I
The object of my improvement in projectiles is to produce them sufficiently
hard and strong to penetrate armour plates at a cheap rate. For this
purpose east them of the requisite form from suitable cast iron, or cast iron
mixed with wrought iron or steel, and while sufficiently hot I remove them
from the mould, and plunge them into a bath of oil, water, mercury, or other
suitable liquid; or I heat them in a furnace to a suitable heat after they
have been cast, and if necessary shaped or otherwise prepared or finished,
and plunge them into the liquid.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by tho said Perceval Moses Parsons in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st March 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PERCEVAL
MOSES PARSONS, of Blackheath, in the County of Kent, Civil Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Perceval Moses Parsons, Her special licence that I, the said Perceval Moses
Parsons, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Perceval Moses. Parsons, 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN ORDNANCE AND PROJECTILES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Perceval Moses Parsons, iny executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
tho said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,

page_text: 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 Perceval Moses Parsons, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to bo performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My improvements in ordnance relate to guns and mortars wholly or par-
tially built up of or strengthened by steel or carbonized wrought-iron tubes or
hoops, and its object is to impart to the tubes or hoops surrounding the inner
tube or gun, or such of them as may be desired, increased strength, toughness,
and elasticity by hardening or tempering them in oil, oleageneous fluids, or
other fatty or greasy matters, and likewise to place each tube or hoop on the
tube or part of the gun it surrounds in a state of initial tension.
To accomplish this object I prepare the outer tube the requisite amount
smaller in internal diameter than the exterior of the tube or part of the gun
it is intended to surround. I then heat the outer tube in a furnace to a
clear red heat, place it quickly on to the tube or part of the gun prepared for
its reception, and immediately plunge both into a bath of oil, oleageneous
fluid, or fatty matter.
In some cases, that is, when the difference between the internal diameter
of the outer tube and the external diameter of that on which it is to be placed
is small enough to admit of it, the outer tube may be tempered by heating it
and plunging it into oil by itself first, and then reheated again to a tem-
perature that will not injure its temper, placed on the tube or part of the gun
prepared to receive it, and cooled or allowed to cool; or it may be forced on
by hydraulic or other mechanical pressure, either when cold or slightly heated.
The tube may be reheated conveniently in the manner described in the Specifi-
cation of my Patent of November Seventeenth, One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-three, No. 2876.
I recommend that the inner tube be also tempered in oil before the sur-
rounding tube or tubes or hoops are placed on it, but I wish it to be under-
stood that I do not claim as my Invention tempering the inner tube alone, as
that has been practised before; but I claim the combination and the methods
herein-before described of tempering all or any of the tubes surrounding tho
inner tube or gun, and likewise placing them on the tube or part of the
they surround in a stato of initial tension.
gun
The object of my improvements in projectiles is to produce them suffi-
ciently hard and strong to penetrate armour plates at a cheap rate. For this

page_text: purpose I cast them of the requisite form from suitable cast iron or cast iron
mixed with wrought iron or steel, in sand, loam, or metal moulds by any of
the usual well-known methods, and while sufficiently hot I remove them from
the mould and plunge them into a bath of oil, water, mercury, or other suit-
able liquid; or I heat them in a furnace to a suitable heat, after they have
been cast, by any of the ordinary methods, and if necessary shaped or other-
wise prepared or finished, and plunge them into the liquid. The kind of
liquid usod will depend upon the quality of iron the castings are made from,
and the degree of hardness or toughness it is desired to impart to them. The
temperature also at which they are cooled will exercise considerable influence
in these respects; it is therefore impossible to give any definito instructions
on theso points, but I may state that I have found that the use of oil increases
the strength to resist impact and toughness of the metal considerably, as well
as its tensile strength, if quenched in it at a low temperature, and its hard-
ness if cooled at higher temperatures; whereas the general effect of water is
to make metal of similar quality hard, but at the same time somewhat brittle.
When the strength of the projectile is to be taxed to the utmost, that is,
supposing projectile of comparatively light weight is to be fired at strong
armour plates, I should quench it in oil at a clear or bright red heat, the
metal being of a strong medium quality between hard white and soft grey
metal, and generally if the metal is in its natural state harder, less heat may
be used, and vice versa. If the projectile is larger in proportion and mado
of strong grey metal and the surface only requires to be made hard, it may
bo quenched in water or mercury.
I claim under this part of my Invention the construction of projectiles for
ordnance made of cast iron or cast iron mixed with wrought iron or steel,
cast by any of the ordinary methods, and strengthened, toughened, or
hardened by plunging them while in a sufliciently heated state into oil, water,
mercury, or other suitable liquid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Perceval Moses Parsons, have hereunto
set my hand and soal, this Twenty-second day of February, in tho
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
Witness,
TH. J. HANDFORD.
P. M. PARSONS. (L.S.)