Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Mar., 1897
Complete Specification Left, 16th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 18th Dec., 1897
(A communication by JOSEPH SINGER, of Los Angeles, in the County of Los Angeles
and State of California, United States of America, Gun Smith.) -
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the bores of firearms.
The object of the invention is to improve the shooting qualities and to avoid
leading and pitting.
With gun barrels of all grades, great difficulty has always been experienced in
preventing them from leading and pitting. This pitting (as it is called) is partly
caused by rust and partly by the action of the acids in the powder. Especial difficulty
is experienced in keeping the gun from pitting when shooting along the sea coast,
the action of the salt air seeming to assist the action of the acids and rust in corroding
the bore of the gun.
Heretofore no satisfactory means of preventing pitting has been known and many
valuable guns are rendered comparatively worthless from pitting, because of the
roughness of the bore of the barrels. When a gun is used upon the sea coast it is
necessary to clean and oil the gun at the close of each day's shooting, or otherwise
the inside of the gun barrel will soon become so corroded as to necessitate reboring
the gun.
Another difficulty to be overcome in preserving the good shooting qualities of guns
is the tendency to lead. Various wire brushes have been devised for removing the
lead, but if the gun is allowed to stand after becoming leaded it is very liable to pit
under the lead and thus become impaired. So that, heretofore, it has required
the most careful and constant attention to prevent guns which are in use from pitting.
It has been discovered that by providing the gun barrel having its bore blued or
browned that not only is it prevented from pitting or rusting but that it is also less
liable to lead.
During two years of experimental and practical use of the gun after the bore was
blued there has been no sign of leading nor pitting at any time, and the gun is yet
free from any pitting or leading, although the gun has been put through very severe
tests. Since it was blued it has never been cleaned immediately after using, but has
been set aside for many weeks at a time before being cleaned. As high as 250 rounds
have been fired from it in one day.
Blueing the bore of the gun greatly improved its shooting qualities both in pattern
and penetration.
The invention or discovery comprises a gun-barrel having a blued or browned bore.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.

page_text: Figure 1 is a plan view of the barrel of a double barrelled shot gun, parts being
broken away to show the bore of the barrel;
Figure 2 is a view looking into the breach of the barrel.
In practice, the hore of the gun-barrel B is cleansed from all grease and a
solution of certain acids commonly used for browning or blueing metals is applied to
the bore A of the barrel by means of a swab or sponge (not shown). The gun-barrel
is then allowed to stand for five or ten hours according to the action of the acids
upon the metal; then the bore of the barrel is brushed with a steel brush or a stiff
bristle brush, moved lengthwise of the barrel without rotating, to remove the rust and
corrosion caused by the acids. The solution is again applied and in five or ten hours
the bore of the barrel is brushed as before. This operation is continued until the
desired quality of blue or brown is obtained.
After the last brushing the rust is killed by heating the gun-barrel by means of
hot water or otherwise to a temperature of about 212 degrees. The gun-barrel is
then ready for use.
In practice it has been found that the improved gun-barrel may stand for two
weeks or more after shooting without being cleaned and that when the gun is cleaned,
the bore of the gun is intact with no visible signs of pitting or rust. It has also
been found by long use that the blueing or browning absolutely prevents leading and
that the action of the acids in the explosives used has no effect upon the surface of
the bore of the barrel. The nitro powders are especially active in pitting shot gun
barrels, but it has been found in practice that they do not affect the bore of this
improved gun-barrel in any degree. It has also been found that the blueing or
browning does not wear off from the inside of the gun-barrel by use, but that the
longer a gun is used, the harder and smoother the surface of the bore becomes.
The blueing or browning may be done by any of the chemicals and methods well
known to gun smiths for blueing or browning the exterior of guns, but a heavier
coating is applied in the bore than it is usual to apply to the exteriors of guns.
Blueing by heat will not accomplish the desired result.
The invention is useful for rifles as well as for other bores of fire-arms.
5
(A communication by JOSEPH SINGER, of Los Angeles, in the County of Los Angeles and
State of California, United States of America, Gun Smith.)
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both in
the County of Lancaster, 118 New Street, Birmingham in the County of Warwick
and 322 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:--
This invention relates to the bores of firearms.
The object of the invention is to improve the shooting qualities and to avoid
leading and pitting.
With gun barrels of all grades, great difficulty has always been experienced in
preventing them from leading and pitting. This pitting (as it is called) is partly
caused by rust and partly by the action of the acids in the powder. Especial difficulty

page_text: is experienced in keeping the gun from pitting when shooting along the sea coast,
the action of the salt air seeming to assist the action of the acids and rust in corroding
the bore of the gun.
.
Heretofore no satisfactory means of preventing pitting has been known and many
valuable guns are rendered comparatively worthless from pitting, because of the
roughness of the bore of the barrels. When a gun is used upon the sea coast it is
necessary to clean and oil the gun at the close of each day's shooting, or otherwise
the inside of the gun barrel will soon become so corroded as to necessitate re-boring
the gun.
Another difficulty to be overcome in preserving the good shooting qualities of guns
is the tendency to lead. Various wire brushes have been devised for removing the
lead, but if the gun is allowed to stand after becoming leaded it is very liable to pit
under the lead and thas become impaired. So that, heretofore, it has required the
most careful and constant attention to prevent guns which are in use from pitting.
It has been discovered that by providing the gun barrel having its bore blued or
browned that not only is it prevented from pitting or rusting but that it is also less
liable to lead.
During two years of experimental and practical use of the gun after the bore was
blued there has been no sign of leading nor pitting at any time, and the gun is yet
free from any pitting or leading, although the gun has been put through very severe
tests. Since it was blued it has never been cleaned immediately after using, but has
been set aside for many weeks at a time before being cleaned. As high as 250 rounds
have been fired from it in one day.
Blueing the bore of the gun greatly improved its shooting qualities both in pattern
and penetration.
The invention or discovery comprises a gun-barrel having a blued or browned bore.
In the drawings accompanying the provisional specification ;
Figure 1 is a plan view of the barrel of a doubled barrelled shot gun, parts being
broken away to show the bore of the barrel;
Figure 2 is a view looking into the breach of the barrel.
In practice, the bore A of the gun-barrel B is cleansed from all grease and a
solution of certain acids commonly used for browning or blueing metals is applied to
the bore A of the barrel by means of a swab or sponge (not shown).
The gun barrel is then allowed to stand for five or ten hours acccording to the
action of the acids upon the metal; then the bore of the barrel is brushed with a steel
brush or a stiff bristle brush, moved lengthwise of the barrel without rotating, to
remove the rust and corrosion caused by the acids. The solution is again applied and
in five or ten hours the bore of the barrel is brushed as before. This operation is
continued until the desired quality of blue or brown is obtained.
After the last brushing the rust is killed by heating the gun-barrel by means of hot
water or otherwise to a temperature of about 212 degrees. The gun barrel is then
ready for use.
In practice it has been found that the improved gun-barrel may stand for two
weeks or more after shooting without being cleaned and that when the gun is cleaned,
the bore of the gun is intact with no visible signs of pitting or rust. It has also been
found by long use that the blueing or browning absolutely prevents leading and that
the action af the acids in the explosives used has no effect upon the surface of the
bore of the barrel. The nitro powders are especially active in pitting shot gun
barrels, but it has been found in practice that they do not affect the bore of this
improved gun-barrel in any degree. It has also been found that the blueing or
browning does not wear off from the inside of the gun barrel by use, but that the
longer a gun is used, the harder and smoother the surface of the bore becomes.
The blueing or browning may be done by any of the chemicals and methods well
known to gun-smiths for blueing or browning the exterior of guns, but a heavier
coating is applied in the bore than it is usual to apply to the exteriors of guns.
Blueing by heat will not accomplish the desired result.
The invention is useful for rifles as well as for other bores of fire-arms.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is:-
A gun-barrel having a blued or browned bore, substantially as set forth.