AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN PILING OR COMBINING METALS TO BE USED IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF ARMS AND CUTLERY, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Rose, of Hales Owen, in the County of
Worcester, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT OR
IMPROVEMENTS IN PILING OR COMBINING METALS TO BE USED IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF ARMS AND CUTLERY, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 19th October 1858, and dated the 31st August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Rose at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st August 1858.
I, WILLIAM ROSE, of Hales Owen, in the County of Worcester, Gun Barrel
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN PILING OR COMBINING METALS TO BE USED IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMS AND CUTLERY, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be
as follows, that is to say:-
My Invention consists in piling or combining iron and steel for the manu-
facture of what are termed Damascus gun barrels or sword blades. I am
aware that a metal consisting of layers of iron and steel piled or laid upon
each other in one direction has been long used, but my improvements consist
in combining the best charcoal or scrap iron with rods of cast steel in such
manner that the cross section of a bar thus compounded presents a chequered
appearance in the grain similar to a chess board. By preference, I employ
the description of iron and steel above named, but poorer descriptions of these

page_text: metals may also be used. The rods or bars used for piling may be of any
section if other than square; the section of the piled bars will, of course,
represent a chequered surface conforming in the checks to the shape of the
original bars or rods that may have been used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Rose in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME,. I, WILLIAM
ROSE, of Hales Owen, in the County of Worcester, Manufacturer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Rose, Her special license that I, the said William Rose, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Rose, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS
IN PILING OR COMBINING METALS TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ARMS AND
CUTLERY, AND FOR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Rose, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 William Rose, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
(that is to say):
:-
My Invention consists of certain improvements in manufacturing orna-
mental metal, which may afterwards be worked up into gun or pistol barrels,
ordnance, or any other kind of arms, swords, knives, and cutlery in general,
and various other similar uses; and my object has been to produce an

page_text: ornamental effect on the surface of the metal, and which effect shall not be
confined to the surface only, but shall run through its entire body, so that
such ornamental surface shall not be liable to be destroyed by wear. This
I effect by so piling or combining together rods of iron and steel, or various
kinds of iron, or various kinds of steel, the section of such rods being of any
figure I please, that when united by heating and rolling, the mass or bar
presents in its cross section a chequered appearance; this bar may afterwards
be twisted, and as every turn of each twist will vary the pattern, an endless
variety of ornamental lines may be produced upon the surface; and this effect
will be still further diversified when the metal is intended to be worked up into
twisted gun or pistol barrels by the very process of twisting or coiling the
metal for such purpose. I am well aware that a metal consisting of layers of
iron and steel piled or laid upon each other in one direction has already been
used in manufacturing what are commonly known as "Damascus or
damascened gun barrels and sword blades, but mine is an entirely different
method of piling, and one which renders the finished metal of the same
character and texture throughout instead of producing mere surface orna-
mentation. The mode of carrying out my process is as follows:-I take bars
of iron and steel, by preference selecting the best charcoal or stubb iron for
the one metal, and cast steel for the other, and I arrange these bars alternately,
or, as the workinen term it, hand over hand, in such manner that a cross
section of the combined mass presents a chequered appearance in the grain,
and if the bars of which this billet be formed have been of a square section,
the section of the billet will somewhat resemble a chess board, the check or
pattern thereon resulting from the different colors or qualities of the metals.
This billet or compound bar being heated and rolled out or reduced to the
requisite size, still preserves the same chequered section, and if twisted, as it
may readily be during subsequent heatings, by suitable machinery for that
purpose, any variety of patterns may be produced, and as a necessary result,
these patterns will pervade the entire body of metal, and will wear as the
metal wears, so that when made up into damascened barrels for small. arms,
ordnance, swords, table and other cutlery, or into other similar articles for
which it may be applicable, the ornamentation, which will be of a very high
character, will be as lasting as the article itself.
A similar effect will be produced by the employment of two or more kinds
of iron, varying in color, shape, forms, and quality, whilst for some of the
purposes above named, such as sword blades and table cutlery, in which it may
be necessary to employ all steel, different qualities, shapes, forms, and colors

page_text: of steel may be selected, and as good 'an ornamental appearance will be the
result.
Having, thus described the nature of the said. Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that, without
limiting myself to these precise details, I claim the piling or combining of
metals to be employed in the manufacture of arms, ordnance, and cutlery, and
for other similar purposes, as herein more fully set forth and specified..
In witness whereof, I, the said William Rose, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
WILLIAM ROSE. (L.S.)