Raimey,
Interesting material. I get lost in this long thread and often have to go back and search to see if a subject has been covered.
Thanks for digging up the Warner patent. He was briefly mentioned, but not his patent. This is a partial replay of an earlier quote.
From Fire-Arms Manufacture 1880. U.S. Department of Interior, Census Office.
The earliest use of decarbonized steel or gun-barrels is generally credited to the Remingtons, who made steel barrels for North & Savage, of Middletown, Connecticut, and for the Ames Manufacturing company, of Chicopee, Massachusetts, as early as 1846. It is also stated that some time about 1848 Thomas Warner, a the Whitneyville works, incurred so much loss in the skelp-welding of iron barrels that he voluntarily substituted steel drilled barrels in his contract, making them of decarbonized steel, which was believed by him to be a a novel expedient. The use of soft cast-steel was begun at Harper's Ferry about 1849. After 1873, all small-arms barrels turned out at the national armory at Springfield were made of decarbonized steel(a barrel of which will endure twice as heavy a charge as a wrought-iron barrel), Bessemer steel being used until 1878, and afterward Siemens-Martin steel.
Some early "sources" can drive you mad. Given Lowthain Bell's statements and the official Government document, one would have no idea what Warner was really up to. I wonder if Mr Bell even knew of Ethan Allen's work or some of the barrels that had been made by Parker. But we at least have a clue that Warner was making barrels for a government contract.
Warner provides no drawings with his application:
http://www.google.com/patents?id=PAxLAAAAEBAJ&dq=9999+Warner&jtp=1At least they are not online. A couple interesting statements though from his application.
What a perfect description of the role that damascus played!
The object of my invention is produce a barrel which for given weight of metal shall present greater strength to resist the explosive force of gunpowder, and which shall avoid the liability of imperfect seams along the length.
Then he makes a some what confusing statement;
...take a bar of iron of suitable quality and size, after it has been sufficiently and equally heated twisting it in the manner of twisting a strand of rope until the required twist has been given. I then upset it endwise to compact the mass.
He would have had no way to know that he was duplicating a well known technique used by Islamic barrel makers. Figiel has illustrations of these solid bar barrels. The Islamic barrels makers were willing to absorb the waste to produce a stronger barrel. Exactly when wrapping a ribbon around a mandrel made it's appearance is still elusive.
By the way, where did you find a copy of Bell?
Pete
