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British Firearms (Pre. 1914) >> Muzzle Loading - Military Muskets and Rifles >> Whitworth patent
http://www.lrml.org/cgi-bin/researchpress/YaBB.pl?num=1195715589

Message started by gelderenj on 11/22/07 at 7:13am

Title: Whitworth patent
Post by gelderenj on 11/22/07 at 7:13am

Joseph Whitworth patented the Hexagonal rifling in 1855. I believe, this patent also includes the bullet rotation of 1 in 20 inches and possibly also mentions this combination in relation with the .451"small bore.

Does anyone know where I can find the original text that describes this Whitworth Patent ?

Title: Re: Whitworth patent
Post by Bill_Curtis on 11/22/07 at 11:25am

Whitworth did not make any claims relevant to rate of spiral. His own rifles used spirals of 1/15, 1/20, and 1/25 according to the bore size. He also experimented with other rates. His claims related to mechanically fitting projectiles in polygonal bores and to methods of boring and rifling.

Title: Re: Whitworth patent
Post by gelderenj on 11/28/07 at 6:42am

Thank you Bill,

As you probably know, Joseph Whitworth has no less than 47 patents on his name. Some about firearms related thinks like barrels scrapers etc. It would be very interesting to have the text of these patents and to see the possible relationship with his investigations in firearms, but it helps to know that he didn't patent the concepts of small-bore combined with fast bullet rotation. By the way you could ask yourself the question if it was possible to get a patent for such a thing.