The Pattern Room WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 J WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKThe DGDQA Pattern Room The DGDQA Pattern Room, located at the Royal Ordnance pic site at Enfield Lock, houses a comprehensive collection of both British and foreign small arms (up to 40mm calibre), edged weapons and ancillary equipment. The collection is managed by the Directorate General of Defence Quality Assurance (DGDQA) for the Master General of Ordnance. Originally established to care for a small and clearly defined group of sample firearms, the Pattern Room now fulfills a much wider role for a broad spectrum of both military and civilian concerns. Making weapons available for investiga tion - subject to appropriate arrangements and clearances - is a key part of this role, one that is particularly valuable to Ministry of Defence development projects. By collecting and documenting advances in British and foreign small arms, for example, the Pattern Room is in a position to loan out specimen weapons to staff working in military agencies and approved MOD contractors. In this way quality assurance staff ha\ e the opportunity to assess the standard of workmanship and compliance with approved Patterns; design staff are able to analyze the principles of small arms design; production and project staff can compare the construction and components of past and present small arms. Such investigations are not purely theoretical, moreover, since sample weapons can be made available for firing trials and ammunition evaluation. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKThe Pattern Room also represents a vital resource for instructional and train ing purposes. The sheer breadth of the collection means that it is not only able to provide modern weapons for investigation by intelligence and other staffs b u t a l s o m a k e a v a i l a b l e a u t h e n t i c h i s t o r i c a l m a t e r i a l t o M O D e d u c a t i o n a l establishments. The Pattern Room extends this research role beyond the boundaries of the military arena by giving consideration to the bona fide needs of students and authors concerned with small calibre weapons. In addition to providing research facilities and supplying information in written form, arrangements can be made for new photographs to be taken for specific projects. T h e t i t l e ' P a t t e r n R o o m ' s t e m s f r o m t h e t i m e w h e n t h e Wa r O f fi c e c r e a t e d 'Sealed Patterns' for newly adopted material. These perfectly correct sample weapons, literally endorsed with red wax seals, provided the technical data, design details and quality standards to guide the production of new arms. A 19th century Sealed Pattern cavalry carbine shown with the first production. Serial Number I. L85A1 rifle. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKOriginally all small arms' Sealed Patterns were retained at the Tower of London, but a disastrous fire at the Tower in 1841 prompted the decision to transfer responsibility for pattern firearms to the Enfield Royal Small Arms Factory. Thus, with the introduction of mechanized small arms production in the early 1850s, a central Pattern Room was established at RSAF Enfield. An independent Inspection Department, separated from the interests of the manufacturing departments, was created at Enfield in 1888 to act as an acceptance authority for military small arms. Headed b\' the Chief Inspector of Small Arms (CISA), the duties of this new branch included the approx al of Sealed Patterns and their subsequent preserxation. The Pattern Room has since remained under the control of the inspection organisation, noxv the Directorate General of Defence Quality Assurance, and is superx ised by the successor to CISA, the Principal Quality Officer (PQO Enfield). WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKT h e P a t t e r n R o o m c u s t o d i a n d e m o n s t r a t e s t h e m o d e m Soviet AGS 17 30mm grenade cannon. In the background is a turn of the century Vickers- Maxim 37mm "Pom-Pom"gun. The collection contains examples of Sealed Pattern arms dating from theearly 1800s through to the 1920s, when the system of physically sealing jaatternguns was discontinued. From the turn of the present century a collecting policyfor the Pattern Room allowed the acquisition of foreign designs and experimental arms. As the tempo of weapon development quickened in the yearsleading up to the First World War, so the Pattern Room collection increased inboth size and scope. The war years provided numerous additions — enemy andallied, standard and experimental — including examples of the specializedweapons developed during that conflict, such as aircraft guns, anti-tankweapons, submachine guns and sniper rifles. By 1918, the Pattern Room wasrecognized as the major reference source for designers and manufacturers ofmilitary small arms.Overall view of the main small ^ arms gallery on the upper floor. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKWWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKShortly after the outbreak of the Second World War, the collection was moved to Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, the wartime headquarters ofthe CISA. A primary task for the Pattern Room during the war was the control and distri bution of production samples. Although no longer formally sealed, the weapons, components and accessories issued as reference guides for wartime mass production were critically important in maintaining output. Perhaps the best e.xample of this service concerned the manufacture of the Sten gun. During the production programme, the Pattern Room co-ordinated the work of a multitude of small engineering companies throughout the UK by continually updating them with sample components and drawings that reflected gradual improvements and model changes. At the end ofthe war, the influx of selected material doubled the size of the collection and, in 1948, the Pattern Room was returned to Enfield, to be housed in its present two-storey building. The postwar period saw the British and NATO small arms communities fully occupied in the design and perfection of new iniantry and air service guns. Because of its comprehensive range of con temporary designs, the Pattern Room has played a key role in the research and development programmes responsible for the weapons in service today. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UK1 Pan of the submachine gun collection. 2 Researchers making use of the Pattern Room library. 3 Heavier weapons, including early Maxim machine guns as featured, are displayed on the ground floor. 4 A rack of modern assault rifles. A staff member holds a prototype 4.85 Enfield SA 80 rifle. WWW.RIFLEMAN.ORG.UKNext >