AN IMPROVED METHOD OF TRAINING GUNS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury, in
the County of Hants, Esquire, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD
OF TRAINING GUNS."
Sealed the 2nd January 1866, and dated the 7th July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Duncan Preston
Cunningham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,. with his
Petition, on the 7th July 1865.
I, HENRY DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, in the County of
Hants, Esquire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF TRAINING GUNS," to be as follows:―
My Invention consists in the employment of a continuous chain connected
to the gun carriage or slide at each side, and carried through sheaves or
blocks attached to fixed points, with the two ends made fast to fixed points or
to the carriage or slide. The chain is made to reciprocate by being passed
over a fixed toothed barrel or chain wheel. The barrel being worked the teeth
lay hold of the links of the chain and impart a reciprocating motion to it, and
consequently to the gun carriage or slide, according to the direction in which
it is made to move. The barrel is fitted. in a frame provided with toothed

page_text: pinions, as in winches, and with what I term level or guide rollers, under
which the chain is passed before and after going over the barrel. I apply
stoppers to act upon and stop the chain to control and hold the gun carriage
with its gun when and as required. In some cases I place the barrel upon the
carriage or slide.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 6th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, in the County of Hants, Esquire,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
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 IMPROVED METHOD OF
TRAINING GUNS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument .in. writing under .my, or their, or one of their hands, and
scals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Juvention, 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 1, the said Henry Duncan Preston, Cunningham,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to-be performed; to be particularly described, and ascertained in and
by the following statement. thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say:..
My. Invention consists in the transmission: of reciprocating.-curvilinear

page_text: motion to a gun carriage or slide for training the gun mounted thereon by
means of a continuous chain or chains connected or attached to the slide and
carried througli sheaves or blocks attached to fixed points or to the carriage
or slide. The chain is made to reciprocate by being passed over a fixed
toothed or cogged barrel or wheel, or, in other words, the chain is so acted
upon by a toothed or cogged barrel or wheel as to be drawn in on one side
and passed out on the other, thus conveying reciprocating motion to the gun
carriage or slide (and consequently to the gun mounted thereon) by one
action of the barrel or wheel, that is, the training chain can by the one action
of the barrel or wheel be slacked on one side and pulled in on the other, thus
drawing round the gun carriage or slide on one side by the train chain on the
side so pulled at, whilst the chain on the other side is given out or slacked to
admit of the gun carriage or slide moving round.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents a gun slide A on a
ship's deck, or on the platform of a battery, capable of revolving on its pivot
at B and on rollers on the metal curves E, E, E, E. M, M, is a chain,
attached at one end to the slide at p¹; it then passes through a block or
pulley at C, then under the slide and over a toothed or cogged barrel or
chain wheel D; it also passes under or upon the guide rollers 0,.0. The
chain then passes through the block or pulley C, and the other end is finally
attached to the slide at P. Now it will be seen that if motion be given to the
toothed barrel or wheel D, in the direction of the arrow J, the chain on the
side p¹ will be dragged or drawn through the block C, and slackened through
the block C, and the effect will be that the slide will be drawn round in the
direction of the arrow X. The reverse action of the barrel or wheel D will
of course produce or transmit the reverse motion to the gun slide, and thus
the gun is trained from side to side, as required. . The wheel D for better
illustration is represented as horizontal, but it need not be confined to that
position.
Figure 5 represents a side view of the coggéd wheel or barrel fitted in a
frame or stand, termed by me my "training winch," furnished with multiplying
toothed wheels to augment manual power. The chain M, M, is seen to pass
under the rollers 0,0; outside these rollers, at D2, D3, are levers, each formed
with a forked score, shaped to pass over and upon the vertical link of the
chain, and so prevent the passage of the next horizontal link, thereby stopping
the passage of the chain. In Figure 5ª the lever stopper on one side of the
training winch is represented as thrown back, thus admitting the chain to. pass
freely. In Figure 4 the lever D is represented as put down upon and over

page_text: the chain, thus stopping its passage and securing the gun, as it cannot move
round whilst the chain is confined either by one or both stoppers. Great
security in working or training the gun at sea is thus obtained.
Figure 6 represents another arrangement. for training. In this casé four
leading blocks or pullies are used, and the training winch is placed.at the
ship's side, or the parapet of a battery at D, a position which will allow of
great protection to the men training the gun. It will be readily understood
that in whichever direction the toothed barrel or wheel is made to rotate.the
chain is drawn in on one side and slackened out on the other, thus drawing
the gun slide round.
Figure 6ª is an arrangement where instead of the ends of the chain being
attached to the gun slide they are led through blocks B', B', attached to the
slide, and are then taken back to fixed points at p. p. In the foregoing
description the motion is represented as being transmitted from the toothed
or cogged barrel or wheel to the gun slide on the same deck or platform;
but the motion can be transmitted to the gun slide from a cogged wheel or
barrel underneath the deck of a ship or the platform of a battery.
Figure 2 represents an arrangement of this kind. D¹ is the cogged wheel
or barrel. The chain after passing over the barrel or wheel descends through
the deck or platform K, as seen in Figure 3, where it is led through or over
blocks or pullies C, C, and over or round another toothed or cogged wheel or
barrel A. The spindle which carries the wheel A' goes through the deck or
platform, and upon the part so protruding is fixed another cogged or toothed
wheel or barrel D. Referring now back to Figure 2, the chain M, M, having
its end attached to the slide at p¹, passes through the block C, then over or
round the cogged or toothed wheel or barrel D, and the other end is then
attached to the slide at p. . It will be seen that in whichever direction the
wheel D is turned rotation is transmitted to the wheel D, and in whichever
direction this wheel is caused to rotate motion is transmitted to the gun slide,
as shown by the arrows O and X. In this form of apparatus the stoppers are
applied horizontally to the vertical chain before it descends through the deck
or platform K. It will be observed that the wheels D and A' are fixed
obliquely with the deck or platform. I believe this position is better than
horizontal, but they may be placed horizontally if desired.
Figure 7 represents another arrangement, in which the motion from the
prime moving barrel or wheel is transmitted to the gun slide underneath the
deck or platform. In this arrangement the chain after passing over the
pulliés, as represented in Figure 3,. is led up directly through the deck or

page_text: platform (the two wheels D and A¹, Figure 3, being dispensed with) over
pullies or rollers C, C; one end is then led through the block C¹ to the gun
slide on one side, and the other end direct to the slide on the other side. In
this form stoppers may be applied to the chain at C, C. I may remark that
various arrangements for transmitting motion from the prime motive cogged
or toothed barrel or wheel to a toothed or cogged barrel, as at D, Figure 2,
and so to the gun slide for training may be adopted, but the explanations
herein-before given will be sufficient to enable the Invention to be fully
understood.
Figure 8 represents a method of transmitting motion to the gun slide by
the single action of a barrel causing the chain to be drawn in on one side and
slackened out on the other. B is a barrel round which the chain M, M, is
wound in opposite directions, and secured to the barrel at the point N. The
chain is led through the blocks or pullies C, C, C, C, and the ends are then
secured to the slide. In whichever direction the barrel B is made to revolve
the gun slide is drawn round by the chain being pulled in on one side and
slacked on the other.
Figure 9 represents an arrangement in which the cogged barrel or wheel is
placed upon the slide, and the ends of the chain are carried to fixed points
upon the deck or platform. D is the cogged barrel or wheel fitted upon the
rear of the slide with an arrangement of cog wheels and a cranked handle
for turning the cogged barrel. The chain M, M, is laid or led over the wheel
or barrel D, and the ends are attached to fixed points at p, p. In whichever
direction the wheel D is made to rotate the slide is drawn round in that
direction, and the gun upon it trained. In this arrangement stoppers may be
capplied on each side of the barrel D at C, C.
Figure 10 shows a modified form of the arrangement represented in
Figure 9, the cogged barrel or wheel D being placed on one side of the slide,
a position which possesses advantages, or the frame carrying the cogged barrel
or wheel, or, in other words, the "training winch," need not in this form be
fixed permanently to the slide. It can be mounted on rollers, and be
temporarily attached to the slide, which will be then pushed and dragged
along by the training winch as the chain is pulled in on one side and passes
out on the other.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my "Improved
Method of Training Guns," transmitting reciprocating curvilinear motion to
gun carriages or slides by means of a continuous chain or chains fitted and

page_text: worked,. substantially as herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of January
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
H. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (L.S.)