Method of and Means for Adjusting the Elevation of Ordnance.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Apr., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 25th Jan., 1900-Accepted, 24th Mar., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Method of and Means for Adjusting the Elevation of Ordnance.
I, AUGUST REICHWALD, of 9, New Broad Street, in the City of London, Steel,
Iron, Metal and Mineral Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(a communication to me from abroad by the Firm of Fried Krupp, of Essen, in
the Empire of Germany, Cast Steel Manufacturers) to be as follows:-
This invention relates to a method of, and means for effecting the adjustment
of the elevation in that class of ordnance in which the sighting arrangement is
not attached directly to the barrel of the gun itself, and has for its object to
dispense with the complicated intermediate mechanism between the sights and
the gun, rendered necessary by the methods at present in use, and also to
eliminate errors of observation on the part of the man serving the training gear.
According to this invention, a pointer is first set to correspond with the
required elevation of the gun, and then the barrel of the gun is either raised
or lowered by the elevating gear, until a point on an elevation curve attached
to the barrel of the gun coincides with the point or end of the pointer. The
adjustable pointer is so connected with the sighting apparatus that on bringing
the sight to bear on an object to be fired at, the difference of level, i.e the angle
of elevation or depression of the object is struck automatically.
At the gunner's standing place there is mounted a rigid frame provided with
bearings in which turns a shaft furnished with a pointer.
The adjustment of the pointer to the elevation corresponding to the distance
away of the object to be aimed at, as given by the calculated shooting tables,
is effected by means of a toothed sector and a worm operated by a hand wheel
and may be read off from a scale.
Parallel to the plane in which the pointer swings there is attached to the barrel
of the gun or to its cradle, a plate, upon which is drawn an elevation curve.
When the gun is in its horizontal position and the end of the pointer just entering
the curve, the pointer will then be in its zero position. The curve is so con-
structed, that if the pointer be set at a given angle from its zero position, the
barrel of the gun must be turned through the same angle in order to bring the
pointer within the curve again. If therefore the pointer be set for a given
elevation corresponding to the distance of the object aimed at, and the barrel
of the gun turned till the end of the pointer coincides with a point on the curve,
the elevation of the barrel of the gun corresponds to the distance away of the
object.
Instead of arranging the pointer to swing, it may be made to slide horizontally,
for example, in a frame, without changing its method of working in any way,
only in this case the amount of slide given to the pointer must correspond to
the various elevations of the shooting tables.
To effect the automatic striking of the difference of level when sighting an
object, the worm for actuating the pointer is journalled in a frame, said frame
being in one piece with a sighting bar which carries the front and back sight.

page_text: or similar sighting device. This frame is free to turn upon one shaft of the
pointer and is fitted with a toothed sector which engages with a worm journalled
in bearings in a fixed frame.
By turning this worm by a handwheel the sighting bar may be rocked on the
shaft of the pointer for the purpose of adjusting the line of sight upon the object
aimed at, and the pointer itself partakes of this motion being connected with the
sighting bar (or its frame) through its toothed sector and worm. The amount of
this joint adjustment of sighting bar and pointer corresponds to the angle of
elevation or depression of the object to be fired at, and is read off from a second
scale.
To sight a gun, the gunner first sets the pointer to the elevation corresponding
to the distance of the object as given by the tables, then he adjusts the line of
sight upon the object, the pointer also moving meanwhile. The angle through
which the pointer now has turned from the zero point, is greater or less, according
to the difference of level, than that at which the pointer was originally set.
man serving the training gear has now only to see that the extremity of the
pointer coincides with a point on the curve and effects this by either raising
or lowering the breech of the gun.
The
By the aid of a single sighting apparatus, several guns mounted parallel with
each other may be simultaneously elevated, the shaft being suitably prolonged and
furnished with a corresponding number of pointers.
Dated this 22nd day of t: 1000
BREWER & SON,
London & Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.
Method of and Means for Adjusting the Elevation of Ordnance.
I, AUGUST REICHWALD, of 9, New Broad Street, in the City of London, Steel,
Iron, Metal and Mineral Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
(a communication to me from abroad by the Firm of Fried Krupp, of Essen, in
the Empire of Germany, Cast Steel Manufacturers), and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement:-
This invention relates to a method of, and means for, effecting the adjustment
of the elevation in that class of ordnance in which the sighting arrangement is
not directly affixed to the barrel of the gun itself, which method necessitates
the employment of special means to adjust the gun to the proper degree of
elevation.
The means hitherto known and employed, for the above purpose, consist either
of more or less complicated intermediate mechanism, interposed between the
sighting devices and the gun, in which lost motion is easily produced, or of the
employment of graduations or the like upon the gun, so that errors of observation
on the part of the gunner serving the training gear were unavoidable.
The present method forming the subject of this invention, is designed to obviate
these disadvantages and consists in first setting a pointer to correspond to the
desired amount of elevation which the gun shall receive, and then either elevating
or depressing the gun by means of the elevating gear, until a certain point upon
an elevation curve, affixed to the gun itself, is in alignment with the point of the
pointer. The adjustable pointer is preferably connected to the sighting apparatus,
in such a way that on taking aim at an object to be fired at, the difference of level,
i.e., the angle of elevation or depression is struck automatically.

page_text: The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention as applied to two guns
mounted parallel to each other in a turret, and sighted by one and the same
sighting gear, although the invention may with slight alterations be applied
to single guns, as well as to cases where more than two guns are to be sighted by
means of a single sighting gear.
.In the accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is an elevation of the rear portion of
two turret guns, the sighting apparatus being common to both, and part of the
said sighting apparatus being shewn in section.
Fig. 2 is a back view of the two guns and the sighting apparatus.
Between the two guns is mounted a standard a having bearings b b in which
the shaft rotates. Upon this shaft which is supported at its outer ends in
bearings d d are mounted the pointers e e. Parallel to the plane of swing of
each of these pointers is a plate f affixed either to each gun itself, or to its cradle,
and upon which is drawn a curve 9 h.
This curve is constructed as follows. Supposing the gun to be in the horizontal
position as shewn in Fig. 1, an arc shewn in dotted lines is described by the
pointer e about the geometrical centre of the shaft c. If now the position of the
pointer shewn in Fig. 1, be taken as the zero position, the point i on the arc kl
over which the extremity of the pointer lies will be similarly the zero point of
the curve gh. A second point on the curve g h to be constructed, is next
obtained by joining a point n on the arc kl at the distance defined say by the
angle X with the geometrical centre m of the trunnion o of the gun. Then, with
the line mn describe an arc about the point m, upwardly from the arc kl,
making the angle X at m n equal to the angle X. At the intersection of the
line pm of this angle with the arc pn struck with the radius m n, is one point p
on the curve g h.
In like manner the remaining points on the curve may be obtained, only care
must be taken that the arcs struck from the point m must be described upwardly
to the left from the zero point of the arc k 1, and downwardly to the right from i.
When the curve g h has been drawn, if the pointer e be moved from the position
shewn in Fig. 1 to another position, such for example that the extremity of the
pointer is at n, that is to say has moved a distance measured by the angle X
from the zero point, and the elevation of the gun altered by means of the training
gear, the extremity of the pointer will describe relatively to the gun, an arc
concentric with the trunnion o, and will finally reach the point on the curve g h.
If no further alteration be made in the elevation of the gun, it will now possess,
as shewn by the above described construction of the curve gh, a degree of
elevation measured by the angle X, that is to say an angle equal to the angle
through which the pointer was turned. In the same manner, it will be seen that
if the pointer e be turned either to the right or left, through any desired angle
from the zero point, and the training gear of the gun operated till the extremity
of the pointer coincides with a point on the curve gh, the gun will be either
elevated or depressed through exactly the same angle as that at which the pointer e
was set. If therefore the setting of the pointer with reference to the range and
elevation of the object aimed at, be correct, the elevation of the gun must corre-
spond to the distance and elevation of the object.
It is of course not absolutely necessary that the pointer e should be made to
swing, it might equally well be made to slide horizontally in a frame. In such
case the pointer when moved would of course describe a straight line instead of
the arc kl, and the amount of travel of the extremity of the pointer would corre-
spond to the different elevations as given in the shooting tables. In all other
respects the construction of the curve gh would be carried out as described above,
and the above described method of adjustment would not be altered.
The adjustment of the pointer e to the elevation corresponding to the distance
of the object, as given in the shooting tables, is effected by means of the worm q
engaging the helically toothed sector t keyed upon the pointer shaft c, and pro-
vided with the hand wheel r and journalled in a box frame s. Affixed to the

page_text: sector is a plate 1 bent to the form of an arc concentric with the shaft c and
provided with a scale 2. This scale when the pointer e is adjusted or set, travels
past a fixed point formed in the present instance by the upper edge of a cross
bar 3, attached to the frame s, and thus allows the amount of adjustment given
to the pointer to be read off.
is a
The frames is in one piece with the sighting bar carrying the front and
back sights and w and rotates upon the shaft c. Attached to the frame
helically toothed sector z with which engages a worm journalled in the rigid
standard a and provided with the hand wheel y. By turning the hand wheel
the sighting bar u may be rocked about the shafte for adjusting the line of sight
upon the object. The pointer e also takes part in the rocking of the sighting
bar, being connected therewith, or with the frames by the helically toothed
sector t and the worm q. The amount of joint adjustment of both sighting bar u
and pointer e that is to say, the amount of the angle of elevation may be read
off from a scale 4 upon a cheek 5, Fig. 2, on the right hand side of the standard a,
the cheek being formed to coincide with an arc concentric with the shaft c, a
pointer 6 attached to the frames travelling over the scale 4 when the sighting
bar is being set.
The method of sighting and elevating a gun according to the above described
construction of elevation curve g h, and the specified construction of sighting
apparatus is as follows:-
The gunner first by means of the hand wheel r, keeping his eye on the scale 2
meanwhile, sets the pointer e to the elevation as given in the shooting tables for
the distance of the object. He then brings the line of sight to bear upon the
object by turning the handwheel y. The pointer e also takes part in this adjust-
ment of the sighting bar u and the frame s, so that according to the position of
the object the angle through which the pointer e is turned from its zero point,
is either greater or less than the angle which corresponds to the distance of the
object in the shooting tables, and to which the pointer e was set by the hand
wheel r.
While the gunner is thus setting the sighting apparatus or pointer e the man
serving the elevating gear has only to see that the end of the pointer e continually
rests upon a point in the curve gh. This he does by depressing the breech end
of the gun, when the pointer e swings outwards towards the trunnions, and
elevating the breech end of the gun, when the pointer swings towards the breech.
When the pointer comes to rest, and the gun is in such a position that the end
of the pointer lies on a point in the curve, then the gun has the exact elevation
corresponding to the distance and height of the object.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is--
1. A method for adjusting the elevation of ordnance and consisting in setting
a pointer adjustable in a frame to correspond to the desired elevation of the gun,
and then turning the gun on its trunnions by the elevating gear, until a point
on an elevation curve provided on the gun, coincides with the extremity of the
pointer, substantially as described.
2. The means for carrying out the method described in ('laim 1, and consisting
of an elevation curve drawn upon a plate affixed to the gun, in combination with
a pointer mounted adjustably in a frame and capable of adjustment by means of
a scale to the elevation as given by shooting tables, substantially as described.
3. The arrangement of the device claimed in Claim 2 in which the pointer e
is mounted to swing in a rigid frame a and is adjusted by means of a worm q
engaging a helically toothed sector t, keyed upon the pointer shaft c, substan-
tially as described.
4. The arrangement of the device claimed in Claim 3 in which the driving
worm q of the pointer e is journalled in a frames integral with the sighting bar u,

page_text: said framing being capable of adjustment by means of a worm engaging a
sector on said framing s, and journalled in the standard a so as to bring the line
of sight to bear upon the object, for the purpose of obtaining the angle of
elevation by the adjustment of the pointer e moving with the sighting bar, sub-
stantially as described.
5. The general construction and combination of parts, composing the herein
stated means for adjusting the elevation of ordnance, arranged and acting sub-
stantially as, and for the purposes described, with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
BREWER & SON,
London & Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.