IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS POR TISING ORDNANCE UNDED WATER AND IN PART
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Burley, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Carpenter, for the Invention of "IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS
POR TISING ORDNANCE UNDED WATER AND IN PART ADDED On 19
Sealed the 31th October 1862, and dated the 5th May 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Burley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th
May 1862.
I, ROBERT BURLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
Carpenter, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
ARRANGEMENTS FOR USING ORDNANCE UNDER WATER, AND IN PART APPLICABLE
OTHERWISE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for object to enable a war vessel to seriously damage an
enemy's vessel when at comparatively close quarters, and notwithstanding
that her upper sides may be armour plated, and it consists in the first place
in fitting ordnance in the lower part of a war vessel in such a way as to
deliver its charge below water in a direction most suitable for damaging an
enemy's vessel, in a part rendered vuluerable by the absence of armour plates,
and in which the damage will be doubly effective on account of the influx of
water necessarily following the penetration of the vessel's bottom.
In carrying out the Invention, it is proposed to employ breech-loading
ordnance of a novel and peculiar construction about to be described, and it
is proposed according to one modification to fix each gun rigidly to the vessel's

page_text: side by means of flanges or brackets of sufficient strength and extent to dis-
tribute the reaction of the discharge over a considerable portion of the vessel's
side. Or if it is not considered desirable to subject the vessel's side to the
recoil, the muzzle of the gun may be projected through a stuffing box aperture
fitted to the vessel's side. The gun is bored completely through, and at a point
immediately in front of the charge chamber there is fitted across the bore a
large turn-cock actuated by a lever or by gearing at the side, and which serves
to exclude the water whilst the gun is being loaded, and until such time as it
is about to be discharged. At the back of the charge chamber there may be
a second turn-cock, or, as is preferred, a simple plug formed with a very slight
taper may be forced laterally into a corresponding recess, extending just across
the bore, the plug being actuated by a screw and bracket at the side. The
improved breech-loading arrangements are in part applicable to ordnance or
other fire-arms to be used in the ordinary way above water.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Burley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
4th November 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
BURLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Carpenter,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Burley, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Burley, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Burley, 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 "IMPROVED ARRANGEMENTS FOR
USING ORDNANCE UNDER WATER, AND IN PART APPLICABLE OTHER WISE," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Burley, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and

page_text: 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 I, the said Robert Burley, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
My said Invention has for object to enable a war vessel to seriously damage
an enemy's vessel when at comparatively close quarters, and notwithstanding
that her upper sides may be armour plated. And it consists in the first place
in fitting ordnance in the lower part of a war vessel in such a way as to deliver
its charge below water in a direction most suitable for damaging an enemy's
vessel in a part rendered comparatively vulnerable by the absence of armour
plates, and in which the damage will be doubly effective on account of the
influx of water necessarily following the penetration of the injured vessel's
bottom.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings representing four modificatious of sub-surface naval guns
constructed according to my Invention. The Drawings represent in transverse
vertical section, two war vessels near each other as indicating the relative
positions in which the sub-surface guns of one may have most effect upon the
other, at the same time it will be obvious that considerable damage may be
effected when the vessels are further apart, provided that the ordnance used is
of sufficient power. The four modifications of gun are shown in longitudinal
section, and are distinguished by the reference letters, A, B, C, D, and when
the same reference numeral occurs upon more than one it is used to mark the
same or a like part in every case.
In carrying out the Invention according to the first modification (A) a
breech-loading gun is employed of a novel and peculiar construction. This
gun is rigidly fixed to the side of the vessel by means of flanges or brackets
1, formed upon the barrel 2, a short distance back from the muzzle 3; such
flanges or brackets being made of sufficient strength and extent to distribute
the reaction of the discharge over a considerable portion of the vessel's side.
The gun is bored completely through, and at a point immediately in front of
the charge chamber 4 there is fitted across the bore a large turn-cock
5, which may be actuated by a lever or by gearing at the side, but not shown
in the Drawing. This turn-cock 5 serves to exclude the water whilst the gun
is being loaded and until such time as it is about to be discharged, but it has

page_text: a way made across it exactly of the dimensions of the gun's bore, so as to
render the bore continuous it when it is turned into the open position.
At the back of the charge chamber 4, there may be a second turn-cock, or
other known means may be used for closing the back end of the bore when
the chamber 4 is charged. I, however, prefer to employ a simple plug 6,
formed with a very slight taper and of a size to completely fill up the bore,
such plug being forced into a recess, made for it across the bore, by means of
a bracket and screw at the side. These improved breech-loading arrangements
are in part applicable to ordnance or other fire-arms to be used in the ordinary
way above water.
The second modification B, of my improved sub-surface gun differs from
the first in not being rigidly fixed to the vessel's side. The barrel 2 is made
cylindrical and of uniform diameter externally from the muzzle 3, to a suffi-
cient distance back, and the muzzle is projected through a stuffing box 7, fixed
to the vessel's side. This arrangement permits of the gun's recoil in the
usual way.
When the stuffing box 7 attached to the vessel's side is used,
the turn-cock 5 may be transferred from the gun itself to the stuffing-box
piece 7, as shown in my third modification C. And in this case the gun itself
may be either a breech-loader or a muzzle-loader, the latter kind 8 being
shown at C. With this arrangement the gun 8 is wholly withdrawn from
the stuffing-box piece 7 to be loaded; it is represented as mounted upon a
disc-shaped block 9, which slides in guides 10 and the circular shape of the
block 9 admits of the gun being swivelled round as soon as its muzzle is drawn
When the
in sufficiently to clear the inner end of the stuffing-box piece 7.
gun is loaded its muzzle 3 is inserted just into the stuffing box 7 and the
turn-cock 5, previously closed to exclude the water, is then turned open and
the gun slided outwards until its muzzle projects sufficiently outside of the
vessel's side. If it is considered desirable to prevent the access of water into
the gun before it is fired, a plug of light wood or other material may bo
inserted in the muzzle, this plug being formed with a stilt or rod reaching up
to the ball, to insure the plug's movement with the start of the ball.
My fourth modification D, differs from the third C, in the turn-cock 5,
being placed in what may be termed a barrel-piece 11, which is inserted
through the stuffing box 7 attached to the vessel's side, this barrel-piece 11
being itself fitted with a stuffing box into which is inserted the breech-piece
12 containing the charge chamber.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I

page_text: believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the berein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing and
arranging of ordnance to be discharged under water substantially as herein-
before described; and more particularly the employing of a turn-cock or its
equivalent, either in the gun itself or in a stuffing-box piece attached to the
vessel's side, to exclude the external water except when firing, and the em-
ploying of a stuffing box either alone or in combination with the turn-cock.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Burley, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT, Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow.
ROBERT BURLEY. (L.S.)