IMPROVEments in Mounting ORDNANCE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wightwick Rendel, of Elswick Works,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEments in Mounting
ORDNANCE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wightwick
Rendel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 27th November 1873.
I, GEORGE WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Elswick Works, Newcastle-on-
Tyne, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MOUNTING ORDNANCE," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in mounting ordnance.
The carriage upon which guns are usually mounted is dispensed with.
The gun is arranged to run upon slides and is carried upon a couple of
guided motion blocks running direct upon the slide beams, while the
breech runs upon a table or beam so arranged that it may be raised or
lowered in a vertical plane, parallel to that of the motion of the gun,

page_text: about its trunnions from a rear pivot to give any required angle of
elevation or depression to the gun when run out. The pivot may be so
placed that when the gun is fired with elevation or depression and
recoils, the breech end running back upon the elevating table will rise
or fall and so restore the gun to a horizontal position either completely 5
or as nearly as may be desired. In this way the chase of the gun may
be made on recoil to clear a smaller port than would otherwise be
necessary, and, as the table or beams under the breech may easily be
made strong enough to carry a large portion of the weight of the gun,
the trunnions may be placed forward where the gun's diameter is 1
reduced, so that they may be nearer to the port than at present, and the
dimensions of the port required to allow a given range of elevation be
proportionately reduced. Thus the advantages sought to be obtained by
muzzle pivotting are to a great extent realized..
An hydraulic press may be fixed in a line with each trunnion block 1
to check recoil and to run the gun in and out; or a similar press or
presses may be fixed on the elevating table to control the motion of
the gun.
(
A press may also be used to lift and lower the elevating table; and in
order to prevent any alteration of the elevation by leakage of the press
during aiming I may use a rigid support under the table, such as a
lifting screw, which may be set to any elevation by an indicator or
otherwise prior to the table being lowered on to it by the action of the
press.
It is not essential to give the gun breech preponderance, as instead of
merely resting on the rear table it may run on it between guides.
If it is required to change the vertical angle of the gun considerably
when it is back, as for instance to depress the gun for loading when
back, the rear pivot of the elevating table may be so arranged that it
can be raised by a press or otherwise to change its position vertically.
To confine the motion of the gun to a vertical plane parallel to that
of the slide beams notwithstanding any tendency to lateral deviation
from difference of friction of the two trunnion blocks or other causes,
Vertical rubbing pieces may be fixed on the breech or other convenient
part of the gun to act against the inner surface of the slide beams and
form guides.

page_text: The elevating table may be curved in the direction of its length so
that the motion of rotation of the gun in its trunnion bearings during
recoil may be communicated to it more gradually than it would be were
a plane table employed.
In the Specification of a former Patent granted to me, No. 3826, in
the year 1872, I described an arrangement for loading ships' turret guns
where the muzzle of the gun was brought opposite to a loading chamber
standing above the deck. In this arrangement however the inclination
of the gun during loading was such that if a premature explosion were
to take place the shot would pass beneath the armour plated deck of the
vessel, doing thereby serious injury. It is true that such a premature
explosion cannot take place when proper care is taken, nevertheless
according to my present Invention I so arrange the gun and the loading
chamber that a shot accidentally discharged during loading would pass
on the upper side of the armoured deck and striking it at an acute angle
would be deflected away without serious injury..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Wightwick Rendel in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 27th May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Elswick Works, Newcastle-on-Tync, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of November, in the
year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Wightwick Rendel, Her special
license that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, my executors, ad-
ministrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Wightwick
Rendel, 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

page_text: "IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING ORDNANCE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, 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 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 George Wightwick Rendel, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :—
.
.
⚫ This Invention has for its object improvements in mounting ordnance.
The carriage upon which guns are usually mounted is dispensed with.
The gun is arranged to run upon slides, and is carried upon a couple of
guided motion blocks running direct upon the slide beams, while the
breech runs upon a table or beam so arranged that it may be raised or
lowered in a vertical plane parallel to that of the motion of the gun
about its trunnions from a rear pivot to give any required angle of
elevation or depression to the gun when run out. The pivot may be so
placed that when the gun is fired with elevation or depression and
recoils, the breech end running back upon the elevating table will rise
or fall and so restore the gun to a horizontal position, either completely
or as nearly as may be desired. In this way the chase of the gun may
be made on recoil to clear a smaller port than would otherwise be
necessary, and as the table or beams under the breech may easily be
made strong enough to carry a large portion of the weight of the gun,
the trunnions may be placed forward where the gun's diameter is
reduced so that they may be nearer to the port than at present and the
dimensions of the port required to allow a given range of elevation be
proportionately reduced. Thus the advantages sought to be obtained by
muzzle pivotting are to a great extent realised.
: An hydraulic press may be fixed in a line with each trunnion block
to check recoil and to run the gun in and out; or a similar press or
presses may be fixed on the elevating table to control the motion of a
the gun.
A press may also be used to lift and lower the elevating table; and in
order to prevent any alteration of the elevation by leakage of the press.

page_text: during aiming I may use a rigid support under the table, such as a
lifting screw, which may be set to any elevation by an indicator or
otherwise prior to the table being lowered on to it by the action of the
press.
It is not essential to give the gun breech preponderance, as instead
of merely resting on the rear table it may run on it between guides.
If it is required to change the vertical angle of the gun considerably
when it is back (as for instance to depress the gun for loading when
back), the rear pivot of the elevating table may be so arranged that
it can be raised by a press or otherwise to change its position vertically.
To confine the motion of the gun to a vertical plane parallel to that
of the slide beams, notwithstanding any tendency to lateral deviation
from difference of friction of the two trunnion blocks or other causes,
vertical rubbing pieces may be fixed on, the breech or other convenient
part of the gun to act against the inner surface of the slide beams and
form guides.
The elevating table may be curved in the direction of its length so
that the motion of rotation of the gun in its trunnion bearings during
recoil may be communicated to it more gradually than it would be were
a plane table employed.
On Sheet No. 1, Figures 1 and 2 shew a sectional elevation and plan
of the apparatus described as arranged for a pair of guns to be mounted
in a revolving turret.
a, a, are the guided motion blocks sliding upon the beams b, b, forming
the slide; c is a table or beam hinged horizontally at c¹ and supported at
the front end by a hydraulic press c". The gun is shewn run out and
depressed to loading position, but the dotted lines indicate its position
when run in after the table c has been lowered to give the gun extreme
elevation and shew how in coming back the breech must mount the
inclined table and restore the gun to a horizontal position; (d) is the
elevating screw stop which may be raised or lowered easily by hand,
while the weight of the breech is temporarily borne on the press Cч.
A dial and hand put in connection with the screw by means of toothed
wheel gear or otherwise, and marked off in divisions corresponding with
degrees of elevation of the gun, acts as a guide for the setting of this
screw, and when it is set the table is lowered upon it, the breech

page_text: of the gun falling with it and thus being set to the desired angle of
elevation.
Figures 1 and 2, Sheet 3, shew sections across the slide beams, and
the mode in which the guide pieces may be put on the gun to confine
its rotation about the trunnions to one vertical plane and so ensure the
equal and uniform motion of the motion blocks a, a. It also shews
how the saddle (e) by which the breech is supported on the elevating
table c, may be guided on it so as not to quit it even if the gun be
made without preponderance.
Sheet 2 shews the elevating table curved to lessen the shock upon
it when the gun is fired with elevation. It also shews one method
of arranging the rear pivot so that it may be raised by a press between
guides, if desired to depress the gun so as to load when the gun is run
in in the manner indicated in previous Patents.
Figures 3 and 4, Sheet 3, shew by elevation and section how in place
of using a recoil and running in and out press behind each trunnion, I
apply a single press on the elevating table c so as to answer the same
purpose. This plan has the advantage of keeping the mechanism below
the level of a turret glacis or parapet of an earthwork, and consequently
under cover. With the same view I may also lower the trunnion
bearings and the surface of the beams on which they slide, as indicated
on the same sheet by Figure 5; Figure 6 shews an alternative method
of employing the recoil press by attaching it so as to oscillate about a
a fixed pivot on the turret floor or slide and fixing the head of the piston
rod to the saddle which runs on the elevating table c, or to the gun
under the breech.
The recoil and running in and out presses are constructed in the
manner described in the Specification of my Patent dated the 27th day of
March 1873, No. 1149. I may also mount the gun on a single trunnion
bearing beneath it, as shewn by section Figure (5), Sheet III., in the
same manner as the old carronades, and then I may bring a pair of guns
closer together when worked side by side in a turret than would be
otherwise possible. In that or in any case I may also in place of using
a single elevating table c under the middle divide it and place one on
each side of the gun.
It will be obvious without special description or Drawings that the
whole of the arrangements described may be equally well applied to the.

page_text: mounting of a gun on any revolving platform or in a gun-boat of the
Staunch class, or any other position by sea or land...
The section Figure 2, Sheet 1, shews the path by which a shot, if
fired prematurely in loading, could escape without doing serious injury.
The loading gear is covered by a step in the deck armour sloped off
at the back so as to form a glacis in front of the turret. The charge
is passed into the gun through a hole in the step at 9 closed by a
stopper f..
In the inclined face of the armour opposite the hole g is an oblong
cut in the armour closed by a thin plate sufficient to form the deck and
keep out waves, but which would not resist the passage out of a
shot in the case supposed of a shot being fired prematurely. A stopper f
to close the hole is shewn in front view at Figure 3. It is moved off to
one side on a swivel by a balanced lever f¹ when required, and when
closed enters a groove as shewn which fixes it sufficiently firmly, not only
to keep out water but to allow of the gun being fired immediately over
the loading position at point blank range. When the gun is not in use
the stopper may be further secured by a cross bar and screw within, as
shewn in the section, Figure 2.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim,-
1. Mounting ordnance in such manner that the gun is supported on
two distinct surfaces on which it is able to slide, such surfaces being so
inclined to one another that the gun in the act of moving along them
(as from the firing to the loading position) is caused to incline about
its trunnions or to alter its vertical angle, substantially as described.
2. Mounting ordnance upon two distinct supporting surfaces arranged
so that their relative position may be altered for the purpose of inclining
the gun about its trunnions to give the requisite elevation for the aim,
substantially as described.
3. Mounting ordnance on two distinct supporting surfaces of which
one has a curvilinear form, for the purpose of more gradually inclining
the gun about its trunnions, or altering its vertical angle during recoil,
substantially as described.

page_text: 4. The general arrangements for mounting ordnance substantially as
described and shewn in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.