IMPROVEMENTS IN MOUNTING AND SERVING GUNS USED UPON VESSELS AND FORTIFICATIONS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Radley, of Saint Helen's, in the County of
Lancaster, Coal Proprietor, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MOUNTING AND SERVING GUNS USED UPON VESSELS AND FORTIFICATIONS."
Sealed the 24th June 1864, and dated the 31st December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Radley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st December 1868.
I, JAMES RADLEY, of Saint Helen's, in the County of Lancaster, Coal
Proprietor, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MOUNTING AND SERVING GUNS USED UPON VESSELS AND FORTIFICATIONS,"
to be as follows:-
For vessels, I construct a telescopic cupola or chamber to contain one or
more guns, as may be found most convenient. This chamber is made to
ascend from the second deck to the upper one through an aperture by
bydraulic or other suitable power, for the purpose of firing, and to descend
after being fired to be cleaned and reloaded; when it has descended and
is at rest, the top part is level with the floor of the upper or main deck, the
aperture being thus closed, by which arrangement the man in charge of the
guns are not exposed to the enemy's fire, there being no port-holes required in
the sides of the vessel. This cupola or chamber, as well as being telescopic
or sliding, is made to revolve by any suitable mechanical contrivance, so that
when it is raised to the upper deck the range of horizontal fiting is obtained

page_text: by the revolving motion of the chamber or cupola, and the elevation by the
usual means. The said motion or motions may be adopted either before or after
the chamber rises, or during the process of rising; or if found desirable,
instead of the cupola or chamber I raise the guns to the upper deck on a
disc only.
For fortifications or land defences I use the same process and apparatus.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Radley in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
RADLEY, of Saint Helen's, in the County of Lancaster, Coal Proprietor, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Radley, Her special license that I, the
said James Radley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said James Radley, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MOUNTING AND SERVING GUNS USED UPON VESSELS AND FORTIFICATIONS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Radley, 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 James Radley, 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 (that is to say) :-

page_text: For vessels, I construct a telescopic cupola or chamber to contain one or
more guns, as may be found most convenient. This cupola is made to ascend
from the second deck to the upper one by hydraulic or other suitable power,
for the purpose of firing, and to descend after the firing to enable the gun or
guns to be cleaned and reloaded, and when the cupola has descended and
is at rest the top part is level with the floor of the upper or main deck,
so as to close the aperture through which the cupola passes up and down, by
which arrangement the men in charge are not exposed to the enemy's fire
during the process of cleaning and loading, there being no port holes in the
side of the vessel. This cupola or chamber, as well as being telescopic or
sliding, is made to revolve by any suitable mechanical contrivance, so that
when it is raised to the upper deck the range of horizontal firing is obtained
by the revolving motion of the cupola, and the elevation by the usual means,
the said motions being performed either before or after the cupola has been
raised or during the process of rising. When desired I dispense with the
cupola or chamber, and place the guns on a disc or platform, which is raised to
the upper deck, and afterwards lowered in the same manner as the cupola, the
disc or platform having also revolving motion imparted to it when required.
For fortifications or land defences I place the guns in cupolas, or on discs
or platforms raised up and down (as herein-before described for ships and
vessels), and thus dispense with port-holes and embrasures.
This Invention will be clearly understood by referring to the figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, in which Figs. 1 and 2 are
transverse sections of part of a vessel provided with a disc, cupola, or chamber,
and Figs. 3 and 4 are transverse sections of part of a fortification provided
with a similar disc, cupola, or chamber.
In Figs. 1 and 2, a represents the sides of the vessel; b, the upper deck;
c, the second deck; d, the sides and top of the cupola; and e, the disc or table
to which the cupola is fixed, and on which the gun or guns are placed, which
disc or table may be used without the cupola when desired. The said
disc is shewn in Fig. 1 to be resting on the second deck, and in Fig. 2 to be
level with the upper deck.
In Figs. 3 and 4, f represents the disc or table on which the gun or guns
are placed; 9, the shield at the front; and h, the cavity in which the disc
moves up and down, the disc being in its lowest position in Fig. 3 and in its
highest in Fig. 4. And the system of raising and lowering a disc, cupola, or
chamber, or any other carriage carrying guns by bydraulic or other mechanical
power is the main feature of my Invention. The bottom of the disc or other
gun.carriage is connected to the top of the ram of an hydraulic press or an

page_text: upright shaft similar thereto, to be worked by hydraulic or other suitable
power, so that it can be raised and lowered as required, and when revolving
motion has to be imparted to it I fix upon it a toothed wheel k, Figs. 1 and 2,
gearing into a pinion on the shaft m, which is turned by hand or power, so
as to turn the disc or cupola to any required position. The cupola may
contain the guns and carriages only, the cleaning and loading being performed
through a port-hole in the cupola. Thus when the covered or uncovered disc
is in its lowest position, as in Figs. 1 and 3, the guns can be cleaned and
reloaded with safety to the men, and when the disc is in its elevated position,
as in Figs. 2 and 4, the guns can be fired.
Having now described the nature and particulars of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, I desire it to be understood
that. I claim in vessels, and fortifications the use of bydraulic or other
mechanical power for raising and lowering a disc, cupola, chamber, or other
suitable carriage, upon which one or more guns are mounted for the purpose of
firing and reloading, as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Radley, have hercunto set my
band and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
. . One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Signed, sealed, and delivered by the
within-named James Radley, in the
presence of
E. J. HUGHES,
JAMES RADLEY. (L.S.)
Patent Agent,
Manchester.