Improvements in Gun-mountings.
Year: 1892

page_text: ate of Application, 11th May, 1892-Accepted, 11th June, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by DIE ACTIEN-GESELLSCHAFT GRUSONWERK,
of Magdeburg-Buckau, in the Empire of Germany.]
Improvements in Gun-mountings.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My invention relates to improvements in rotatable cupolas, turrets, or other
rotatable mountings for ordnance.
The object of my said invention is to increase the stability of armour-plated
pivotal turrets or cupolas or other rotatable mountings of the kind in which the
training of the gun is effected by turning the mounting upon a central pivot, and
to effect the increase of stability without diminishing the easy mobility by which
mountings of this class are distinguished from those arranged to move upon a
roller-path.
According to this invention I use in lieu of the single central pivot heretofore
employed two pivots, each of which has its separate function.
In certain arrangements hitherto employed the turning movement of a cupola or
turret for example took place upon a flat bearing fixed to the armoured dome,
which enabled the said dome to be tilted so as to bear against the glacis when the
gun was fired and to assume an upright position upon the said bearing immediately
after the absorption of the recoil.
This arrangement rendered the successful design of the turret or cupola a matter
of considerable difficulty, for the centre of gravity of the system had to be
vertically above the pivot.
Moreover for a gun of great weight, a pivot of a very large diameter was
necessitated, whereby the friction during the turning of the dome became con-
siderable, so that the system would have no advantage over a mounting provided
with a roller path.
This defect is obviated by the present invention, inasmuch as it distributes the
functions of tilting and turning between two pivots.
In order that my said invention'may be clearly understood I will now proceed
to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings in which,
Figure 1 is a vertical central section of an improved cupola constructed according
to my invention,
Figure 2 is a vertical central section of an alternative form of cupola, also
constructed according to my invention,
Figure 3 is an elevation at right angles to Figure 2, of the brake mechanism
shown in that figure,
Figure 4 is a vertical central section of the alternative form of the tilting pivot
shown in Figure 2, and
Figure 5 is a plan of a portion of Figure 4 and is hereinafter more particularly
described.
Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.
In Figure 1, the column A rests at its lower end upon one arm of the lever B,
from the other arm of which the counterweight C is suspended. D is the
armoured dome, which, when the counterweight is in its highest position bears
upon the glacis E; whereas when the said counterweight occupies its lowest
position as shown in the drawing, the dome is above the glacis and the
embrasure F is revealed, so that the gun G can be run out. His a hand wheel

page_text: which by means of bevel wheels, and a vertical shaft J and the pinion J' secured
to the lower end of the said shaft, engages with a toothed wheel L, secured to
M is
the upper end of the column A which is so arranged that it cannot turn.
a pivot the base O of which in the present example is circular, but which may
be of any other suitable shape, and is of considerably greater diameter than the
body M. The said base is supported upon the head of the column A and
prevented from turning by the feather P which enters a recess in the base O
of the pin M, and a similar recess in the head of the column A. When the gun
is fired the cupola is tilted upon the rear edge a of the base O, and the latter
rises slightly from the feather P, but, as the mounting assumes the upright
position the said feather compels it to move back again exactly into its former
position.
If the cupola is struck by a projectile it is tilted in a similar manner.
The rotation of the cupola takes place upon the upper surface of the pivot M.
The said pivot, prior to the firing, is rigidly locked to the rotary portion K of the
turret and the dome D, by means of a brake lever N¹ carried by the turret and
operating a suitable brake which bears upon the pivot pin M.
In Figure 2 to which, with Figures 3, 4 and 5, reference will now be made, a
cupola is shown in which the embrasure is always uncovered, and accordingly
the dome D need only be raised when the gun is to be trained or traversed,
and then only to such an extent that its bevelled edge will no longer touch the
glacis E.
In this example, when the gun is fired or when a shot hits the cupola the part K
of the carriage tilts around the edge of the pivot O, and the feather P ensures
its return movement to its original position. The turning pivot M is at the lower
end of the column A, which in this case is arranged to rotate and turns in the
footstep b. The operation of raising and lowering the gun-carriage and dome is
effected by raising and lowering the pivot O, which for this purpose is screw-
threaded to engage with the upper end of the spindle A. which also is screw-
threaded as shown.
Qis a cone, the upper end of which carries a disc Q. R is a brake band, the
ends of which are connected by a spindle N provided with right hand and left-hand
threads and with a lever N. Between the ends of the band R the forked end of
an arm S, extending from the pivot O, embraces loosely the spindle N in such a
manner that the said arm may move vertically relatively to the spindle when the
pivot is raised or lowered. The brake is applied to grip the said disc by
turning the lever N. The rotary column A is provided with a bevel wheel L,
which can be turned by the hand wheel H by means of intermediary shafting and
toothed wheels. When the brake-band is tightened, the pivot O may be raised or
lowered but cannot be turned, and when the brake-band is slackened after the dome
is sufficiently raised, the pivot may be turned but can no longer be raised or
lowered, as is hereinafter more fully explained.
This arrangement permits the operating mechanism to be very much simplified,
and the working of the gun greatly facilitated as the raising, lowering and turning
of the mounting can all be effected by a very simple operation which will now be
described
--
If the dome D bears firmly upon the glacis E, a turning movement of the
column A in the direction of the arrow in Figure 2 will not be possible, because
the friction between the dome and the glacis is too great to permit the rotation of
the carriage K, whilst the latter in turn prevents by the feather P the turning
of the pivot O. This pivot would however allow the column to turn in the
direction of the arrow if the said pivot O could descend, but descent of the pivot
is prevented by the arm S which bears upon the top of the disc Q
If, however, the column A is turned in the opposite direction by means of the
hand wheel H, the carriage K is not at first rotated because the dome bears upon
the glacis as aforesaid, and therefore the pivot O is screwed upwards by the
turning of the column A, but, as soon as the pivot O by lifting the carriage K and

page_text: the dome D raises the edge of the latter from the glacis the spindle A and the
carriage and dome will all turn together. At this moment the turning movement
of the hand wheel H may also be changed and a turning movement of the carriage
may take place in the direction of the arrow. If the dome is required to be
lowered again, it is only necessary to prevent the carriage from rotating by
operating the brake lever N', and to turn the column A again in the direction of
the arrow (Figure 2) by means of the hand wheel H, whereupon the said column
screws the pivot O downwards until the dome D rests tightly upon the glacis.
The advantage of this arrangement of screwed column and pivot and the said
operating gear is that one and the same device is used for raising and lowering the
cupola and training or traversing the gun. Further, hitherto in the majority of
instances in which separate devices have been employed for the raising and
lowering of the cupola and for the turning of the same, no indication has been
afforded as to the height to which the armoured dome or cover had to be raised in
order to enable rotation of the cupola or turret to be effected, and therefore it was
generally raised too high, whereas, in the improved arrangement herein described,
in which the turning pivot is separate from the other pivot about which the tilting
occurs, the height is regulated automatically, as set forth.
Moreover, when separate pivots are used, as hereinbefore described, the pivot
about which the tilting occurs may be made of any desired diameter without
diminishing the ease with which the cupola, turret, or other mounting may be
rotated; and by the use of the feather P the mounting is compelled to return each
time after recoil exactly to its former position. This latter feature is very
important, as in former armour-plated gun-carriages with a combined turning and
tilting pivot there was a tendency to alter the horizontal direction of the gun
during firing or during the return of the gun to its position of equilibrium.
The above described examples have shown the application of the invention to
cupolas in which the gun has no recoil in the carriage. If however it is preferred
to allow the gun a slight recoil in the carriage in order that the parts may be
under as little stress as possible the application of the invention would be substan-
tially the same but the amount of the tilting would be diminished.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to me by
iny foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a mounting for ordnance the provision of two pivots or bearings, upon one
of which the mounting rotates, and upon the other of which it tilts, for the purpose
specified.
2. In a rotatable mounting for ordnance the combination with a pivot upon which
the mounting may tilt, of a column which may be rotated, the pivot and the column
being screw-threaded to engage with each other, substantially as hereinbefore
described, and for the purposes specified.
3. The improved gun-mounting, substantially as hereinbefore described with
reference to Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.
4. The improved gun-mounting substantially as hereinbefore described with
reference to Figures 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 10th love of Mo 1900
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.