AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING AND Working Guns, aPPLICABLE TO TURRETS, FORTS, SHIELDS, OR OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES, AND IN THE CARRIAGES USED IN CONNECTION THERE WITH
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Longsdon, of Queen Victoria Street, in
the City of London, Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF ATTACHING AND Working Guns, aPPLICABLE TO TURRETS, FORTS,
SHIELDS, OR OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES, AND IN THE CARRIAGES USED IN
CONNECTION THERE WITH."-A communication from abroad by Alfred
Krupp, of Essen, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Cast Steel Manu-
facturer.
+
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Longsdon at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th September 1875.
I, ALFRED LONGSDON, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF ATTACHING AND WORKING GUNS, APPLICABLE TO
TURRETS, FORTS, SHIELDS, OR OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES, AND IN THE CARRIAGES
USED IN CONNECTION THEREWITH,'
" communication from Alfred Krupp, of
Essen, in the Kingdom of Prussia, Cast Steel Manufacturer, to be as
follows:-
The numre of this Invention is to prevent entivaly the recoil of the

page_text: In order to effectually close the embrasure there may be placed a
strong shutter, or a ball may be suspended, either of which must
however be withdrawn when the gun is fired.
|`SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Longsdon in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 31st January 1876.
'
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, ALFRED
LONGSDON, of Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London, Engineer, a
communication to him from abroad by Alfred Krupp, of Essen, Rhenish
Prussia, Cast Steel Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of September, in the year'
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Longsdon, Her special license
that I, the said Alfred Longsdon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred Longsdon, 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 "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF ATTACHING AND WORKING GUNS, APPLICABLE TO TURRETS, FORTS,
SHIELDS, OR OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES, AND IN THE CARRIAGES USED IN CON-
NECTION THERE WITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Alfred Longsdon, 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 Alfred Longsdon, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same

page_text: The elevation, depression, or side range of the gun is effected by fitting
the gun into a carriage or frame so constructed that it will admit of
all these motions being communicated to it.
The elevation may be effected by means of mechanical apparatus,
such as screws or racks, worked either by hand or steam power,
or hydraulic or air cylinders may be employed for this purpose, or any
other known system may be used. The horizontal range may be given
by mounting the gun on a carriage that traverses on semicircular rails,
and this carriage can be worked by rack and pinion or any other well
known mechanical means; or the boss at the end of the gun may be
fitted into a frame that is fixed upon a revolving table or platform, and
thus the lateral range may be given to the gun by turning the table
upon its centre; or the boss of the gun may be fitted in the walls of the
turret, and thus the whole may revolve together, the vertical range
being given by any of the mechanical arrangements above alluded to.
The sighting of the gun may be effected cither by parallel sights fixed
to the gun, but rising above the top edge of the shield in which the gun
is fixed, or it may be carried out by reflectors. It will be seen by this
arrangement of fitting the gun in the shield that there is no embrasure
through which-the-enemy's-rifle-fire may be poured, and therefore the
gunners are completely secured from danger, and can work the gun

page_text: In the Drawings hereunto annexed I have shewn a means for carrying
this Invention into effect.
Fig. 1 is a section of a shield or land battery; and Fig. 2, a plan;
and Fig. 3, a front elevation. In this arrangement the gun is held in a
strong iron frame supported upon and revolving with a turntable for the
purpose of giving the requisite horizontal range to the gun. In all
Figures the same letters of reference indicate the same parts.
"
A, A, is the gun, which by preference should be of the breech-loading
type, though a muzzle-loader might be used, but this would require that
the gun should be turned so far round that the gunners could serve the
gun without being themselves exposed to the enemy's fire. This
arrangement however would be inconvenient, and consume considerable
time, and therefore the gun is shewn as constructed upon the breech-
loading system. B is the boss or retaining sphere, which is formed
upon the end of the gun in one piece with it, or it may be formed
separately, and secured to the muzzle of the gun by screwing it on or
otherwise mechanically attaching it thereto. This boss B fits accurately
into a strong iron or steel socket C, which forms a part of a massive
shield D, D. This shield D is bedded into the upper frame of a turntable
or revolving platform E, which is free to turn round a circular hollow
centre F and upon the conical antifriction rollers a, a. b, b, are guide
rollers for facilitating the turning of the table; G is an arrangement of
gearing for working the table E when it is desired to adapt the gun
the required horizontal range; H is a frame in which the breech end of
the gun is supported by the trunnions ċ, c; these trunnions repose in
sockets, which are free to slide up and down in guides on the inside of
the frame H when acted upon by a rack and pinion arrangement, or by
means of steam, hydraulic, or pneumatic power. By this means the
vertical elevation is given to the gun. I is a strong outer shield for the
protection of the gun and apparatus connected therewith, and having
the embrasure K, through which the gun is fired.
to
And having now described the nature of this Invention, as commu-
nicated to me, and the manner in which the same may be carried into
effect, I declare that I claim,—
Firstly. Forming upon or attaching to the muzzle end of ordnance a
boss or portion of a sphere held by and fitting and working in a corres-
ponding socket formed in a shield armour plated or other fixed or
.

page_text: moveable protecting structure, whereby, all recoil of the piece of ordnance
so fitted is prevented in the manner substantially set forth in this
Specification and in the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Secondly. Constructing ordnance with partially spherical formation
at or near the muzzle, held and fulcrummed in a corresponding socket
in combination with frames and turntable or equivalent device, and
with steam, hydraulic, or other power, and elevating screw or other
known method for obtaining the vertical range of the gun, substantially
as described and shewn.
.