IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUNS AND GUN CARRIAGES.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Paul Edmund Wettin Bassée, of White Horse.
Street, Portsmouth, in the County of Hants, for the Invention of
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUNS AND GUN CARRIAGES.
PROVISIONAL. SPECIFICATION left by the said Paul Edmund Wettin
Bassée at the Office, of the, Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 24th November. 1873...
I, PAUL EDMUND WETTIN BASSÉE, of White Horse Street,. Ports..
mouth, in the County of Hants, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF: GUNS. AND GUN
CARRIAGES," to be as follows: --
:
This Invention consists in constructing a duplex gun,, which from the
recoil produced, by the discharge of one of the said guns will bring the
other gun ready loaded into the line of fire..
.
The manner by which I propose to accomplish the above object is
illustrated in the accompanying Sheet of Drawing, in which similar
letters, of reference denote corresponding parts in each Figure:

page_text: Figure 1 represents a plan, and Figure 2 an elevation of the improved
gun and gun carriage.
A is a metallic sphere, into which two guns B, B', are bored and rifled,
the openings of these guns being in opposite directions to each other. A
breech-loading apparatus may be applied to each of these guns. C, C¹,
are small holes bored right through the sphere, the object of which is to
sight the guns; D, D¹, are the touch holes. The sphere A revolves on
two trunions E, E', working in supporters F, F. In the trunions E, E¹,
small holes G are bored, opposite to which two spindles H, H¹, are
placed, so that by thrusting the said spindles into two corresponding
holes in the trunions E, E¹, the sphere will be held in a fixed position.
The two supporters F, F", are attached to a movable disc K placed
inside a fixed disc L, into which grooves are made. In the said grooves
cannon balls M are inserted, and the movable disc K rests on the said
cannon balls, the object of which is to insure an easy rolling surface to
the disc K. Two chains or ropes N, N¹, are attached in diametrically
opposite positions to each other to the trunions E, E¹; the other end of
these chains or ropes N, N¹, are made fast to rings or fixed points O, O¹,
situated outside the gun carriage; but if necessary the said chains or
ropes may be fixed to the disc K. The length of the chains or ropes
N, N¹, is regulated in such a manner that they will only allow the sphere
to make but one half of a revolution. On the disc K are placed sockets
provided with spindles P. Springs Q, Q', having holes in the centre of
them, are situated in diametrically opposite positions to each other. The
object of the said holes is that when one of the spindles P comes
over them they will drop therein and prevent further motion of the
movable disc K. Supposing now that one of the guns B is loaded and
placed in the line of fire, as shown in Figure 2, the other gun B' will be
underneath it, and in a position to be loaded. This being done the
gun B is fired off; the recoil produced by this will give a rotating
motion to the sphere, the said motion being stopped by the chains or
ropes N, N¹, when the said sphere has made half a revolution. The
remainder of the recoil will be taken up by the movable disc K and the
springs Q, Q. When the motion given to the said disc will have brought
two of the spindles P over the hole provided in the springs Q, Q',
these spindles will drop therein, and the motion of the disc K stopped.

page_text: The rotation of the sphere will bring the other gun B' in the line of fire
ready to be fired, and the other gun B in position to be loaded.
It will be obvious that owing to the spherical shape of the duplex
gun, and its facility of revolving on the trunions, all shots coming from
an opponent will glide off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Paul Edmund Wettin Bassée in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 23rd May 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, PAUL
EDMUND WETTIN BASSÉE, of White Horse Street, Portsmouth, in the
County of Hants, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth 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 Paul Edmund Wettin Bassée, Her
special licence that I, the said Paul Edmund Wettin Bassée, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Paul Edmund
Wettin Bassée, 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, usc, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUNS and Gun CarriaGES,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that. I, the said Paul Edmund Wettin
Bassée, 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.

page_text: When the duplex gun is used for shelling purposes the brake Q.is
taken off, and the elevation of the gun B in the line of fire is given by
means of the chains N,.N¹, and the gun is fired; the recoil will give a
rotary motion to the sphere A, and bring the second gun B, which
has been previously loaded, in line of fire. When firing at moving

page_text: objects the brake Q is used, and the angle on the horizon given to the
gun in line of fire by means of the rotary circular base K of the gun
carriage. The recoil in this case will not cause the metallic sphere to
rotate, but will make the table G slide back against the buffers R, R¹,
which will stop it. To bring the second gun in line of fire the brake Q
is taken off, and a rotary motion given to the sphere by means of the
chains N, N'.
Figure 3 is an elevation, and Figure 4 a plan of the duplex gun as
applied to naval purposes, in which case the whole of the sphere does
not rotate when one of the guns is fired, but the rotating part is
composed of a segment A of a sphere, into which the guns B, B¹, are
bored or placed; this segment A rests by means of the trunions C, C¹³,
in supports D, D¹, of the gun carriage E, which rests on rollers or
cannon balls e. The parts F, F', in combination with the rotating
segment A. form a dome which constitutes the exposed part of the gun
and gun carriage over the deck G. The elevation and angle on the
horizon is given to the guns by means of the chains H, H¹, brake K, and
rotating carriage E.
The above described gun may be used for field as well as for battery
and naval purposes, in which case the sphere containing the two guns is
placed in a suitable carriage resting on wheels.
"
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention for
Improvements in the Construction of Guns and Gun Carriages," and
the means whereby it may be carried into practical effect, I would
remark in conclusion that I do not intend to limit or confine myself to
the precise details above described and represented, but what I claim as
my Invention and desire to secure by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the construction of a duplex gun and gun carriages,
substantially as described and represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Paul Edmund Wettin Bassée, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four
PAUL EDMUND WETTIN BASSÉE. (L.S.)