Improvements in Mountings for Rapid Firing or other Guns.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Feb., 1887.
Specification Accepted, 22nd Mar., 1887.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Mountings for Rapid Firing or other Guns.
I, ALFRED CHRISTOPHER KOERNER engineer of 21 rue Royale, Paris, France, 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:
This invention rclates more particularly to a short recoil mounting for rapid firing and
other guns suitable for being set up in extremely limited situations and where great
facility in pointing and manoeuvering the gun is required; this desideratum particularly
applies to guns mounted on the port sills of embrasures of armored and other forts;
but the invention may also be employed when the guns are mounted on the decks of
vessels or in other positions where a slight recoil must be allowed to relieve the strains
on the platform: The mount herein described is arranged for the Hotchkiss rapid
firing gun, but can by slight modifications be adapted to any other system of ordnance.
In the annexed drawings, fig. 1 shows the mount in elevation, with some parts in
section; Fig. II shows the same in plan; Fig. III is a vertical section of the same
taken through the axis of the trunnions of the gun and Fig. IV shows a modified form
of shoulder piece. In all the drawings the invention is shown as arranged for mounting
a Hotchkiss Rapid Firing gun in the embrasure of an iron clad fort.
For mounting an embrasure the bed plate 1, consists of a single steel or other forging,
which is rigidly fastened to the port-sill by the bolts 2 and the wedges 3; for other
positions this bed plate may be replaced by a cone of steel plate, or other form of
pedestal. The socket 4 is a single bronze or other casting, which rests in a recess
in the upper part of the bed plate, and is rigidly attached to the latter by the
bolts 5. A hole of suitable form passing vertically through the socket receives the
pivot 6 which consists in a single Ỷ shaped casting of bronze or other material, and
supports the gun and the recoil checking device, as well as the pointing apparatus. The
pivot is fitted in the socket, in which it can freely turn, and its lower extremity finds
a bearing in a recess formed in the bed plate 1. A collar 8 is screwed and keyed to
the lower part of the pivot; it turns freely in a recess formed in the lower part of the
socket, but prevents the pivot from being lifted from its bearings. Each of the arms
of the pivot is slotted to receive a trunnion box 9, consisting in a single steel forging
ת'

page_text: or casting. To each trunnion box is forged or attached a piston rod 10, and a guide
rod 11. Suitable covers 6* bolted or otherwise connected to the pivot arms keep these
parts in place. Each trunnion box is fitted with a capsquare as shown. At the
extremity of each guide rod 11 is a stout nut 11* to resist the pressure of the springs 15
as hereinafter described. On each piston rod 10 is successively strung or threaded a
cylinder 12, a piston 13, a cylinder cover 14, and a series of springs 15. The piston 13
is a single piece of steel or other material of the shape shown in the drawing, or of
some other convenient form; it is screwed on the piston rod. The cylinder 12 is a
single casting, bored to a diameter slightly larger than that of the piston 13 it may be
filled from above through a hole closed by a screw plug 16. Sometimes I connect the
two cylinders 12. 12 by means of a pipe or other channel in order to equalize the
resistances offered by each. At times I bore the cylinders to the same diameter as that
of the pistons, and provide ports or passages in the latter for the flow of the liquid.
Sometimes I bore the cylinders conically, the greater diameter to the front by which
means an increasing resistance is offered to the flow of the liquid. The cylinder
covers 14 are single castings which screw tightly over the cylinders. At the places
where a piston rod passes through a cylinder, and as the joint between a cylinder and its
cover, I place suitable capped leathers or other packing as shown in black, to prevent
leakage. The cylinders are filled with vaseline or other semi-viscous liquid, but at
times, I fill them with oil, glycerine, or other substances. The springs 15, are of
the well known Belleville pattern, but I sometimes employ spiral involute or other
forms of springs. The nuts 17 are used to put the springs in an initial state of com-
pression, and to transmit to them the strains of recoil.
For laying or pointing the gun, I use a shoulder-piece which consists of a fork-shaped
lever 19 made of bronze or other material, a stock 20, a deflector 21, and an india-
rubber or other buffer 22. This shoulder-piece is connected to the pivot by pins
passing through two sets of lugs 23. At some other point as 24, I connect the shoulder-
piece to the gun by a link 25, which pivots on two pins 24 and 26. By this arrange
ment the gun recoils independently of the shoulder-piece, and no shock is transmitted
to the gunner. When the recoil is so short that it may be taken up by the buffer 22
without discomfort to the gunner, I bolt the shoulder-piece directly to the breech of the
gun as shown in Fig. IV.
I will now explain the action of the arrangement, on the discharge of the gun, it
recoils parallel to itself, the trunnion boxes sliding in the slots in the pivot arms and
being guided by the piston and guide rods. The energy of recoil is absorbed by the
springs in part, and partly in overcoming the resistance to the flow of the liquid in
the cylinders. The energy of recoil once absorbed, the springs return the gun to the
firing position. The resistance to the flow of the liquid in the cylinders causes this
movement to be made gently and without shock.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :
The combination of a Rapid Firing or other gun with the herein described mounting,
whereby it is made possible for one man to point the gun in direction and elevation by
means of a shoulder piece, and to allow the gun a short recoil the whole constructed
and operating substantially as hereinbefore deseribed.
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