AUTOMATIC SIGHTS FOR TURRET GUNS
Year: 1885

page_text: We ANDREW NOBLE of The Elswick Works in Newcastle upon Tyne Companion
of the Bath and CHARLES HENRY MURRAY of the same place Engineer do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for AUTOMATIC SIGHTS FOR TURRET GUNS,
to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object automatic sights for Turret Guns.
With these sights the object sought is to enable a person having to lay the gun,
to do so from a more convenient or less exposed position than he would have to
occupy if the sights were affixed to the gun as is the usual practice in guns
mounted on the broadside of a vessel, and at the same time to have as great
accuracy and convenience as would belong to sights fixed to the gun.
The sights placed in a convenient position are connected with the gun by
intermediate gearing.
For a single gun the following arrangement is suitable:-The gun being mounted
on a slide is elevated and depressed by revolving the slide about its pivot.
A toothed arc is fixed below the slide which gears into a pinion and this transmits
motion through a shaft to another pinion attached to the other end of the shaft.
The latter pinion gears into a vertical rack which is affixed to a bar or pillar
carrying the rear sight at its upper end.
An intermediate wheel is introduced to reverse the motion when it is incon-
venient to have the toothed arc and the rack on the same side of the axis.
These sights are provided in duplicate one set on either side of the gun.
If the distance from the pivot to the pitch line of the toothed arc differs from
the distance between the sights multiplying or reducing power is provided in the
gear train. The same system of sighting applies to the case of two guns and here
the further object sought is to have at either look-out turret a sight for each gun
so that the person having to sight the guns may sight one first and then the other
without changing his position, or he may have an assistant in the other lookout
turret whose duty it is to observe the movement of the master sight, and place his
sight in the corresponding position. That the assistant had done so or not, would
be seen by the first person in his own look-out turret.
Under these circumstances the secondary sight may be considered to be only an
indicator of the position of the gun and need not therefore be completely fitted up,

page_text: were it not that if made complete then either station may be selected for the lealing
position and damage done to a sight by its being struck with small shot would be
of less consequence from the fact that the other can be fallen back upon.
The guns are mounted on slides in the manner previously described and also in
a similar way the sights are driven from toothed axes attached to the under side
of the slides.
A pair of shafts run across under the slides, one of them is a hollow shaft and
contains the other within it. The hollow shaft has a pinion upon it gearing with
the toothed are on the slide of say the right hand gun and other pinions directly
operating the sight racks.
.
The toothed are on the slide of the left hand gun gears with a pinion on a sleeve
through which the hollow shaft passes and this by a countershaft and gear wheels
transmits the movement to the inner shaft of the pair. This latter has upon it at
the one end a spur wheel operating directly one of the sight racks for the left
hand gun and at the other end a spur wheel which through a counter-shaft and
intermediate gear wheels operates the other sight rack. The pinion gearing with
sight rack is on a sleeve through which the hollow shaft passes.
By this arrangement it will be seen that in each sighting position the sight
belonging to the right hand gun is on the right hand side and for the left hand
gun on the left hand side.
Where the guns are mounted in a turret and it is possible to select a look-out
Station between them and well forward, a much simpler modification of these
sights may be arranged,
Here the motion of the right sight is then obtained by fixing two arcs to the
gun slide on the top side.
:
1..
In each case the arc gears into a pinion which by means of the short shaft
drives a wheel gearing into a vertical pillar or rod which carries at its upper end
the rear sight.
.:
If thought desirable a telescope may be carried between the rear and fore sight.
This would enable a very accurate sight to be taken.
Dated this 6th day of Januari 1885

page_text: We, ANDREW NOBLE of The Elswick Works in Newcastle-upon-Tyne Companion
of the Bath, and CHARLES HENRY MURRAY of the same place Engineer 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 has for its object automatic sights for turret guns.
With these sights the object sought is to enable a person having to lay the gun,
to do so from a more convenient or less exposed position than he would have to
occupy if the sights were affixed to the gun as is the usual practice in guns mounted
on the broadside of a vessel, and at the same time to have as great accuracy and
convenience as would belong to sights fixed to the gun.
The sights placed in a convenient position are connected with the gun by
intermediate gearing.
For a single gun the following arrangement is suitable:-The gun being mounted
on a slide is elevated and depressed by revolving the slide about its pivot.
A toothed arc is fixed below the slide which.gears into a pinion and this transmits
motion through a shaft to another pinion attached to the other end of the shaft.
The latter pinion gears into a vertical rack which is affixed to a bar or pillar
carrying the rear sight at its upper end.
An intermediate wheel is introduced to reverse the motion when it is incon-
venient to have the toothed arc and the rack on the same side of the axis.
These sights are provided in duplicate one set on either side of the gun.
If the distance from the pivot to the pitch line of the toothed arc differs from
the distance between the sights multiplying or reducing power is provided in the
gear train. The same system of sighting applies to the case of two guns and here
the further object sought is to have at either look out turret a sight for each gun,
so that the person having to sight the guns may sight one first, and then the other,
without changing his position, or he may have an assistant in the other look out
turret whose duty it is to observe the movement of the master sight, and place his
sight in the corresponding position. That the assistant had done so or not, would
be seen by the first person in his own look-out turret.
Under these circumstances the secondary sight may be considered to be only an
indicator of the position of the gun and need not therefore be completely fitted up,
were it not that if made complete then either station may be selected for the
leading position and damage done to a sight by its being struck with small shot
would be of less consequence from the fact that the other can be fallen back upon.
The guns are mounted on slides in the manner previously described and also
in a similar way the sights are driven from toothed arcs attached to the under side
of the slides.
A pair of shafts run across under the slides, one of them is a hollow shaft and
contains the other within it. The hollow shaft has a pinion upon it gearing with
the toothed arc on the slide of say the right hand gun and other pinions directly
operating the sight racks,

page_text: Figure 1 is an elevation partly in section showing our invention applied to a
gun on a slide carried on a turntable and tiring over a parapet. Figure 2 is a plan
of part of the turntable slide and other parts. Figure 3 is a transverse vertical
section of the same."
A is the gun
B is the slide along which the gun with its carriage recoils. C is
the pivot carried upon the turntable about which the slide moves to elevate and
depress the muzzle of the gun. D is a toothed rack attached to the slide concentric
with the pivot. E is a pinion on an horizontal axis with which this rack gears
G is another pinion on the same axis with the pinion E it drives an intermediate L
which engages with a vertical rack H. On the upper end of the rack H there is a
fixture J carrying the back sight K.
The apparatus is duplicated on the other side of the gun.
As already stated the rack D may when space allows be on the other side of its
pinion and an intermediate L will not then be required. The distance between the
fore and back sight may be varied without altering the distance of the rack D from
the pivot the intermediate gear only being changed.
If the line of aim were always horizontal it would not matter at all about the
distance between the front and rear sights, as may be seen in the case represented
in these figures whero the gun is at 12 degrees of elevation and the line of aim is
horizontal, it is here clear that the fore sight may be moved away from or up to
the rear sight without disturbing the aim.
As however the line of sight or aim is sometimes required to be slightly inclined
to the horizontal it is desirable, to keep the gear so that the angular movement of
the sights is true to the angular movement of the gun.
In the arrangement here shown the sights have been brought as far forward as
possible and are kept very low in order that a more extended range of view may
be bad under the gun than would otherwise be possible.
It should be stated that the handles by which the elevation of the gun is changed
are brought close up to the sights, so that the gun may be moved while the aim is
being taken over the sights. It is therefore unnecessary to observe the position
taken up by the gun, as the sight is an index of this.

page_text: Figures 4. 5. and 6 are figures similar to the preceding, they show the applica-
tion of our invention to a pair of guns on slides carried by a turn table.
The guns here shown are mounted on carriages and slides like the gun shown in
the previous figures and in a similar way the sights are driven from a toothed arc
attached to the under side of the slide.
A pair of shafts A and B run across under the slide. A is a hollow shaft having
the shaft B within it.
The shaft A has keyed to it the pinion C which gears into the arc on the right
hand slide.
This shaft works the sight of the right hand gun in each of the look out positions,
at its extreme ends are attached the pinions D and E which gear into the upright
rack carrying the sighting pillars.
The sights of the left hand gun are driven from the pinion F which by a short
hollow shaft is attached to the pinion G. G gears into H which by a countershaft
is attached to K and K gears into L attached to the main shaft B. The upright
rack carrying the sight pillar on the left side gears also into L. To drive the sight
on the right side the shaft B has attached to it the pinion ML. M drives N and by
the countershaft O, it drives P. P gears into Q which is also geared into the
vertical rack carrying the sight pillar on the right hand side.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of a turret in which two guns are mounted.
The look out station in this case is between and above the guns.
On each gun slide an arc A is fixed it gears with a pinion B on a short shaft D
which also carries the pinion C; this pinion gears with rack teeth on the vertical
pillar E and this carries the back sight F. The sights may support a telescope G.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that
what we claim is
1. Automatic sights for turret guns in which the fore sight is fixed and the rear
sight is geared with the gun slide.
2. Automatic sights for turret guns in which each gun is provided with two
sights connected by gear with the gun so as to be elevated and depressed with it
although not recoiling with the gun.
3. Automatic sights for turret guns in which sights for two guns are placed
together side by side and are actuated by gear so that whilst the sights do not
recoil each is elevated and depressed with its gun.
4. Automatic sights for turret guns substantially as described and represented
by the annexed drawings.