Improvements in Gun Mountings and Recoil Gear.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Gun Mountings and Recoil Gear.
We, ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, of Vickers, Sons, & Maxim, Limited, of 28,
Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of London, Superintendent of
Ordnance Works, and JAMES HORNE, of Vickers, Sons, & Maxim, Limited, of
Barrow-in-Furness, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates. to the mounting and recoil gear of heavy and medium
sized guns which are usually arranged so as to recoil in a cradle and are pro-
vided with means of returning them to firing position.
According to our present invention, we form the cradle of two rings or hoops
which envelope the body of the gun and are connected together by two side
bars.
The front hoop has trunnions projecting on each side. The rear hoop has
formed in or attached to its underside the hydraulic recoil brake cylinder or
pair of cylinders, and the spring boxes or air recuperator cylinders for running
the gun out to firing position. Instead of two rings or hoops connected by side
bars, the mounting may be in the form of a box girder the front part of which
carries a ring or hoop in which the gun is fitted to slide, and on the hinder part
of the girder is formed a bed on which also the gun slides. Within the girder
are arranged the springs or air recuperator by which the gun is run out to firing
position and on the sides of the girder are fixed hydraulic recoil cylinders, the
piston rods of which are attached to lugs on a band formed on, or attached to,
the gun.
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The run out apparatus is usually made of sufficient power to run the gun out
at considerable angles of elevation, and therefore, unless it were controlled, it
would, when the gun is horizontal or nearly so, run it out with objectionable
violence.
In order to provide against this we attach to the piston of the hydraulic recoil
cylinder a rod projecting in front of about the same diameter as the rear rod,
this projecting rod working in a forward extension of the recoil cylinder, and
having through it a passage from the rear side of the recoil piston furnished with
a check valve and terminating in several ports opening into the front extension
of the recoil cylinder. Through the valve there is a small passage.
This modification of the hydraulic recoil apparatus operates as follows.
When the gun recoils, water can pass from behind the recoil piston past the
check valve into the extension of the recoil cylinder. When the gun is run
out to firing position by the action of the springs or air recuperator, water can
flow from the extension of the recoil cylinder only through the small passage of

page_text: the valve, and this throttling prevents the recoil piston, and the gun to which
it is attached, from rushing violently forwards.
Instead of extending the recoil cylinder to receive a rod projecting from the
piston as above described, we sometimes make the recoil piston and piston rod
tubular and fix at the front end of the recoil cylinder a controlling rod project-
ing into the tubular hollow of the piston and rod. In this hollow is fitted an
annular valve which, during recoil allows fluid to pass from the rear side of the
piston into the hollow, but closes against its escape when the gun is run out, the
fluid then escaping only through small grooves by which its flow is throttled and
the speed of the running out movement is checked. In some cases we dispense
with the annular valve above mentioned making the end of the controlling rod
tapered so that as the piston approaches the end of its recoil movement, there
is free passage for fluid into the hollow of the piston and piston rod.
When, during the running out movement, the tapered part of the controlling
rod is fully within the bore of the recoil piston, giving passage for liquid only
by the small grooves, and thus checking the running out motion.
Dated this 7th day of December 1898.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Gun Mountings and Recoil Gear.
We, ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, of Vickers, Sons, & Maxim, Limited, of 28,
Victoria Street, Westminster, in the County of London, Superintendent of
Ordnance Works, and JAMES HORNE, of Vickers, Sons, & Maxim, Limited, of
Barrow-in-Furness, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the
declare the nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
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This invention relates to the mounting and recoil gear of heavy and medium
sized guns which are usually arranged to recoil in a cradle and are pro-
vided with means of returning them to firing position.
We shall describe our improvements referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side view of a cradle mounting according to this invention.
Figs. 2, 3 and 4, are transverse sections on the lines A--A, B-B, and C—C,
of Fig. 1 respectively.
Fig. 5, is a side view of a modification with the recoil cylinder shewn in longi-
tudinal section.
Figs. 6 and 7 are half transverse sections on the lines D-D and E-E of
Fig. 5 respectively and Fig. 8 is a transverse section on the line F-F of Fig. 5.
Fig. 9 is a part longitudinal section shewing on an enlarged scale the end of
the front recoil plunger.
Fig. 10 is a plan and Fig. 11 is a section on the line G-G of Fig. 10 of the
cradle mounting for a twin gun.
Fig. 12 is a part longitudinal section of the recoil cylinder provided with
means, according to this invention, for retarding the running out of the gun to
firing position and Fig. 13 shews a modification.
As shewn in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive, the cradle consists of two hoops a and b
which surround the body of the gun and are connected together by two side
bars c.
The front hoop a has trunnions d projecting on each side.
The rear hoop 6 has formed in and attached to it the recoil cylinders e and
the spring boxes or air recuperator cylinders f for running the gun out to firing

page_text: position. The plungers and rods of these are attached to the lower half of a
ring y which is made in halves bolted on the gun between shoulders.
As shewn in Figs. 5 to 8 the mounting may be in the form of a box girder h,
the front part of which carries a ring a within which the gun can slide, and on
the rear part of the girder h is formed a bed i on which also the gun hoop can
slide.
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Within the girder are arranged the spring boxes or recuperator cylinders
advancing the gun and on the sides of the girder are fixed the hydraulic recoil
cylinders c. The twin gun is mounted as shewn in Figs. 10 and 11 in the same
way as the single gun shewn in Figs. 1 to 4, the cradle consisting of a pair of
front rings a each connected to rear rings by a pair of side bars c. Instead of
the two side bars in the middle, a single middle bar may be employed. The
run out apparatus is usually made of sufficient power to run the gun out at con-
siderable angles of elevation and therefore, when the gun is horizontal or nearly
so, or depressed it would be run out with objectionable violence unless the force
were controlled.
In order to control the movement, we provide, as shewn in Figs. 5 and 9, a
forward extension of each recoil cylinder e having in it a tubular plunger k
at the end of which is a check valve with a small passage through it, As the
gun recoils fluid can pass from the rear part of the recoil cylinder through the
tubular plunger and past the check valve into the front extension j, but
when the gun is run out, the fluid in passing back from the front to the rear,
closes the check valve and can only find its way through the small passage, the
flow being thus throttled so as to retard the speed of the running out.
Instead of extending the recoil cylinder as above described, its piston and
rod may be made tubular as shewn in Fig. 12, to receive a rod m projecting
rearwards from the front end of the recoil cylinder. In the central hollow of
the piston is fitted an annular check valve which is kept seated by a light
spring on a bush o which has small grooves along its interior.
During recoil, fluid can freely flow from the rear end of the recoil cylinder by
passages p, past the valve n into the central space of the piston rod, but during
the running out movement, the fluid in returning to the front closes the valve n
and has to find its way through the grooves of the bush o. The annular valve
may be dispensed with by making the rod m, with a tapered end as shown in
Fig. 13.
As the recoil piston approaches the end of its back stroke, there is free passage
for fluid past the tapered end of the rod m, but during the running out move-
ment, as the rod m nearly fits the bore of the piston rod, the flow of the fluid
back to the front end of the recoil cylinder is throttled.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is;
-
1. A cradle for a gun consisting of a front ring provided with trunnions and
connected by side bars to a rear ring carrying the hydraulic recoil cylinders and
recuperator, substantially as described.
2. A cradle for a gun consisting of a ring provided with trunnions and resting
on the front part of a box girder carrying the recoil cylinders and recuperators
and forming at its rear part a slide for the gun hoop, substantially as described.
3. A cradle for a twin gun consisting of a pair of front rings provided with a
trunnion at each side and connected by longitudinal bars to a pair of rear rings,
substantially as described.
4. For controlling the run out movement of a gun the construction of the
hydraulic recoil cylinder with an extension to receive a tubular plunger rod,
fitted with a check valve having a small passage through it, arranged and operat-
ing substantially as described.
5. For controlling the run out movement of a gun, the construction of the

page_text: hydraulic recoil piston and rod with a longitudinal bore receiving a fixed plunger
rod, the said bore being provided with a check valve seated on a bush having
small grooves for passage of fluid, substantially as described.
6. The modified construction of the recoil piston and rod without a check valve
in its bore, the plunger rod being made with a tapered end, substantially as and
for the purpose set forth.