Improvements in Apparatus for Minimising the Recoil in Ordnance.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 5th July, 1893—Accepted, 2nd Sept., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Minimising the Recoil in Ordnance.
I HENRI SCHNEIDER of Creusot in the Republic of France, Ironmaster, 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:-
In a Patent No. 4686, dated 25th March 1890, and granted to me, I have
described and claimed a system of twin hydraulic brakes applicable to gun carriages
of all kinds.
Since that time I have invented various improvements, the object of which is
to simplify the construction of the said brakes.
These improvements consist, on the one hand, in the suppression of the passages
by which the two brake cylinders (as in the first arrangement) of the pairs, are put
in communication the one with the other, the function of which passages was to
maintain a constant volume of the liquid in the cylinders, and, on the other hand, in
the mode of connecting the cannon to the brake cylinders.
In order that these improvements may be clearly understood, they will be now
particularly described and ascertained with the assistance of the accompanying
drawings, in which,―
Figs. 1 and 2 are respectively a longitudinal vertical section and a longitudinal
horizontal section of the improved hydraulic brake.
Fig. 3 shows, in vertical section, a slight modification in the preceding
arrangement.
Figs. 4 and 5 represent, in sectional elevation and in sectional plan, the
application of the twin hydraulic brakes to a gun carriage for howitzers.
Figs. 6 and 7 represent under the same aspects, the application of the said brakes
to gun carriages of field pieces.
Fig. 8 shows, in transverse section, a mode of connecting the cannon to the
brake cylinders.
The twin hydraulic brakes mentioned in the Specification of Patent before
referred to, included two slides in which the cannon is mounted, and each formed
of two brake cylinders communicating between themselves, and of which the piston
rods are securely attached to a cradle on the gun carriage, serving, at the same
time, as a guide and a carrier of the said slides, with the effect of reducing, by a
simultaneous action, the recoil of the cannon, and to transfer the effects of the firing
to four points of the gun carriage, thereby obviating concussion.
They act, besides, in combination with springs or other elastic medium, to limit
in each sense the movement of the slides.
In the said Patent, it is also mentioned that the brakes are of constant volume, a
condition absolutely necessary to obtain a recoil, regular, constant, and without
shock.
According to the present improvements, the constancy of this volume of the liquid
of the brakes is obtained no longer by the arrangement of passages, but by a special
arrangement of piston rods.
Thus, the piston A of the rear cylinder B carries, on its opposite side
(Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7), a counter rod or extension C, of the same diameter
as the piston rods D D', which rod C passes through the bottom E, common to
the two cylinders B F, and is of a length sufficient to project slightly into the
front cylinder F, when the piston A is at the rear end of the cylinder B.
At the moment of recoil, the rear cylinder B and its piston A constitute a brake
having a rod and counter rod, that is to say, having a constant volume, and in the
front cylinder F, according as the rod D' works out, so the counter rod C of the

page_text: rear piston projects into this cylinder an equal distance, thus ensuring a brake of
constant volume.
It may be remarked that this counter rod C, which exerts its action at the same
time in the two cylinders during the recoil, may be either the prolongation of the
front piston, or of the back piston.
This arrangement can be applied indifferently to all
gun carriages.
As to the connection between the cannon and the brake cylinders, it may be
remarked, that the cylinders are formed solid with the cannon, and that the
trunnions of the cannon are no longer required, according to these improvements,
to obtain the elevation of the piece, and that they do not constitute more than
housings.
The ordinary trunnion hoop or band is in this case replaced by another band or
hoop, which presents laterally (Fig. 2) vertical teeth or projections, which enter
recesses in the cylindrical slides of the brake.
When the cannon is very long (Fig. 2) and the slides permit it, the connection is
ensured by means of several bands or hoops, one of which presents vertical teeth
or projections, and the others horizontal teeth or projections, which permit of the
dilatation of the body of the cannon when being fired.
In the case of a cannon which has no bands, the teeth or projections are formed
on the body of the cannon.
In other cases, such as a great reduction in the recoil, or in the arrangement of
twin hydraulic brakes for cannon of small calibre, the brake cylinders are made
(Fig. 8) in a hoop analogous to the ordinary trunnion hoop, and which is formed
with sufficient projections, instead of trunnions.
The improvements above named change, in effect, nothing of the arrangement
and of the functions of the brakes, but the fixed point is taken on the ground by
the aid of the cross bar of the gun carriage.
The piece being capable of displacing itself on the carriage during firing, the
recoil of the whole is practically overcome, or at least considerably diminished.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In twin hydraulic brakes applicable to gun carriages of all kinds, the employ-
ment of the counter rod of the double action piston to ensure the constancy of the
volume of the liquid in the cylinder, substantially as herein shewn and described.
2. In the twin hydraulic brakes applicable to gun carriages of all kinds, the
different modes of connecting the cannon and the brake cylinder slides, this
connection being obtained by the employment of one, or of several bands or hoops,
replacing the ordinary trunnion hoops, and of which the one presents vertical teeth
or projections, and the other horizontal teeth or projections, permitting of the
dilatation of the body of the cannon during firing.
Dated this 5th day of July 1893.
NEWTON & SON,
Agents for the Applicant.