IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING GUNS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Worms, of 27, Park Crescent, Portland
Place, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING GUNS."
Sealed the 9th October 1863, and dated the 29th April 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Worms at tho
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his l'etition, on the
29th April 1863.
I, IIENRY WORMS, of 27, Park Crescent, Portland Place, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING GUNS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for elovating
guns. For these purposes apparatus is applied at the hinder part of a gun
carriage in the following manner:-Two toothed sector racks are used which
slide in guides below the rear end of the gun; at their upper ends these two
sector racks are connected together by a bar or axis, on which it is preferred
to place a roller for the hinder part of the gun to rest upon. Motion is com-
municated to the two toothed racks by means of two toothed wheels on an
axis turning in bearings carried by the two sides of the gun carriage. The
axis and toothed wheels receive motion from another or driving axis, on which
there are two toothed pinions which take into and drive the toothed wheels
on the first-mentioned axis. On the outer ends of the driving axis aro
cranked bandles by which motion is communicated. In order that the

page_text: elevation of the gun may at all times be known, there are graduated ratchet
dises or plates, one at each end of the driving axis, and a stop or catch to
tako into such teeth, and thus to retain the driving axis from turning after it
has been set, and such teeth are at regulated distances apart, so as to indicate
in degrees or parts of degrees the elevation of the
gun.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Worms in the Great Seal Patent Offico on the
27th October 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J, HENRY
WORMS, of 27, Park Crescent, Portland Place, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by IIer Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Henry Worms, Her special licence that I, the said Henry
Worms, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Henry Worms, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR ELEVATING GUNS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Worms, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry Worms, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus for elevating
guns. For these purposes apparatus is applied at the hinder part of a gun
carriage in the following manner :-Two toothed sector racks are used which

page_text: slide in guides below the rear end of the gun at their upper ends; these two
sector racks are connected together by a bar or axis, on which it is preferred
to place a roller for the hinder part of the gun to rest upon. Motion is com-
municated to the two toothed racks by means of two toothed wheels on an axis
turning in bearings carried by the two sides of the gun carriage. The axis
and toothed wheels receive motion from another or driving axis or axes, on
which there are two toothed pinions which take into and drive the toothed
wheels on the first-mentioned axis. On the outer ends of the driving axis or axes
are cranked handles by which motion is communicated theroto. In order that
the elevation of the gun may at all times be known, there are graduated
ratchet discs or plates on the driving axis or axes, and a stop or catch to take
into such teeth, and thus to retain the driving axis or axes from turning after
being set, and such teeth are at regulated distancos apart so as to indicate (in
degrees or parts of degrees) the elevation of the gun.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto

page_text: the descent of the segments, and the breech end of the gun after it has been
set in position, and these ratchets are adjusted and marked, so that the gunner
observing between which teeth of the ratchets the pawls have entered, may
read off in degrees and minutes the corresponding elevation of the gun. To
allow of the descent of the breech end of the gun when an increase of elevation
is required, the pawls l, l, are lifted out of the ratchet teeth by hand.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Worms, havo hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-threo.