IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS ARTILLERY." AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DISCHARGING MARINE
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Bessemer, of Queen Street Place, Cannon
Street, in the City of London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS
ARTILLERY."
AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN
DISCHARGING MARINE
Sealed the 25th April 1871, and dated the 27th January 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Bessemer at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 27th January 1871.
I, HENRY BESSEMER, of Queen Street Place, Cannon Street, in the
City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DISCHARGING
MARINE ARTILLERY," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the means and
apparatus employed in discharging marine artillery and for ascertaining
O the distance of objects so that a proper elevation may be given to the
gun.

page_text: When vessels of war are engaged in throwing projectiles it is found
that the rolling and pitching motion of the vessel in which the guns
are placed greatly interferes with the intended direction of the projectile
thrown from them; this continuous alteration in the elevation of the
gun preventing the gunner from firing with the desired accuracy.
Now my present Invention has for its object the removal of this
difficulty in discharging marine artillery by utilizing the continuous
motion of the vessel and causing the discharge of the gun to be effected
by it at the precise moment when by the vessel's motion the required
elevation of the gun is arrived at. For this purpose I employ an appa-
ratus or instrument which may be attached to the gun or carriage and
which is provided with a small weighted tumbler or inverted pendulum
supported on knife edges and having its heavier end upwards. This
tumbler is placed between supports, against one of which it rests. The
supports are so near together as to admit only of an extremely small
movement of the tumbler between them, so that whenever it passes
from an inclined position to a vertical it is ready by the most minute
alteration in the elevation of the gun to tumble over and come in
contact with the other support, in doing which it establishes metallic
contact and discharges the gun by electricity, either by the ignition of
* Abel's fusees' or by other means known and practised in blasting or
discharging gunpowder by a battery. Means are provided for indi-
cating and varying at pleasure the inclination of the gun to the
tumbler.
"
A second break in the communication between the battery and the
charge is also made, so that as the rolling of the vessel causes the gun
for any length of time after it is loaded to pass and repass the angle of
elevation at which it is to be fired, and make or break contact both in
its upward and downward movement, it does not occasion the discharge
of the piece until the gunner makes contact at the second break which
is under his control, then when the gun next moves up or down to
the firing angle the tumbler falling over will complete the circuit for
the electric fluid and discharge the gun. The instrument is provided
with a milled head by turning which the angle in relation to the axis of
the gun at which the tumbler becomes vertical is altered at will to the
desired degree of elevation at which the gun is to be fired.
1
The instrument may be modified in various ways without departing
from the nature of my Invention. Thus, in lieu of the tumbler a metallic

page_text: ball in a glass cylinder may be employed, the ball occupying the space
between wires or other pieces of metal so arranged as to make or break
contact with a battery whenever the glass tube moves sufficiently out
of the horizontal plane to cause the ball to roll to or from the pair
of wires or supports. In like manner mercury may be employed. I
however prefer the modification of the apparatus first described acting
by means of a tumbler with its heavier end uppermost, as shewn in the
accompanying Drawings.
The instrument may be enclosed in a wooden or metallic case in
one side of which a piece of stout plate glass may be inserted so as to
enable the instrument to be viewed while its more delicate parts will be
protected from injury.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Bessemer in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 27th July 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
BESSEMER, of Queen Street Place, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Henry Bessemer, Her special
license that I, the said Henry Bessemer, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Bessemer, my exe-
cutors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN DISCHARGING MARINE ARTILLERY,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Bessemer,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: 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 Bessemer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, 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 the means and
apparatus employed in discharging marine artillery.
When vessels of war are engaged in throwing projectiles it is found
that the rolling and pitching motion of the vessel on which the guns
are placed greatly interferes with the intended direction of the projectile
thrown from them; this continuous alteration in the elevation of the
gun preventing the gunner from firing with the desired accuracy.
Now my present Invention has for its object the removal of this
difficulty in discharging marine artillery by utilizing the continuous
motion of the vessel, and causing the discharge of the gun to be effected
by it at the precise moment when by the vessel's motion the required
elevation of the gun is arrived at. For this purpose I employ an
apparatus or instrument which may be attached to the gun or carriage, a
and which is provided with a small weighted tumbler or inverted pen-
dulum supported on knife edges, and having its heavier end upwards.
This tumbler is placed between supports against one of which it rests.
The supports are so near together as to admit only of an extremely small
movement of the tumbler between them, so that whenever it passes
from an inclined position to a vertical, it is ready by the most minute
alteration in the elevation of the gun to tumble over and come in
contact with the other support, in doing which it establishes metallic
contact, and discharges the gun by electricity, either by the ignition of
"Abel's fusces" or by other means known and practised in blasting or
discharging gunpowder by a battery; means are provided for indicating
and varying at pleasure the inclination of the gun to the tumbler.
A second break in the communication between the battery and the
charge is also made, so that as the rolling of the vessel causes the gun
for any length of time after it is loaded to pass and repass the angle of S
elevation at which it is to be fired, and make or break contact both in
its upward and downward movement, it does not occasion the dis-
charge of the piece until the gunner makes contact at the second break,

page_text: which is under his control, then when the gun next moves up or
down to the firing angle the tumbler falling over will complete the
circuit for the electric fluid and discharge the gun. The instrument is
provided with a milled head by turning which the angle in relation to
the axis of the gun at which the tumbler becomes vertical is altered at
will to the desired degree of elevation at which the gun is to be fired.
The instrument may be modified in various ways without departing
from the nature of my Invention. Thus in lieu of the tumbler a
metallic ball in a glass cylinder may be employed, the ball occupying
the space between wires or other pieces of metal so arranged as to make
or break contact with a battery, whenever the glass tube moves suffi-
ciently out of the horizontal plane to cause the ball to roll to or from
the pair of wires or supports. In like manner mercury may be employed,
I however prefer the modification of the apparatus first described acting
by means of a tumbler with its heavier end uppermost as shewn in the
accompanying Drawings, where Figure 1 is a vertical elevation of the
instrument or apparatus with some of its parts shewn in section as
indicated by diagonal lines; Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same
with some of its parts shewn in elevation.
a is a base plate on which the two plummer blocks a* are formed, and
which serve to support the axis b, and on to this axis a brass frame c is
secured by a cotter at 6*. The frame c has a dovetailed channel ex-
tending throughout its whole length, and has fitted into it a piece of
glass vulcanite or other non-conductor of electricity, as shewn at d. On
the upper
side of the part d a picce of brass e is fitted into a dovetailed
groove as shewn. The piece of brass e extends at one end beyond the
non-conducting material d, and is there formed into a cylindrical shape
as shewn at and has a milled headed screw fitted into it for the
purpose of securing the conducting wire g in a hole, which passes
through the cylindrical part e*, thus establishing a metallic commu-
nication between the wire g and the insulated brass piece e. Two
supports and i are secured by screwed studs to the insulating material
d and are at certain intervals out of metallic contact with the other
parts of the apparatus. The support i has a boss i* formed upon it, and
is provided with a milled headed screw j for the purpose of securing the
conducting wire n firmly in the hole which passes through the boss i*.
An inverted pendulum or tumbler m with its heavier end upwards is
placed between the supports h and i, its lower knife edge resting in a

page_text: deep V shaped groove formed on the upper side of the insulated piece of
brass e, with which it is therefore at all times in metallic contact. Thus
whenever the upper part m* of the tumbler m is in contact with the
upper end of the support i, a metallic communication will be established
between the conducting wire g and the wire n, and a current of electricity
may then be conveyed from a battery in connection with the wire g to a
fusce in connection with the extremity of the wire n, but whenever the
apparatus is in such a position that the tumbler m is caused by gravity
to rest in contact with the support h, all metallic communication
between the wires g and n will be destroyed, but so soon as the motion
of the vessel shall bring the tumbler m into a vertical position, it will
leave the upper end of the support h, and assume the position shewn in
Figure 1, in which it is in the act of falling, and the smallest additional
motion of the vessel will then cause the tumbler to come in contact with
the support i and thus establish a metallic communication between the
wires g and n, and discharge the gun.
In order that such discharge may take place at any desired angle of
elevation, I fit on to the axis a brass segment p, so that any motion
of this segment on its axis causes also a corresponding motion of the
insulating material d and the supports h and i. A frame q is screwed
to the base plate a, and carries at its upper part a dividing screw ♪ on
an axis *. This axis is provided with a milled headed screw 8, and at
the opposite end a dividing wheel t, having thirty divisions marked
thereon, and a finger u for ascertaining the distance it is moved. The
outer edge of the segment p is cut as a worm wheel, and is in gear with
the dividing screw r, the pitch of the screw being such as to move the
segment one-half of a degree for each complete revolution of the screw ».
On the face of the segment p degrees and half degrees of a circle are
marked and figured in each direction from the central part marked o,
indicating no elevation or depression. A finger or pointer wo projects
from the frame q, to shew the number of degrees and half degrees of
elevation, while the dividing wheel t divides each half degree into thirty
parts, and hence the angle of elevation in degrees and minutes can be
at once ascertained. Thus if the base plate a be placed in a truly
horizontal position, and the chase of a gun be also in the same hori-
zontal plane, and it be desired (for example) to fire such gun at an
elevation of three degrees seven minutes, then it will be necessary to
move round the milled head & until the pointer w is opposite the line sur-
8

page_text: mounted by the figure 3, and the finger u points to the figure 7 on the
wheel t. The apparatus in this condition may oscillate with the vessel
up and down to whatever angle the vessel may roll, but at the moment
at which the bore of the gun assumes the position indicated by the
instrument, videlicet, three degrees seven minutes, the tumbler m will
become vertical, and falling over will complete the metallic contact of
the wires and discharge the gun. The gunner has under his control one
end of the wire g, which he keeps out of contact with the battery, so
that the loaded gun may oscillate with the vessel and pass and repass
the angle at which it is intended to discharge it for any number of
times without being discharged; but whenever the gunner desires to
discharge the gun he brings the end of the wire g in connection with
the battery, but at that particular moment the gun may be at 2, 5, 10,
or any other angle of elevation, and it will not then go off, but the
instant that the vessel's motion shall have brought it to the angle of
three degrees seven minutes, the tumbler will complete the circuit and
fire the gun. In order that extreme accuracy of fire may be attained, an
allowance will have to be made to compensate for the minute period of
time occupied by the tumbler in falling through a space of about one-
fortieth of an inch, and also for the difference in elevation which the
gun will assume during the passage of the projectile along the bore.
It will be readily understood that although this mode of discharging
ordnance at a determined elevation, regulated by the vessel's motion
is applicable to the discharge of ordinary artillery, that it is specially
suited for the discharge of very large guns fixed lengthwise in gun-
boats where an alteration of elevation on trunnions would entail many
difficulties which this system obviates. The instrument may be enclosed
in a wooden or metallic case, in one side of which a piece of stout plate
glass may be inserted, so as to enable the instrument to be viewed while
its more delicate parts will be protected from injury.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
claim,―
The method, substantially as herein described, of discharging marine
artillery by means of an instrument which moves under the influence of
gravity when the gun attains the inclination at which it is desired that
it should be fired.

page_text: I also claim the construction of apparatus for discharging marine
artillery, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Bessemer, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.

page_text: upport
e Strip
for tumbler standing on gluos plate to which cc. are also fastened
of glass to insulate c.c. and d.f. bed plate
plate to support worm wheel h milled head to turn screw.
or stand g.Frame secured to bed
e Strip of glass to insulate c.c. and d.f. bed plate
wwwc are also fastened.
or stand g.Frame secured to bed
plate to support worm wheel h milled head to turn screw.
i division wheel to be used where extreme accuracy is required.