IMPROVED ARRANGE- MENTS OF MECHANISM TO FACILITATE AND CONTROL THE ELEVATION, DEPRESSION, MOVING IN AND OUT, AND TRAINING OF HEAVY GUNS, FOR MOVING SHIPS' RUDDERS OVER TO GIVEN ANGLES, ALSO FOR LIFTING OR FORCING OTHER BODIES OR WEIGHTS
Year: 1874

page_text: "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Hubert Henry Grenfell and
Edward Newman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents with
their Petition, on the 20th October 1874.
We, HUBERT HENRY GRENFELL, Licutenant, Royal Navy, and
EDWARD NEWMAN, Chief Engineer, Royal Navy, of Her Majesty's Ships
'Excellent" and "Asia," Portsmouth, in the County of Hants, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED ARRANGE-
MENTS OF MECHANISM TO FACILITATE AND CONTROL THE ELEVATION, DEPRESSION,
MOVING IN AND OUT, AND TRAINING OF HEAVY GUNS, FOR MOVING SHIPS' RUDDERS
OVER TO GIVEN ANGLES, ALSO FOR LIFTING OR FORCING OTHER BODIES OR WEIGHTS,”
to be as follows:
-
This Invention relates to controllable hydraulic apparatus, in which a
piston or ram can be caused to move in or out to fixed distances, and be
there retained upon the movement of a handle or its equivalent over a
given segment of a circle or otherwise, for the purpose especially of
moving in or out, clevating, depressing, or training ordnance, also for
moving ships' rudders over to the necessary angle for steering, and also
to purposes of controlling the movements of machinery as well as for
raising or forcing heavy bodies or weights.

page_text: Our Invention consists in arranging a cylinder with double ports, over
each of which a valve is free to move when the rod to which they arc
connected is acted upon by levers or similar appliance from a hand
whicel or lever at a distance, the hand wheel or lever being so fitted in
conjunction with the rod levers that a movement of it over a given
distance opens or closes the cylinder ports, and thereby admits or
exhausts a given quantity of liquid to or from the cylinder, whereby the
ram or its equivalent is moved in or out a proportionate distance, and is
there held until the lever or hand wheel is again moved.
The valve rod and the ram end are connected by a lever whose free
end is attached to a rod, which has, say, an up-and-down motion imparted
to it from a bell crank or short arm upon a shaft, the shaft being capable
of partial rotation from a rod under the control of a wheel or winch
handle, so that supposing the hand wheel to be moved a given distance,
the ram end becomes the fulcrum upon which the valves and their rod
move to uncover one of the cylinder ports, when the admission of liquid
causes the ram to move in the proper direction, the rod then becomes the
fulcrum for the time being, and the valve rod and valves move in the
reverse direction under the action of the ram to again cover up the port
last opened.
The annexed diagrams will illustrate our cylinder, valve, and rod
arrangement.
In Figure 1, A is the piston rod; B is the slide rod, and C is a rod
which can be led either up or down, and moved by means of levers,
crank, or screws, or all combined, the object being to move C up or down
from the required position. These rods A, B, and C, arc connected
'together by the lever D, E, F. Now supposing that F be lowered, D
being a fulcrum, E would be lowered, and the lower port of the cylinder
would be open to pressure, the piston would then rise, and F being now
a fulcrum, the piston in rising would raise E until the valve became
closed, which is the only position of rest; say that F were moved to H
than D would move to G or the distance requisite to move the valve
to its closed position. And as the angle F, E, H, is equal to the
angle G, E, D, the distance through which F has passed in moving to H
is proportioned to the distance through which D has passed in moving
to G. Thus it will be seen that for every increment of movement given
to Fa proportional increment of movement takes place in the piston.

page_text: In applying this to the elevating or depressing of ordnance, we prefer as
the motive power water under pressure acting on a piston in a cylinder
as the most suitable, although air or steam might take the place of water
if deemed desirable, and in describing the hydraulic elevating gear as we
would propose fitting it to guns used in turrets, we do not by any means
limit its application to that particular case, as it is admirably adapted for
a similar purpose to control the movements of ordnance whether mounted
afloat or on shore. Neither would we limit its application to elevating
gear only, but it may also be applied to the training and other movements
necessary in working ordnance.
For the purpose of elevating heavy guns mounted in turrets, we
propose fitting to the gun carriage a cylinder, to the piston or rod of
which we would attach the breech of the gun; the rod G we would
attach to a lever working on a square or feathered shaft placed below the
carriage and parallel to the slide on which the carriage moves; this lever
would be fitted so that it would run in and out with the carriage sliding
on the square shaft before mentioned; to the inner end of the shaft is a
fixed lever which is connected to an upright rod by the intermediation of
shafts, levers, and rods necessary; this upright rod passes through the
top of the turret and terminates in the sight for laying the gun, means
being applied for raising or lowering the rod or sight such as a hand
wheel in tho form of a nut, the rod being screwed to fit it. The effect of
moving the hand wheel is to move the sight up or down, this moves the
point F down or up, and the piston, and with it the breech of the gun,
moves in the required direction, and in faet follows the sight of the gun,
that is to say, as the sight moves upward the breach of the gun moves
upward, and through a distance proportional to that of the sight, and
vice versa, or the cylinder might be placed in rear of the slide and the
motion conveyed to the breech of the gun by cranks or lovers.
.
In applying the Invention to steering apparatus we propose describing
it as fitted to the arrangement of two cylinders, one for steam and the
other for oil or other liquid, the work of moving the rudder being done
in the steam cylinder on the left, Figure 2, and that of holding it steady
being done in the cylinder for liquids. ..
The axis of the cylinders may be placed in a horizontal position in a
convenient place, say, between decks, the piston rod passing through
each end of the cylinders and connected by means of chains or otherwise

page_text: to a tiller or yoke fixed to the rudder, the pistons being in their central
positions when the rudder is amidships, so that from this position the
piston moving in one direction would starboard, and in the opposite
direction would port the helm.
The movement for the control of the piston, and consequently the
steering of the vessel, may by the intervention of small shafting and
levers or wheels be effected at any one of many positions in the ship,
and a small steering wheel or lever at this position completes the
fittings, as will be understood by reference to diagram, Figure 2.
Supposing the lever E on the upper deck were moved to the right or
starboard, the point P would move to the left and with it the point K,
the lever E, K, P, moving round H as a fulcrum, opening -the slide
valve, and the pressure would act on the piston forcing it to the right;
H moving with the piston moves K in the same direction, P being now
the fulcrum, and closes the slide valve which is the only position of rest.
It will be seen that the piston follows E in its movements, and that the
distance passed through by E in changing into a new position is
proportional to the distance travelled by the piston before coming to rest,
so that the steering is like that of a small boat, i.e. when the small lover
is amidships the rudder is amidships, and when the lever is at starboard
or port the rudder takes a corresponding position and to the same degree.
If a small hand wheel be preferred to steer with, E could be made in
the form of a quadrant with teeth on the upper edge of its circumference,
into which a pinion fastened to the steering wheel could gear, the
steering then would be precisely like that of a small vessel with an
ordinary steering wheel.
Spring loaded valves are provided in the oil cylinder in order to give
clasticity in case of a shock, such as a sea striking the rudder. It will
be understood that immediately after the rudder has been displaced by
such a shock it returns to the position from which it was removed.