Year: 1887

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by SAMUEL SEABURY, Lieutenant U.S. Navy, and
CHRISTOPHER LESLIE BRUNS, Lieutenant U.S. Navy, both of Bergen Point, in the
State of New Jersey, United States of America.]
I PHILIP ARTHUR NEWTON of the Office for Patents, 6 Bream's Buildings Chancery
Lane in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, 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 :-
The object of the invention is to provide a convenient device which may be lowered
over a projectile or other ammunition when the latter is standing in an upright
position, and which, by the swinging of a bail provided upon it into a position for
hoisting the shell or ammunition, will be made to engage automatically with the shell
or ammunition for lifting it; also to so construct the device that it will serve to
protect the breech of the gun in passing the shell or ammunition from it into
the gun.
In its most complete form, the improved device includes a cylindric casing, which
is open at both ends, and substantially closed as to its side wall or periphery, and
which has expanding members adapted to engage the ammunition by contracting
thereon, and clamping devices whereby the expansible members may be contracted
on the ammunition to engage with it for lifting it. The case may be longitudinally
divided, and may have connected with it pivotally, a bail for lifting it, which serves,
when swung upward into lifting position in line with the axis of the case, to contract
the members of the case into lifting engagement with the ammunition. The bails

page_text: may be provided with handles, which, when extended horizontally from opposite sides,
serve as a means of carrying the case with its contained ammunition. The bail
engages with trunnions on the case, and the case is preferably divided longitudinally
through these trunnions, and the bail is provided with cams whereby the sections of
the case are moved apart to expand the case and release the ammunition when the
case is swung into approximately horizontal position for loading. There is also
provided, in connection with the case, a stop for preventing forward movement of the
ammunition in the case, and a sliding bolt on the case which, when moved rearwards
by contact with the gun, serves to retract the stop from the path of the ammunition.
The bail has eyes which are elongated in the direction of its length, and which receive
the trunnions, and consequently, when the bail is swung into position lengthwise of
the case, as in lifting, its elongated eyes serve as clamping devices for contracting the
case into lifting engagement with the ammunition.
The invention consists in novel combinations of parts, and features of construction
which are hereinabove referred to, and hereinafter described and pointed out in the
claims.
In the accompanying drawing:-
Fig. 1 represents the improved device as slipped over a projectile preparatory to
lifting the same.
Fig. 2 represents the device having its bail swung upward into line with the case,
so as to contract the case into engagement with the projectile for lifting the latter.
Fig. 3 is an elevation similar to Figs. 1 and 2, but in a plane at right angles
thereto, representing the handles whereby the case and contained ammunition may be
lifted and carried by hand as in operative position.
Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section of the breech portion of a gun, showing the improved
device as in loading position relatively to the gun, to enable the projectile to be
slipped lengthwise from the handling device into the gun.
Fig. 5 is a longitudinal section through the case representing the lower half thereof
in plan view.
Figs. 6 and 7 are end views of the case and projectile, including a sectional view
through the trunnions and the bail eyes, Fig. 6 representing the bail as swung into a
position for contracting the divided case upon a projectile, and Fig. 7 representing
the bail as swung into a position to permit of the ammunition being slipped from the
case into the gun; and
Fig. 8 is a face view, upon a larger scale, representing a portion of the divided
case, and one of the bail eyes, which is applied to the trunnions of the case, showing
the eye in such position relatively to the case as to constitute a clamping device for
contracting the two sections, or members of the case into lifting engagement with the
projectile.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the Figures.
A designates the projectile or ammunition, which may be either a cartridge, a solid
shot or a shell, and the device which we shall now describe is intended to be slipped
downward over the ammunition when it is supported on its end near the shell room
or magazine, to contract into lifting engagement with the ammunition by the very
act of drawing upwards upon the tackle B, whereby the ammunition is to be lifted,
and to support the ammunition in horizontal position preparatory to, and during its
insertion in a gun.
The device consists, in its essential elements, of a cylindric case which comprises
expanding members, and in this example of the invention the cylindric case is
composed of two sections or members CC, or in other words, is longitudinally
divided, and its sections or members are formed with an internal shoulder c adapted
to engage a corresponding shoulder c¹ upon the projectile A. When the cylindric
case is expanded, as shown in Fig. 1, it may be slipped freely downward, as
shown in Fig. 1, upon the ammunition, so as to bring the shoulder c below the
shoulder or projection c¹, but after contraction of the cylindric casing, the shoulder c
is brought into lifting engagement with the shoulder c', as represented in Fig. 2, and
by means of the casing CC, the ammunition may be lifted.

page_text: In this example of the invention, the case is provided with a bail D pivotally
connected with its opposite sides, and through which the case and its contained
ammunition are lifted, and this bail is so constructed, that when swung upward into
position lengthwise of the case, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, its eyes, which receive the
trunnions of the case, constitute clamping devices for contracting the two
sections CC of the case into lifting engagement with the ammunition. The bail is
also so constructed that when the ammunition case CC is swung into horizontal
position and suspended by the bail D, as represented in Fig. 4, preparatory to trans-
ferring the ammunition A from the case to the breech of a gun E, the sections CC¹
of the case will be separated, and the ammunition A, by a rammer E¹, may be slipped
forward from the case CC into the breech of the gun E. The longitudinal line of
division c³ of the case is through the trunnions c², and the eyes d of the bail which
receive the trunnions are elongated in the direction of the length of the bail, and
when the bail is swung upward into the positions shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 8, the
divided trunnion crests in the lower portion of the elongated eye d, and the two
eyes d at opposite ends of the bail, by their action upon the divided trunnions,
constitute clamping devices for contracting the cylindric case CC into lifting
engagement with the ammunition A. In order to expand the case sections CC,
when the case with its contained ammunition is swung into the position shown in
Fig. 4, cams are provided upon the bail D. As here represented, a cap plate F is
applied to each divided trunnion, said plate being secured by screws rigidly to one
trunnion section, and being connected by a screw and slot with the other section.
In the covering plate F is an inwardly projecting pin, which engages a slot fin
the bail D, and at one end portion, this slot is inclined, as shown at f, so that by
acting upon the pin f³, it will lift the section C of the case which is uppermost when
the case is swung into a horizontal position. The cover plate F also has a stop pin f,
and the bail D has shoulders f f which, by coming against this stop pin, limit this
swinging movement of the bail D relatively to the case CC¹.
To enable the case CC and its contained ammunition to be carried by hand, we
provide handles D¹, which are represented as pivotally connected at d with the
bail D, so that they may be swung into horizontal position, as shown at Fig. 3, when
desired for use, and will drop downward into the position shown by dotted lines in
Fig. 3 when not desired for use.
In order to prevent the ammunition A from sliding forward prematurely into the
breech of the gun E by reason of the rolling of the vessel, or from any other cause,
before the case has been inserted to its full extent into the breech of the gun E, we
have represented a stop pin h as projecting through an oblique slot h¹ into the lower
section C¹ of the case, and this stop pin h is connected with, or projects from a
longitudinally sliding bolt h², which normally projects slightly forward of the case
section C", as is shown in Fig. 5, and has applied to it a spring ³ for so projecting it
forward. The bolt h³ slides in a frame h which is secured upon the lower section C
of the case, and which, when the case is inserted into the breech of the gun, enters
the groove or channel cut through the screw thread of the breech, and which receives
one of the threaded projections on the breech block when the latter is slipped into the
breech preparatory to turning it into engagement with the thread. The section C¹ of
the case has a forward projection or lip c', which is of such length as to cover the
screw thread e of the breech, and prevent contact of the ammunition A therewith, in
inserting the ammunition into the gun E. It is obvious that any sliding movement
imparted to the bolt h³ will, by reason of the oblique or cam-like slot / acting upon
the pin h, cause the bolt 2 to turn on its axis, and thereby retract the stop pin / from
the path of the ammunition, so as to permit of the ammunition being readily slipped
forward into the gun. When the case CC is inserted into the breech of the gun, as
shown in Fig. 4, this bolt h2, at its forward end, strikes the gun, and is pushed back
relatively to the case CC, thereby retracting the stop h from the path of the
ammunition, and permitting the ammunition to be slipped forward into proper
position in the gun.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The device herein described for handling ammunition, consisting of a cylindrical
case, which is substantially closed as to its side wall or periphery, and open at the
ends, and which has projections from its inner surface near the lower end, expanding
members adapted to engage the ammunition by contraction thereon, and a bail
pivotally connected with the case, and serving, when swung into position for lifting,
to contract the members into lifting engagement with the ammunition, substantially
as herein described.
2. The combination with a longitudinally divided and expansible case, open at both
ends, and having trunnions formed in part upon each section of the case, of a bail
having eyes which receive the divided trunnions, and which serves, when swung
upward into lifting position, to contract the members of the case into lifting engage-
ment with the ammunition, substantially as herein described.
3. The combination with a longitudinally divided and expansible case for receiving
ammunition, of a bail pivotally connected with the case, and serving both to lift it,
and, by swinging, to contract its members into lifting engagement with the ammuni-
tion, and handles secured to the bail to project laterally therefrom, whereby the case
and contained ammunition may be carried, substantially as herein described.
4. The combination with a cylindrical and expansible ammunition case, and having
trunnions, and divided through its trunnions, of a bail swinging on the trunnions,
and having cams whereby the members of the caso are moved apart to expand the
case and release the ammunition when the case is swung into approximately horizontal
position for loading, substantially as herein described.
5. The combination with a cylindrical case for containing ammunition, and for
lifting it to the breech of a gun, of a stop for preventing forward movement of the
ammunition in the case, and a sliding bolt on the case, which, when moved by contact
with the gun, serves to retract the stop from the path of the ammunition, substantially
as herein described.
6. The device herein described for handling ammunition and loading guns there-
with, consisting of a cylindrical case having expanding members, and having a forward
projection or lip for entering the breech of the gun, and clamping devices whereby the
members may be brought into lifting engagement with the ammunition, substantially
as herein described.
7. The combination with the case CCI, having trunnions, and divided longitudinally
through the trunnions, of the bail D having eyes for receiving the trunnions, and
which are elongated in the direction of its length, so that when the bail is swung into
position lengthwise of the case, as in lifting, its eyes serve as a clamping device for
contracting the case into lifting engagement with the ammunition, substantially as
herein described.