Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Guns.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Feb., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Nov., 1890-Accepted, 17th Jan., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Guns.
A communication from HENRY EICHBAUM, of the Grand Hotel du Louvre, Boulogne-
sur-Mer, in the Republic of France, Engineer.
'
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,'
M.I.M.E. do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to that class of guns or cannons from which the projectile
is expelled by a charge of compressed air or gas and the present invention more
particularly relates to those guns which are of a portable or semi-portable nature
and the invention is specially designed with the object of facilitating the transfer and'
setting up of the gun promptly and easily.
In carrying out this invention I prefer to form a reservoir in sections so that
each section may be readily carried about. The sections may be joined together
in any convenient manner and are preferably formed as segments of a circle so that
when bolted or otherwise secured together a circular reservoir of any required size is
produced. This reservoir I use as the foundation for the gun and provide it if
necessary with a circular track upon which the gun or gun carriage may travel in
training. This track may either be upon the surface of the reservoir or outside it, in
which case it would preferably be carried upon brackets extending from the reservoir.
Each section of the reservoir or some of the sections may be provided with anchors,
plates or equivalent for the purpose of securing the reservoir in its position as it
is merely contemplated that a recess shall' be formed in the ground of the proper
size and shape and that into this the reservoir shall be placed; or it may be built
up therein.
Each section of the reservoir may be connected with either of its neighbours or with
all the others and with the gun preferably by means of a central plug, pintle or
equivalent. Conveniently the centre of the reservoir may be an opening like the body.
of a cock into which all the reservoirs open, then into this cock body would be fitted.
the hollow pintle provided with one or more openings like the plug of the cock. The
bottom of the pintle would be closed to prevent the tendency of the pressure to blow
the pintle out and at or by its upper end it communicates in any convenient manner
with the gun direct or with the carriage by which the pressure would be conducted
to the gun. If there are many openings in the pintle the pressure from all the
sections of the reservoir would be constantly in connection with its interior; and 1
prefer to arrange these openings in such wanner that the pintle shall always be in
connection "with the various sections of the reservoir. This may be done in various
ways but conveniently by arranging openings in the pintle one above the other and so
as to break joint or overlap, each opening being preferably longer in the direction of'
the circumference of the pintle than the corresponding opening in what I'have
previously called the cock body.
It will be understood that the reservoir can if desired be made all in one piece or
built as a single reservoir, bat for the reasons stated in the commencement of this
Specification I prefer to make it of sections more or less independent one of the other.
These sections or the reservoir may be made in any convenient manner and 'of any
suitable material preferably by casting in iron or steel.
J
Instead of forining the hollow cock body within the resorvoir and providing the.
pintle or plug upon the gun or gun carriage this arrangement may if desired be
altered or reversed, in which latter case the hollow pintle or plug would project. from
the upper surface of the reservoir with the interior of which 'it would communicate
n any desired manner, and the gun carriage or yoke or possibly even the gun itself:

page_text: would be placed over the plug or pintle the "cock body" being thus in the carriage
yoke or gun. The action would be the same as before.
Some difficulties present themselves in the construction of the sectional reservoir
and the making of the necessary tight joints; I prefer therefore to make it of an even
number of sections say for example six and divide it practically into two each half
composed of three sections being practically complete in itself. In many cases the
sections of each half may be fitted and bolted together at the works or factory and
transported bodily to the place where the gun is to be fitted up, but in any case the
jointing is so arranged that if necessary all the sections can be bolted up in their
proper places. A convenient arrangement is to have two sections which at their inner
ends are bolted and jointed to the pintle or to a central casting or piece which carries
the pintle; these two sections would be the only ones directly communicating with
the pintle but each of these two sections would have connected to and communicating
with it one of the other sections so that each of the above described complete halves
of the reservoir would consist of the central section which communicates with the
pintle and two other sections one on each side of the central one communicating with
the central section but not otherwise communicating with the pintle.
The reservoir may be simply laid upon the ground or rock and packed up or
otherwise secured if necessary according to the nature of the ground.
Many of the points enumerated herein may be easily modified without departing
from the spirit of this invention.
Dated this 22nd day of February 1890.
W. P. THOMPSON & BOULT,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Pneumatic Guns.
A communication from HENRY EICHBAUM, of the Grand Hotel du Louvre, Boulogne-
sur-Mer, in the Republic of France, Engineer.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, of 323, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
M.I.M.E., 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 :-
This invention relates to that class of guns or cannon from which the projectile is
expelled by a charge of compressed air or gas and the present invention more
particularly relates to those guns which are of a portable or semi-portable nature and
the invention is specially designed with the object of facilitating the transfer and
setting up of the gun promptly and easily.
In carrying out this invention I prefer to form a reservoir in sections so that each
section may be readily carried about. The sections may be joined together in any
convenient manner and are preferably formed as segments of a circle so that when
bolted or otherwise secured together a circular reservoir of any required size is
produced. This reservoir I use as the foundation for the gun and provide it if
necessary with a circular track upon which the gun or gun carriage may travel in
training. This track may either be upon the surface of the reservoir or outside it, in
which case it would preferably be carried upon brackets extending from the reservoir.
Each section of the reservoir or some of the sections may be provided with anchors,
plates or equivalent for the purpose of securing the reservoir in its position as it is
merely contemplated that a recess shall be formed in the ground of the proper size
and shape and that into this the reservoir shall be placed; or it may be built up
therein.
Each section of the reservoir may be connected with either of its neighbours or
with all the others and with the gun preferably by means of a central plug, pintle or
equivalent. Conveniently the centre of the reservoir may be an opening like the
body of a cock into which all the reservoirs open, then into this cock body would be

page_text: fitted the hollow pintle provided with one or more openings like the plug of the cock.
The bottom of the pintle would be closed to prevent the tendency of the pressure to
blow the pintle out and at or by its upper end it communicates in any convenient
manner with the gun direct or with the carriage by which the pressure would be
conducted to the gun. If there are many openings in the pintle, the pressure from
all the sections of the reservoir which are preferably but not necessarily otherwise
independent of and not connected with each other, would be constantly in connection
with its interior; and I prefer to arrange these openings in such manner that the
pintle shall always be in connection with the various sections of the reservoir. This
may be done in various ways as by arranging openings in the pintle one above the
other and so as to break joint or overlap, each opening being preferably longer in
the direction of the circumference of the pintle than the corresponding opening in
what I have previously called the cock body.
It will be understood that the reservoir can if desired be made all in one piece or
built as a single reservoir especially for small sizes but for the reasons stated in the
commencement of this Specification I generally prefer to make it of sections more
or less independent one of the other. These sections or the reservoir may be made
in any convenient manner and of any suitable material preferably by casting in
iron or steel.
Instead of forming the hollow cock body within the reservoir and providing the
pintle or plug upon the gun or gun carriage this arrangement may if desired be
altered or reversed, in which latter case the hollow pintle or plug would project from
the upper surface of the reservoir with the interior of which it would communicate
in any desired manner, and the gun carriage or yoke or possibly even the gun itself
would be placed over the plug or pintle the "cock body" being thus in the carriage
yoke or gun. The action would be the same as before.
Some difficulties present themselves in the construction of the sectional reservoir and
the making of the necessary tight joints; I prefer therefore to make it of an even
number of sections say for example six and divide it practically into two, each half,
composed of three sections, being practically complete in itself. In some cases the
sections of each half may be fitted and bolted together at the works or factory and
transported bodily to the place where the gun is to be fitted up, but generally the
jointing is so arranged that if necessary all the sections can be bolted up in their
proper places. A convenient arrangement is to have two sections which at their inner
ends are bolted and jointed to the pintle or to a central casting or piece which carries
the pintle; these two sections would be the only ones directly communicating with
the pintle but each of these two sections would have connected to and communicating
with it one of the other sections so that each of the above described complete halves
of the reservoir would consist of the central section which communicates with the
pintle and two other sections one on each side of the central one communicating with
the central section but not otherwise communicating with the pintle.
The reservoir may be simply laid upon the ground or rock and packed up or other-
wise secured if necessary according to the nature of the ground.
In the accompanying drawings ;-
Fig. 1 is a plan partly in section,
Fig. 2 a vertical section on the line a-b of Fig. 1, and
Fig. 3 a vertical section on the line c-d of Fig. 1.
Fig. 4 is a vertical section of a modified form of pintle.
Like letters indicate like parts throughout the drawings.
A represents the various sections each according to the arrangement shown in
Fig. 1 provided with a branch B and flange B' by which it is connected with the
flange of branch C of the cock body or centre D which in the arrangement
shown in the drawings, assumes the form of a fixed cock body or shell the hollow
plug or pintle E of which is connected with the gun carriage F with which it
revolves.
The annular space or recess D¹ traverses the centre D around the pintle E and con-
necting with the interiors of all the branches C and being open to the openings E¹

page_text: of the pintle E establishes permanent connection between the interiors of the sections A
and the hollow plug E. An alternative way of obtaining the same result by means
of superposed openings in the plug E and centre D has been already described.
The pintle E is shown closed at the bottom so as to prevent the tendency
which would otherwise exist of the great pressure inside it to lift it out of the
centre D.
The centre D is provided with a base G by which it may be securely bolted to the
foundation, holes G being provided for the purpose.
Each section A is preferably divided by any required number of perforated midriffs
or diaphragms A' A³ which while greatly strengthening each section allow of the free
passage of the gas under pressure from one part of each section to another. The
diaphragm A¹ is preferably made as shown in Fig. 1 to follow a circular course by
which means the rail or path H upon which the gun carriage travels is well sup-
ported all round on each section. The openings A³ provide for the passage of the air
as above explained.
Various means may be employed for connecting the sections together, bolts being
generally employed for the purpose; as however it is desirable that a key of some
sort should be introduced so as to securely lock together the contiguous faces of the
sections a key I is shown in the drawings for this purpose, the surrounding portions
of the sections being thickened at I to provide a socket for the introduction
of the key. It will be seen that this key serves two purposes; in the first place it
prevents either section being moved out radially away from the pintle without the
other going too, and since these sections are radially disposed and are drawn in
towards the centre by the bolts which fasten them to the pintle the keys by
preventing such radial movement also prevent the contiguous faces of the sections
from separating. In some cases these keys might be sufficient therefore to hold the
sections together but it is desirable to prevent any possibility of straining or breaking
and bolts passing through flanges K may with advantage be used for this purpose
and may also be placed on suitable flanges above and below the sections as well as
upon the periphery as shown in Figure 1. The flanges L upon the sections serve for
the holding-down bolts which secure the sections directly to the foundation.
It will be readily seen that various modifications in the construction of these
portable reservoirs may be made without in any way departing from the spirit of the
invention and I will indicate a few of those. In the drawings the plug or pintle E
is inside the cock body or centre D and is connected with the gun carriage; this
arrangement could be varied by making the pintle the fixture and fastening the centre
to the gun carriage so as to revolve with it. This arrangement is shown in Figure 4
where the pintle D is a fixture and connected to the reservoir, and the cap or yoke M
to which the gun carriage F is secured, turns upon it. Or instead of the arrange-
ment of plug and cock, orifices in a horizontal top face could be provided com-
municating with a corresponding annular orifice or annular or other orifices in or in
connection with the gun carriage and this working face instead of being a plain
horizontal face as above described might be a V-shaped projection fitting into a
V-shaped annular channel. The sections instead of forming as in the drawings an
annular reservoir with an open centre connected by the branches of the centre or
pintle could be carried right up to the centre thus providing increased capacity in the
reservoir. The design illustrated however is considered to be a more practical way
of carrying the invention into effect.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination with a sectional reservoir of a pneumatic gun of a centre such
as D having branches C by which it connects with the reservoir sections and a central
space or opening by or through which it connects with the gun or gun carriage
substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2 A sectional reservoir for pneumatic guns substantially as described,

page_text: 3. A reservoir for pneumatic guns constructed in sections forming an annular
reservoir the interior of each section being independent of all the others, and all the
sections connected together by a pintle centre or equivalent substantially as described
and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. A reservoir section such as Ä for a pneumatic gun shaped as the segment of a
circle and provided with a perforated diaphragm such as A¹ A³ also a segment of a
circle and adapted while generally strengthening the segment to support the path or
track of the gun carriage substantially as described and illustrated in the accom-
panying drawings.
י
5. In a reservoir for a pneumatic gun the combination with the contiguous
segmental reservoir sections such as A of a key such as I substantially as and for
the purpose described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
6. In a pneumatic gun the combination with the reservoir of the track or path for
the gun carriage secured directly upon or to or forming part of said reservoir sub-
stantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
7. In a pneumatic gun a combined foundation and reservoir substantially as
described.
D
1 1
1000