IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS OF WAR AND WORKING OF LARGE GUNS
Year: 1870

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frank William Haddan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
20th December 1870.
I, FRANK WILLIAM HADDAN, of 41, Treherne Road, Brixton, in
the County of Surrey, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN SHIPS OF WAR AND
WORKING OF LARGE GUNS," to be as follows:―
IN THE
The Invention contemplates ships having a low freeboard and hurri-
cane deck, with or without poop, forecastle, or other chambered erection
above the freeboard level, and consists in constructing them with moving
or moveable sides or filling surfaces to fill up the openings or space
between the main deck or freeboard level and the hurricane deck, so as
when the guns are not in use or temporarily to convert the low free-
board into a higher freeboard and render the ship safer than heretoforc.
Also the constructing the hurricane deck with folding or extensible
parts, so as to become widened on either side to meet the said moving
or moveable sides or filling surfaces when the guns are not required to
be used, the movement of the said folding or extensible parts and of the
said sides or surfaces being connected or not connected and dependent

page_text: upon or independent of each other. And when such ships are provided
with turrets or gunwells the constructing said ships so that the turrets
or guns or both may be raised and depressed, as desired, in conjunction
with the improved sides or filling surfaces, or otherwise, and in some
cases with the raising and depressing motion partly or entirely counter-
poised or more than counterpoised by the motion of the improved sides
or filling surfaces.
The improvements in working guns whether muzzle, pivoting, or
otherwise, and whether employed in ships of war or in forts consists in
balancing or mounting them in pairs with apparatus admitting of their
being thereby raised to the desired height for firing over a parapet, or
otherwise, and thereby depressed to a position of security, the said
apparatus being so constructed as that on the recoil of either gun when
fired, whether compressors be used or not, the said gun shall become
depressed and the other gun become raised, or that when not firing the
two gun may be balanced in any desired position. And it is con-
templated with regard to the said mode of balancing or mounting so to
construct the apparatus as to permit the guns being released from their
mutual movement when no firing is desired or when it is desirable that
both guns may be stationed in or at a lower position.
The Invention further embraces the constructing the said moving or
moveable sides or filling surfaces of ships of war or portions of them,
or the said folding or expansible parts of the hurricane deck or portions
of them, or the screens over port holes or casemates in ships or forts or
elsewhere (all or any of these) in combinations with the mounting of
guns so as that the said sides surfaces, parts, or portions, or the said
screens may be and act as a counterpoise for absorbing partly or entirely
or more than entirely the recoil of the guns in addition to the weight
of the guns or not so, and whether compressors be also employed or
otherwise. Also the combination generally of covered turrets or of roof
screens for protection whilst firing with guns so mounted as to fire over
a parapet and become depressed on the recoil, and whether balanced as
above set forth or otherwise.
It is to be understood that the Invention also embraces the appli-
cation of all the above-mentioned improvements or some of them to
ships without hurricane decks.
In performing the Invention the moving or moveable sides or filling
surfaces may be raised from against the sides of the ship whether from

page_text: hollow casings therein or otherwise, and either in bulk or in pieces, and
with or without the addition of moving or moveable main guide pieces or
framing, or the said sides or pieces may be worked sideways or otherwise,
from poop, forecastle, or other erections, or may work on hinges or joints
from the freeboard level so as to fall inwards on to the deck or outwards
against the side or at an angle, or may work on hinges or joints from
above, and may be constructed to fold, or the said hinges or joints may be
omitted and replaced by any convenient fitting, or any convenient com-
bination of the above-mentioned modes of performance may be employed,
The folding or expansion of the hurricane deck may be effected by parts
hinged to or slided out from its fixed parts or portions. The balancing
or mounting the guns in pairs may be effected by balancing their
platforms or carriages of whatever description, and if the carriages be
constituted with a parallel or other motion ensuring a depression by the
recoil when fired the recoil of one may be employed to raise the other
gun, compressors being also employed if desired.
The balancing system is also intended to be employed as the means
of making the moving or moveable parts of the sides and of the hurri-
cane decks of ships and the screens to guns (in whatever manner
employed) available for absorbing the recoil.
The protecting roof screens above referred to are for ships intended
to be constructed as turrets, that is to say, with closed sides with ports
therein, but for land purposes these sides may be dispensed with.