Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Nov., 1886
Complete Left, 15th. Aug., 1887
Complete Accepted, 11th Nov., 1887
I JOHN ROGERSON of Croxdale Hall in the County of Durham Steel Manufacturer
and ALEXANDER DOWNIE of The Ashes House Stanhope in the County of Durham
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to provide a Gun Carriage in which the recoil of
the
gun takes place within the carriage so as to obviate injurious strain upon the deck
or other place where the gun is situated the arrangement being also such that the
elevating sighting and firing of the gun can be done by one man whilst the training
and traversing can also be done by one man so that only two men are required on the
gun after it is loaded.
The carriage and gun are elevated or depressed together.
The carriage is fixed to the slide or platform by a double eye and pin the slide or
platform carriage and gun all being carried on a pivot and revolving on a roller ring
or ball bearing running on a pivot block the rear part of the slide or platform being
supported by rollers running on a racer. The centre of gravity of the whole mass
should be arranged so as to come a little to the rear of the pivot to throw very little
weight upon the racer and so reduce to a minimum the amount of power required to
train or traverse.
The gun thus mounted recoils in a direct line when fired reducing the strains about
50% from those now prevailing owing to the ordinary slides or platformis having an
angle of from 10 to 15 degrees which causes the strains on the decks of ships for
example to be very severe even when the gun is fired point blank and still more
so when the gun is fired at elevation the great strains being due to the opposing
angles of the slide or platform in the one direction and the gun at elevation in the
other.
The sights are placed in a convenient position for the gunner to take aim and at
the same time work the elevating hand wheel so admitting of his performing the
onerations of alevatino sighting and firing The elevating goar mav be of the

page_text: ordinary type namely a worm working into a worm wheel provided with a friction
cluich and a pinion working into a rack. The training or traversing can also be
done by one man who is placed at the hand wheel which drives the pinion gearing
into the wheel from which the worm is driven which gears into the wheel or rack
on the pivot on which the gun is trained and traversed. The recoil is overcome by
recoil presses consisting of cylinders and rams (placed on the centro line of the gun
to reduce the tipping tendency to a minimum) by which water or other liquid is
forced through valves into an accumulator against pistons which compress springs
thus storing up power for again running the gun out to the firing position when the
recoil has been overcome. The springs extend and force the liquid through an
inlet valve into the recoil presses pushing the rams forward and thereby running the
gun out.
Dated this 13th day of November 1886.

page_text: Improvements in Gun Carriages or Apparatus for Mounting and
Working Ordnance.
We JOHN ROGERSON of Croxdale Hall in the County of Durham Steel Manu-
facturer and ALEXANDER DOWNIE of The Ashes House Stanhope in the County of
Durham Engineer 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 this Invention is to provide a Gun Carriage in which the recoil of
the Gun takes place within the Carriage so as to obviate injurious strain upon the
deck or other place where the gun is situated the arrangement being also such that
the elevating sighting and firing of the gun can be done by one man whilst the
training and traversing can also be done by one man so that only two men are required
to operate the gun after it is loaded.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 a plan and Figure 3 a transverso section on
the line 1, 2 of Figure 1. Figure 4 is a detail as hereinafter described illustrating
this Invention. Figures 5 and 6 are an end view and a side view showing the means
for preventing the gun from turning independently.
The carriage B and gun are elevated or deprossed together. The carriage B is
fixed to the slide or platform O by eyes o¹ o¹ o o carried by the carriage B and slide
or platform O respectively. The carriage and slide or platform are connected by
pins o o passing through the said oyos as shown in soction in Figure 3 and the gun
and carriage rest on these pins which answer the purpose of trunnions. The cross
arms T are situated in the position usually occupied by trunnions in other guns.
The gun is prevented from turning on its trunnions by a clip A fixed on the under-
side of the gun towards the breech end and attached at its front end to a ring
shrunk on the gun and at its rear and bolted to the breech ring of the gun, an
undercut guide being provided in the saddle or carriage (as shewn clearly in Figure 5)
for the corresponding shaped part of the clip A to travel in.
To the housings or
sliders in which the cross arms T are mounted the rams T are attached in the same
horizontal plane as the axis of the gun on each side thereof so that the gun recoils
between the points X and X' along the slides B.
The slide or platform, carriage, and gun, are all carried on a pivot P and revolve
on a roller ring P' or ball bearing running on a pivot block R the rear part of the
slide or platform being supported by rollers R' running on a race R². The centre of
gravity of the whole mass should be arranged so as to come a little to the rear of the
pivot P to throw very little weight upon the race and so reduce to a minimum the
amount of power required to train or traverse. The gun thus mounted recoils in
direct lines when fired reducing the strains to about half those now prevailing owing
to the ordinary slides or platforms having an angle of from 10 to 15 degrees which
causes the strains on the decks of ships for example to be very severe even when the

page_text: gun is fired point blank and still more so when the gun is fired at elevation the great
strains being due to the opposing angles of the slide or platform in the one direction
and the gun at elevation in the other.
The sights are placed in a convenient position for the gunner to take aim and at
the same time work the elevating hand wheel E which is so situated as to admit of his
performing the operations of elevating sighting and firing.
The elevating gear may be of the ordinary type nainely a worm F working into a
worm wheel G provided with a friction clutch and a pinion Ḥ working into a rack I.
The training or traversing can also be done by one man who is placed at the hand
wheel K which drives the pinion K' gearing into the wheel L from which the worm M
(see the plan Figure 2) is driven which gears into the wheel or rack N on the pivot
block on which the gun is trained and traversed. The recoil is overcome by recoil
presses (one of which is shown in section in figure 4) consisting of cylinders S and
the aforesaid rams T (placed on the centre line of the gun to reduce the tipping
tendency to a minimum) by which water or other liquid is forced through valves a a
into an accumulator b against hollow or tubular pistons having springs c in their
interior which springs are compressed when the recoil takes place thus, storing up
power for again running the gun out to the firing position as when the recoil has
been overcome the springs c extend and force the liquid back again through the
inlet valves a a into the cylinders S thereby pushing the rams forward and running
the gun out to the firing position and during this movement the gunner can be
training or elevating the gun if necessary whilst the latter is being thus automatically
run out.
Compressed air may be used instead of the springs c.
:
Having now particularly described and. ascertained the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we claim is :-
First In gun mountings the arrangement of the carriage and slide or platform
to which it is pivotted so that the gun recoils within or over the carriage the gun and
carriage being elevated and depressed together substantially as herein before described
and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Second-In gun mountings the arrangement of recoil presses at each side of the
gun in combination with slides on the carriage substantially as hereinbefore described
and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Third-In gun mountings the construction or arrangement of recoil presses sub-
stantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated more particularly in Figure 4 of
the accompanying drawings.
Fourth In gun mountings the combination of the slide or platform the pivot
block R and roller ring P' arranged for reducing friction to a minimum substantially
as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Fifth-The general arrangement and combination of parts constituting the gun
carriage or mounting substantially as hereinbefore described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.