IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING TORPEDOES UNDER WATER
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Peter Brotherhood, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens, Notting
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING TORPEDOES UNDER WATER,"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Peter Brotherhood at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 12th October 1881.
PETER BROTHERHOOD, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill, in the County
of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING TORPEDOES
UNDER WATER"
My Invention relates to apparatus applicable to war vessels for discharging
torpedoes under water, the object which I have in view being to obtain facility
and rapidity of operation, and safety of action.
Within the vessel I fix on an axis parallel to the line of discharge a cylindrical
casing. Within this casing I provide two parallel tubes fixed to end discs, which
can be made to revolve by suitable gearing. When the two tubes are in one
position one of them faces an opening to the interior of the vessel, by which
opening a torpedo can be slid in, so as to occupy the interior of the tube. The
other tube is then facing an opening to the exterior of the vessel, through which
opening the torpedo contained in the tube can be discharged by a telescopic pusher
or other known means. Thus while one torpedo is being discharged from the one
tube another torpedo can be introduced into the other tube, and then by turning
the two tubes half round their common axis the empty tube is brought to the
charging aperture while the tube containing the torpedo is brought to the
discharging aperture.
In order to guide the torpedo as it issues from the tube I hinge to the exterior
of the vessel a bar which when not in use can be folded back into an external
recess, but which when required for use can be turned on its hinge by means of
internal gearing to the direction of discharge. The inner end of the casing at that
part which faces the tube in its discharging position communicates by a pipe with
the external water, so that as the torpedo is pushed along the tube water can flow
freely in behind it. Another part of the end of the casing communicates by a pipe
with the bilge, so that as the tube from which a torpedo had been discharged, and
which is filled with water, passes round to its charging position, it empties itself
ready to receive another torpedo. Both the discharge opening of the casing and
the pipe communicating from the outer water to its inner end are provided with
sluice valves, which can be closed when the apparatus is not in use.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Peter Brotherhood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th April 1882.
PETER BROTHERHOOD, of No. 25, Ladbroke Gardens, Notting Hill, in the County
of Middlesex. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DISCHARGING TORPEDOES
UNDER WATER."
My Invention relates to apparatus applicable to war vessels for discharging
torpedoes under water, the object which I have in view being to obtain facility
and rapidity of operation and safety of action.
Within the vessel I fix on an axis parallel to the line of discharge a cylindrical
casing. Within this casing I provide two parallel tubes fixed to end discs, which
can be made to revolve by suitable gearing. When the two tubes are in one
position, one of them-faces an opening to the interior of the vessel, by which
opening a torpedo can be slid in so as to occupy the interior of the tube. The
other tube is then facing an opening to the exterior of the vessel, through which
opening the torpedo contained in the tube can be discharged by a telescopic pusher
or other known means. Thus while one torpedo is being discharged from the one
tube another torpedo can be introduced into the other tube, and then by turning
the two tubes half round their common axis the empty tube is brought to the
charging aperture while the tube containing the torpedo is brought to the
discharging aperture.
.
In order to guide the torpedo as it issues from the tube I hinge to the exterior
of the vessel a bar, which when not in use can be folded back into an external
recess, but which when required for use can be turned on its hinge by means of
internal gearing to the direction of discharge. The inner end of the casing at that
part which faces the tube in its discharging position communicates by a pipe with
the external water, so that as the torpedo is pushed along the tube water can flow
freely behind it. Another part of the end of the casing communicates by a pipe
with the bilge, so that as the tube from which a torpedo had been discharged, and
which is filled with water, passes round to its charging position, it empties itself
ready to receive another torpedo. Both the discharge opening of the casing and
the pipe communicating from the outer water to its inner end are provided with
sluice valves, which can be closed when the apparatus is not in use.
The accompanying Drawings represent apparatus according to my Invention for
discharging torpedoes under water. Fig. 1 is a side view; Fig. 2 is a sectional
plan; Fig. 3 is an end view; Fig. 4 is a plan of the front part shewing the
mechanism for working the external guide bar; and Fig. 5 is a front view thereof,
the side of the ship being supposed to be removed to shew the internal construc-
tion. Within a stationary cylindrical casing A. I provide two tubes B, B', open at
both ends, and fixed parallel to each other to two end discs C, C', which are fitted
to revolve on stationary trunnions c, c, projecting inwards from the ends of the
casing A. A shaft D, worked by worm or other suitable gearing, has on it
pinions d, d', which gear with teeth on the discs C, C', so that by turning the
shaft D these discs, along with the tubes B, B', can be caused to revolve within
the casing A. When the tubes are in one position, as shewn in Fig. 2, a torpedo T,
which is laid on a guide trough E, can be pushed into the one tube B through a
hole in the one end of the casing A, and another torpedo T', which is in the other
tube B¹ can by means of a propelling apparatus F be pushed out through a hole in
the opposite end of the casing A, which hole is connected by a pipe provided with
a sluice valve G to the side H of the vessel. When the torpedo T¹ has been
discharged the tubes B, B', are turned half a revolution round their common axis,

page_text: and the torpedo T in its tube B is thus brought into position for being discharged,
whilst the empty tube B¹ is brought into position for receiving a fresh torpedo.
On the outside of the vessel I provide a recess in which a guide bar I lies while
the torpedo apparatus is not in use. This bar is fixed to an axis i, which extends
upwards through a stuffing box, and has fixed on it a toothed sector gearing with
a worm J. By turning this worm by means of a hand wheel; the bar I is caused
to move to the position shewn by the dotted lines I' in Fig. 2 in line with the
discharge tube. The bar I has a groove along it corresponding with a groove in
each of the tubes B, B¹, which serves as a guide to the torpedo, a stud on the side of
the torpedo passing along this groove.
A pipe K furnished with a sluice valve k leads from the external water to the
end of the casing A, into which it opens in line with the tube B. This admits
water behind the torpedo as it is urged along the tube. A pipe L leading to the
bilge of the vessel has a segmental opening into the casing A, so that when the
tube B', from which a torpedo has been discharged and which is then full of water
is moving round to the position of B for receiving a fresh torpedo, it is emptied of
its water by the pipe L.
The propelling apparatus F may be of any known kind, such as a combination
of telescopic tubes, in which compressed air is employed for propulsion, as is well
understood.
When the torpedo apparatus is not in use the guide bar I is folded back into the
recess, and the sluice valves G and k may be closed, so that the apparatus can be
removed, or access can be got to it for cleansing or repair, all communication with
the external water being cut off.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, I claim,―
First. The use of apparatus for discharging torpedoes under water, substantially
as herein described with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Second. In combination with torpedo discharging apparatus the external guide I
capable of being folded back into a recess in the side of the vessel, substantially as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Peter Brotherhood, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
TATA
T
BROTHERHOOD.
(L.S.)