Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 1st Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 8th Feb., 1887.
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:
1
This invention has for its object improvements in accumulators and in their
application to gun mountings.
For this purpose I pack within a strong outer vessel a number of flattened air tight
tubes preferably made of metal. These tubes or inner chambers are filled with air at
a high pressure and are then hermetically sealed up.
The tubes are piled together so that their flat sides are mutually supporting one
another whilst in some cases the outer ones are supported by the walls of the outer
containing vessel. Space is left at the sides and ends of the tubes for liquid to circulate
freely.
The tubes are thin or flexible enough to yield if a pressure be applied to them
externally by forcing liquid into the main or containing vessel. This liquid will press
in the flat sides and by diminishing the internal capacity of the tubes, the pressure of
the contained air or gas, will be raised in proportion to the amount of liquid forced in.
Power will thus be stored up to be given off at any time when the liquid is allowed to
be forced out of the outer vessel by the expansion of the air in the tubes, which will
restore the tubes to their former shape and bring the flat sides touching one another.
At this point the expansion is stopped.
The flattened tubes may be of a wedge shaped section to pile radially together and
be contained in a cylindrical casing or they may be in the form of flattened dises piled
one on the other or a flattened tube coiled into the form of a helix might be used-or
other forms may be employed so long as they give collapsible chambers capable of
yielding to the external pressure and so fitted in the outer containing vessel as to
receive support from one another or from the said vessel.
By the use of flattened air vessels charged with air under pressure the following
advantages are obtained over the ordinary system of hydro-pneumatic vessel.
(I). The air is kept from contact with the liquid and therefore the liquid cannot be
aerated and the air then carried out of the vessel with the water.

page_text: (II). The liquid can be entirely drawn off or may leak from the vessel without
risking the loss of air.
(III). The point, after compression, to which the expansion is allowed to take place
is defined and fixed.
(IV). The construction of an air vessel on this principle becomes an affair for the
manufacturer and the air is pumped in once for all, so that it is not necessary to supply
air pumps to the users of the vessel, nor to have pressure gauges or air lever indicators
on the vessel.
(V). The liquid can be run off if the vessel is not to be used for some length of time
its power to do work is thus destroyed and danger from unexpected action is
prevented.
Air vessels formed in the above manner I apply to gun carriages made on the
disappearing principle. The chambers in which the collapsible tubes or reservoirs of
compressed air are to be placed are formed around the recoil cylinder proper. Liquid
surrounds the collapsible tubes and fills the centre cylinder, and when the ram enters
this cylinder the liquid is forced through non-return valves into all the outer chambers
and compressing the tubes and the air in them, thereby stores up the work of the
recoil of the gun till a passage is opened from each of the chambers to the central
cylinder, when the compressed air will expand the tubes and force the liquid surround-
ing them into the central cylinder and cause the ram to be pushed out to do the work
of lifting the gun again into the firing position.
The air vessel may if preferred be separated from the recoil cylinder or be made
with it as one chamber.
I also propose to apply this system of air vessel to naval gun mountings to obtain
the advantage of an automatic return of the gun after firing in conjunction with a gun
slide inclined so that the gun recoils down the incline. In this case the gun carriage
would be fitted as usual with the hydraulic cylinders, pistons and rods, to check the
recoil of the gun, and would in addition be provided with air vessels carried in the
carriage or in the slide which would receive the portion of liquid discharged from the
cylinder by the entrance of the piston rod. The force thus stored up would when
allowed to act, cause the gun and carriage to run out up the incline of the slide.
The advantage gained being that the usual incline against the recoil of the gun being
replaced by an incline in favor of the recoil, the strain produced on the deck of the ship
would be very much reduced.
Also in the case of a gun slide pivotted at the front end, and arranged to be moved
with the gun in giving elevation or depression, to avoid the waste of power which occurs
when the gun carriage and slide are lifted up each time it is required to depress the
gun, I propose to fit in connection with such a slide a hydraulic lifting press, having
open communication with the described kind of air vessel, so that the weight of the gun,
carriage and slide shall be in whole or in part counterbalanced by the pressure of the
liquid acted upon by the air chambers.
This will enable the gun to be moved up or down without so great a waste of work
taking place, and the movement of the gun may still be made by any of the usual
methods, whether hydraulic or by a train of hand gear.
I propose to apply the air vessel constructed on the above described principle to the
gun carriages of rapid fire guns. A place for it would be found in the pedestal
supporting the gun carriage or in the larger sized carriages in the gun carriage itself.
Its use would be to supply the necessary spring power to rapidly return the gun to
firing position after each round.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in Accumulators and in their Application to
Gun Mountings.
I CHARLES HENRY MURRAY (Engineer) of Elswick Works Newcastle on Tyne 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 has for its object improvements in accumulators and in their
application to gun mountings.
For this purpose I pack within a strong outer vessel a number of flattened air tight
tubes preferably made of metal. These tubes or inner chambers are filled with air at
a high pressure and are then hermetically sealed up.
The tubes are piled together so that their flat sides are mutually supporting one
another whilst in some cases the outer ones are supported by the walls of the outer
containing vessel, or it might be by independent supports. Space is left at the sides
and ends of the tubes for liquid to circulate freely.
The tubes are thin or flexible enough to yield if a pressure be applied to them
externally by forcing liquid into the main or containing vessel. This liquid will
press in the flat sides and by diminishing the internal capacity of the tubes the
pressure of the contained air or gas will be raised in proportion to the amount of
liquid forced in.
Power will thus be stored up to be given off at any time when the liquid is allowed
to be forced out of the outer vessel by the expansion of the air in the tubes, which will
restore the tubes to their former shape and bring the flat sides touching one another.
At this point the expansion is stopped.
The flattened tubes may be of a wedge shaped section to pile radially together and
be contained in a cylindrical casing or they may be in the form of flattened discs
piled one on the other or a flattened tube coiled into the form of a helix might be used,
or other forms may be employed so long as they give collapsible chambers capable of
yielding to the external pressure and so fitted in the outer containing vessel as to
receive support from one another or from the said vessel.
By the use of flattened air vessels charged with air under pressure the following
advantages are obtained over the ordinary system of hydro-pneumatic vessel.
(I) The air is kept from contact with the liquid and therefore the liquid cannot be
aerated and the air then carried out of the vessel with the water.
(II) The liquid can be entirely drawn off or may leak from the vessel without
risking the loss of air.
(III) The point after compression to which the expansion is allowed to take place is
defined and fixed.
(IV) The construction of an air vessel on this principle becomes an affair for the
manufacturer and the air is pumped in once for all so that it is not necessary to supply
air pumps to the users of the vessel nor to have pressure gauges or air lever indicators
on the vessel,.

page_text: "
(V) The liquid can be run off if the vessel is not to be used for some length of
time its power to do work is thus destroyed and danger from unexpected action
is prevented.
Air vessels formed in the above manner I apply to gun carriages made on the
disappearing principle. The chambers in which the collapsible tubes or reservoirs of
compressed air are to be placed are formed around the recoil cylinder proper. Liquid
surrounds the collapsible tubes and fills the centre cylinder and when the ram enters
this cylinder the liquid is forced through non-return valves into all the outer chambers
and compressing the tubes and the air in them thereby stores up the work of the recoil
of the gun till a passage is opened from each of the chambers to the central cylinder
when the compressed air will expand the tubes and force the liquid surrounding them
into the central cylinder and cause the ram to be pushed out to do the work of lifting
the gun again into the firing position.
The air vessel may if preferred be separated from the recoil cylinder or be made
with it as one chamber.
I also apply this system of air vessel to naval gun mountings to obtain the advantage
of an automatic return of the gun after firing in conjunction with a gun slide inclined
so that the gear recoils down the incline. In this case the gun carriage would be fitted
as usual with the hydraulic cylinders pistons and rods to check the recoil of the gun
and would in addition be provided with air vessels carried in the carriage or in the
slide which would receive the portion of liquid discharged from the cylinder by the
entrance of the piston rod. The force thus stored up would when allowed to act cause
the gun
and carriage to run out up the incline of the slide."
The advantage gained being that the usual incline against the recoil of the gun being
replaced by an incline in favour of the recoil the strain produced on the deck of the
ship would be very much reduced.
Also in the case of a gun slide pivotted at the front end and arranged to be moved
with the gun in giving elevation or depression, to avoid the waste of power which
occurs when the gun, carriage and slide are lifted up each time it is required to depress
the I fit in connection with such a slide a hydraulic lifting press, having open
gun,
communication with the described kind of air vessel, so that the weight of the gun,
carriage and slide shall be in whole or in part counterbalanced by the pressure of the
liquid acted upon by the air chambers.
This will enable the gun to be moved up or down without so great a waste of work
taking place, and the movement of the gun may still be made by any of the usual
methods, whether hydraulic or by a train of hand gear.
The air vessel constructed on the above described principle may also be applied to
the gun carriages of rapid fire guns. A place for it would be found in the pedestal
supporting the gun carriage or in the larger sized carriages in the gun carriage itself.
Its use would be to supply the necessary spring power to rapidly return the gun to
firing position after each round.
The drawings annexed show examples of accumulators formed as above described
and applied to gun mountings.
Figure 1 is an end view partly in section and Figure 2 a longitudinal section of a
recoil cylinder with accumulators ranged around it for a gun mounted on the dis-
appearing principle. The cylinder and accumulators shown are adapted for a 6 inch
gun. Figure 3 shows full size an end view partly in section. Figure 4 a side elevation
also partly in section of one end of an assemblage of flattened tubes for one of the
accumulator chambers.
A is a ram thrust into the cylinder B by the recoil of the gun-the cylinder B is
mounted on trunnions-C is a throttling plug to regulate the recoil-D is a clack valve
to prevent the return of the liquid displaced by the ram and forced into the accumulator
chambers E-F are the flattened collapsible tubes-G are plugs with which the ends
of the flattened tubes are closed-H are connecting pipes from one flattened tube to
another J is a filling cock or valve through which the assemblage of flattened tubes
is filled with air or other gas under high pressure.
I prefer to make each tube F of solid drawn copper or brass-the tubes being drawn

page_text: of a circular section and afterwards flattened. The flattened tubes shown in the
drawing would each be about 47 inches in length and may advantageously be made of
metal about 032 of an inch in thickness.
The copper plugs G with which the ends of the tubes are filled up are soldered or
preferably brazed in so as to be perfectly air tight.
Each group is composed say of 8 or 10 flattened tubes piled together and bolted
between two plates say of brass or iron made of a circular form at the back so as to
bear against the sides of the containing cylinder.
After they have been placed in the containing cylinder air or other gas under
pressure is forced into them through the filling cock J by means of a force pump
(provided with a separator to drain off moisture and deliver only dry air) and when
the required pressure say about 560 lbs to the square inch has been attained the small
valve Jis shut and afterwards herinetically sealed by soldering it up. The small
valve J may be formed in the manner shown at Figure 4.
A byo pass valve not shown in the drawing is also provided by which liquid
which has been forced by the recoil from the cylinder B into the accumulator
chambers E may be allowed to return back by passages leading from each chamber
into the cylinder.
Figure 5 shows a side elevation and Figure 6 a plan view of a gun mounted on a
naval gun carriage fitted with one of the accumulators.
A recoil cylinder A is provided at each side of the gun carriage from each a pipe
leads to the accumulator chamber B-the passage into the chamber B being fitted with
a non return valve C-D is a bye pass valve by opening which liquid previously forced
by the recoil into the chamber B may be allowed to pass back again into the recoil
cylinder A and thereby cause the gun to be run out.
Views of the accumulator chaniber B on a larger scale are shown at Figures 7, 8, 9
and 10. Figure 7 is a longitudinal section of the chamber. Figures 8 and 9 are end
views Figure 10 is a part section on the line A B Figure 8.
A is a steel containing cylinder-B are flattened collapsible tubes-Care the plugs
brazed into the ends of the tubes-D are the iron plates with rounded backs to fit
against the interior of the cylinder.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
1. An accumulator composed of a containing vessel having within it collapsible
chambers filled with air or other gas under pressure and receiving support from one
another or from the vessel or in other convenient way to limit the extent to which they
are free to expand so that the minimum pressure within the accumulator always
remains fixed and does not require to be regulated from time to time.
2. An accumulator composed of a containing vessel having within it flattened
metallic tubes filled with air or gas under pressure and restrained from expanding
beyond a certain point by support given to them by one another or by the containing
vessel or in other convenient way substantially as described.
3. The construction of accumulators substantially as herein before described and
illustrated in the drawing annexed.
4. The combination of hydraulic accumulators constructed as herein before described
with gun mountings.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.