Improvements in Brakes of Gun-carriages.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Dec., 1895
Complete Specification Left, 11th Sept., 1896-Accepted, 17th Oct., 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes of Gun-carriages.
I, AUGUST REICHWALD, of 9 New Broad Street in the City of London, Steel,
Iron, Metal and Mineral Merchant do hereby declare the nature of this invention,
(a communication to me from abroad by the Firm of Fried. Krupp of Essen, in the
Empire of Germany, Cast Steel Manufacturers,) to be as follows:-
The invention relates to a brake for gun-carriages and has for object to shorten
the recoil movement of guns with wheel-carriages and to use a part of the energy
of the recoil for automatically bringing the gun to its initial position.
This effect is obtained by fixing to the carriage an elastic brake, the fore part
of which is connected to the carriage cheeks by a joint-bolt whilst its rear part,
upon which the fore one can slide under tension of the rod-springs, stands in fixed
connection with a spur (blade, spade or pick).
By force of the round fired this spur is driven into the ground and the fore part
of the brake, together with the carriage, therefore runs back against the fixed rear
part. In consequence thereof the brake is compressed, its springs are put in
tension and take up part of the energy of the recoil which is used for again bringing
forward the carriage.
By this means, on the one hand the recoil is shortened, on the other hand, after
the completion of the recoil, the carriage is brought entirely or nearly so to the
position which it had before the round was fired.
The invention therefore essentially consists in a recoil brake for wheel-carriages
to check the recoil and to automatically bring the gun to its initial position,
characterised by an elastic brake the fore part of which connected with the carriage
by a joint-bolt, runs back together with the carriage and, while doing so, slides,
under tension of the rod-springs, upon the rear part which is fixed to a spur driven
into the ground.
Th: 14th day of Doombox 1805
Improvements in Brakes of Gun-carriages
I, AUGUST REICHWALD, of 9 New Broad Street, in the City of London, Steel,
Iron, Metal and Mineral Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention, (a communication to me from abroad by the Firm of Fried. Krupp of
Essen in the Empire of Germany, Cast Steel Manufacturers) 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 brakes of gun carriages, and has for its object to
shorteu or reduce the recoil of guns mounted on wheeled carriages, and to run the
same out automatically into the original firing position, thereby utilizing a part of
the energy of the recoil for automatically bringing the gun to its initial position.

page_text: This object is effected by arranging a system of spring or elastic brake rods on
the carriage, said system having its front part connected by means of a pivot or
joint bolt to the walls of the carriage, and having its rear portion (upon which the
front portion can slide back, placing the springs of the rods in tension) rigidly con-
nected to a spur. When the gun is fired this spur is driven into the ground, and
therefore the front parts of the rodding move back with the carriage, relatively to
the fixed rear portion. In consequence of this the rodding is telescoped, its springs
are put in tension and take up a part of the energy of recoil which is utilized to
run the carriage forward again. By this means the recoil is reduced and after the
termination of the same the gun is returned wholly or partially into the position
which it occupied before firing.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates in side elevation partly in section,
and Fig. 2 in plan, a form of construction of a recoil brake of this kind. As shewn
in the drawings the spur A which is.to be driven into the ground consists of a wide
angularly bent plate (a front of which spur is shown at Fig. 3) and is fixed by
means of a screw, or nut and bolt B, to a cross piece C. The attachment may be
such as to allow the spur plate to turn to a certain extent about the bolt B, and
thereby to adapt itself automatically to irregularities of the ground.
The cross piece C serves to connect the two parallel rods D, which are made
hollow to reduce the weight, and which are guided in the tubes E, by means of the
piston K screwed on the forward ends of the rods D. The cylinders or tubes E
are pivotted with their front head or cap L, by means of the joint bolts S, to the
walls of the carriage in the vicinity of the road wheel axle Y, or they may be sus-
pended from or pivotted to the latter. The tubes E have in their interior a helical
spring H, the abutment of which is formed by the inside or rear side of the cap L,
and the piston K, and a tube J fixed to said piston and serving to guide the spring.
The rear caps F of the tubes E are tapped with screw thread, into which there
screws a sleeve G, which is slipped over the rod D. By screwing this sleeve (the
front end of which face serves as an abutment to the piston K) forwards or
backwards, the initial tension of the spring Ḥ can be increased or diminished
according to requirements.
"A guide bar V fixed to the sides of the carriage, between the two tubes E, causes
the vertical middle plane of the latter to coincide always with the vertical middle
plane of the carriage.
The rear caps F of the tubes are rigidly connected together by means of a cross
bolt or plate M. This bolt or plate carries a chain link or shackle N, from which
a chain is led over the guide pulley Q, to another link or shackle P which is
screwed in the spur A. The bearing R of the guide pulley is fixed to the sides of
the carriage, and the arrangement is such that the chain is stretched tight when
the piston K, is in its rearmost position as shewn.
The mode of operation of the brake when the gun is fired is as follows:-
First the spur A is driven by the recoil into the ground in the manner shewn at
Fig. 1. The surface X X of the ground is in reality horizontal but is shewn inclined
in the drawing only with the object of leaving sufficient space for the illustration
of the brake apparatus in two views on the sheet of drawings. The parts D
and K, which are rigidly connected with the spur A, are prevented from moving
back, whilst the gun carriage sliding with its trail along the ground in the direction
of the arrow shewn in Fig. 1, moves back in such a manner that the sides of the
gun carriage remain parallel to themselves. By this means the bolt S also moves
back in a horizontal line and diminishes its distance from the spur A, or the distance
of the caps L from the pistons K.
The tubes E therefore move rearwardly over and past the pistons K, and the
springs H are compressed. The whole of the recoil is consumed by the work
necessary for this purpose, in conjunction with the resistance of friction and with
the resistance offered by the ground to the penetration, turning, and any rearward-
travel of the spur.
The backward movement of the bolts S causes at the same time an increase in.

page_text: the angles which are comprised between the brake rod or their axes with the ground
on one hand, and with the carriage walls on the other. By this means the pulley Q
moves away also from the cross piece M, and keeps the chain O taut, which would
otherwise become slack if there were no pulley Q in consequence of the entrance
of the rods D into the tubes E during the recoil. When the recoil is ended the
springs H again expand and by means of the forwardly moved bolt S, carry the
whole carriage partially or wholly into its original position, the spur A serving as
the abutment to the said springs. The carriage trail is by this means also moved
again nearer to the spur A, in an almost constrained manner by means of the
pulley Q and the chain O, and the spur A is fixed to the trail when the gun is
limbered up and travelling without the necessity of a special manipulation for this
purpose. When the rod D is in the drawn out position corresponding to the
moment of firing as shewn, the chain prevents the spur A. from moving away from
the carriage walls. The component of recoil acting in the direction of the carriage
walls, is therefore not able to drive the spur deeper into the ground than is allowed
by the carriage trail that bears upon the ground. The drawbacks which attend a
too deep penetration of the spur into the ground are thus obviated.
It may happen for reasons such as by reason of unsuitable ground or from any
other cause, that it is desired to place the brake apparatus out of action. In such
case it is only necessary to move the cross piece C with the spur A forward to such
an extent that it bears close up against the cross piece M, and the spur A does.
not touch the ground. Figs. 4 and 5 illustrate an arrangement which allows of
this. In this arrangement the piston K is slipped loosely upon the rod D, and is
held in a longitudinal direction by the retaining pin T (as shewn at Fig. 4) which
can be prevented from falling out by means of a spring U or in any other manner.
On drawing out the pin T, the rod D can be pushed forward into the tubes J to
the extent necessary for throwing the spur out of operation. The rod D is provided.
approximately at its centre (Fig. 4) with a second hole for the pin for fixing the
piston K at the suitable spot. By means of this arrangement it is therefore
possible to place the spur A out of operation without it being necessary to put the
springs H in tension. By moving the cross piece C against the cross piece M,
the chain O is rendered slack, and allows the brake rods to turn by their own
weight about the bolt S, until the spur A. lies upon the ground or as far as the
chain would let it. In order to prevent this there is provided behind the pulley-.
bearing R, on the lower side of the carriage walls, a hook W (as shewn at Fig. 5)
in each case, which takes over the two upper projections Z of the spur A, when
the latter is in this position.
Instead of the two helical springs employed for the brake rods, one or more
springs or even springs of other shape or arrangement, or rubber buffers or any
other elastic intermediate devices may be employed without altering the mode of
operation. In such cases only unimportant alterations of details would be requisite.
Also instead of the chain O in combination with the pulley Q that is mounted on
the carriage for the purpose of guiding the spur A approximately in a constrained
manner, during the recoil movement, and the running out movement, there may be
employed a spring which has a tendency to fix the tube E to the walls of the
carriage, and which allows the carriage trail to rise up away from the spur only
within certain limits.
According to a modification I arrange the springs of the rods around the guide
tubes that form part of the latter, instead of in the same. This has the advantage
that the springs are completely guided along their whole length in every condition
of tension, and also that the-guidance of the rods D in the tubes E, is considerably
longer and is therefore rendered much safer and more certain. This is shewn in
sectional side elevation and plan respectively at Figs. 6 and 7 the drawing.
illustrating only one of the two symmetrical spring rods that connects the spur A
with the side frames of the gun carriage. As shewn the spur A is connected with
the rods D in the same manner as in the recoil brake shewn in the previous.
figures. The rods D are guided at their central portions in the sleeves U, provided

page_text: at the rear ends of the guide tubes E, and by means of the pistons K, fixed at their
forward ends in the tubes E. The latter which are movably jointed with the
carriage walls by means of the front cap L are surrounded by the helical springs H.
They are provided at their rear portion with two longitudinal slots s, which are
arranged diametrically opposite to each other and which slide with their sides along
the wedge or cotter M, during the backward and forward movement of the
carriage. This wedge serves to attach the rod D to the ring R which surrounds
the tube E and the front surface of which forms an abutment for the spring H,
whilst its rear surface serves to limit the extension of the spring by bearing against
the front end of the sleeve U.
Without altering the nature of the invention the caps L of the tubes E may be
rigidly connected with the spur A, and instead of the tubes E, the rods D may be
pivotally jointed to the walls or sides of the carriage.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. A recoil brake for wheeled gun-carriages for the purpose of limiting the
recoil and of effecting automatic running out, characterized by spring brake
rodding E D which is situated when not in tension, under and parallel to the
carriage walls or sides, and the forward portion E of which, is moveably jointed
to the gun-carriage, and moves back with the latter, and slides along (placing the
brake springs in tension) on the other part D which is connected to a spur A that
enters the ground.
2. A form of construction of the recoil brake specified in Claim 1, in which the
rearwardly moving part E of the brake rodding is connected with the stationary
or fixed part D, by means of a chain O which passes over a pulley Q, mounted in
the carriage walls, and is thereby always kept stretched during the rearward and
the forward movement.
3. A form of construction of the recoil brake specified in Claim 1, in which the
part D (connected to the spur) of the brake rodding, consists of two relatively
moveable parts K and D, which are adjustable in different positions so that the
spur can be drawn in by shortening the brake rodding without increasing the
tension of the brake springs.
4. A form of construction of the recoil brake for wheeled gun-carriages in
which that portion of the brake rod system, which is moveably jointed to the
carriage is composed of one or more tubes E, surrounded by a helical spring H,
the internal surface of the said tubes E serving to guide the rod D, which is fixed
to the spur A, whilst a ring R, which is slipped over the tube E, and is fixed on
the rod D, serves as an abutment for the spring H.
5. A modification of the form of construction specified in Claim 4 in which the
rod D is pivotally connected to the walls of the carriage, and the free end of the
tube E is fixed to the spur.
6. In the forms of construction specified in Claims 4 and 5 the arrangement of
a wedge or cotter M extending through longitudinal slots s in the tube E for the
purpose of effecting a rigid connection of the ring R with the rod D, said ring
serving as the abutment of the spring H.
Dated this 11th dow of Cantamben 100e
BREWER & SON,
London and Leeds, Agents for the Applicant.