Improvements in Ordnance.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Mar., 1898
Complete Specification Left, 3rd Dec., 1898-Accepted, 4th Feb., 1899
Improvements in Ordnance.
We, ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, of 28, Victoria Street, Westminster, London,
Superintendent of Ordnance Works, and GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM, of 28,
Victoria Street, Westminster aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to breech loading guns, more especially those of small
calibre, such as mountain or boat, or specially light field guns made separable
for transport, the construction being such that the separating and assembling of
the several parts of the gun are easily, quickly and silently accomplished.
For this purpose.
. The gun consists chiefly of two separable parts, the barrel, and the jacket with
breech mechanism attached.
The barrel in which is formed the chamber and bore, extends nearly the whole
length of the gun and is not jointed in its length as is usually the case in
separable guns.
The jacket, on which are formed the trunnions and the hinge bracket for
breech mechanism, encloses the rear portion of the barrel being passed on it from
the nozzle. The front end of the jacket has its inside diameter reduced so as
to form a shoulder which bears against a shoulder on the barrel.
The rear
portion of the jacket projects beyond the barrel and into this portion the breech
bush, is screwed up against the rear end of the barrel.
The screw threads of the breech bush and jacket may be either interrupted,
continuous or partly both.
The inside of the breech bush is screwed to receive the breech plug.
By means of suitable keys the barrel is prevented from any turning due to
the rotation of the projectile, these keys are preferably unequally spaced so as
to ensure that the jacket is put on in its right position on the barrel.
An automactic catch prevents the breech from being closed unless the jacket
is properly secured by the breech bush.
According to this construction, when the gun is fired the longitudinal stress
is taken on the jacket, and the radial stress is taken by the barrel.
The barrel may consist of an inner tube reinforced by outer tubes, or wire.
When wire is employed it is enclosed in a sheath to protect it during trans-
port, or when the jacket is removed.
To separate the jacket from the barrel we provide a special separating tool,
which consists of a bolt somewhat longer than the gun, made in two parts the
one telescopically sliding in the other; one end has a flange and the other has
a cotter, or a nut and washer.
This bolt is passed along the bore of the gun, till the flange bears against the
muzzle end of the barrel, the other end projecting through a cross bar and some-
what beyond the breech face of the jacket.
The cross bar has projections which engage in the interruptions of the screw
threads in the breech bush.

page_text: To separate the parts of the gun, which may be done either when it is dis-
mounted from the carriage or not, the breech mechanism is first unlocked and
swung to the side, then the bolt is passed along the bore until its end flange
bears against the muzzle end of the barrel.
The cross bar is placed and secured by the nut or cotter on the rear end of the
bolt with its projections introduced into the interruptions of the thread in the
breech bush; then by turning the cross bar, the breech bush is unscrewed and
moved back out of the jacket, the bolt bringing the barrel with it.
To assemble the parts the bolt is not required, the jacket is passed directly
on to the barrel and drawn up to the correct position by screwing in the bush
by means of the cross bar.
Dated this 3rd day of March 1898.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.
Improvements in Ordnance.
We, ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, of 28, Victoria Street, Westminster, London,
Superintendent of Ordnance Works, and GEORGE THOMAS BUCKHAM, of 28,
Victoria Street, Westminster, aforesaid, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
Our invention relates to breech loading guns, more especially those of small
calibre, such as mountain or boat, or specially light field guns made separable
for transport, the construction being such that the separating and assembling of
the several parts of the gun are easily, quickly and silently accomplished.
We shall describe the construction for this purpose referring to the accom-
panying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal section of the gun shewing the application of the tool
for removing the jacket from the barrel.
Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section shewing the complete gun.
Fig. 3 is an elevation of the barrel and Fig. 4 a section on the line 4-4 of
Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a sectional plan of the jacket.
Fig. 6 a section on the line 6-6 at the rear end and Fig. 7 an elevation of its
front end.
Fig. 8 is a front view and Fig. 9 is a section of the breech bush.
Fig. 10 is a front view and Fig. 11 a side view of the cross bar for screwing
in the breech bush.
Fig. 12 is an elevation of the breech with the breech bush in its place and
Fig. 13 is a part section on the line 13-13 of Fig. 12.
The gun consists chiefly of two separable parts, the barrel B and the jacket J
with breech mechanism attached.
The barrel B in which is formed the chamber 6 and bore 61 extends nearly the
whole length of the gun and is not jointed in its length as is usually the case in
separable guns, but is preferably made as a liner L reinforced in front by the
part L¹.
The jacket J on which are formed the trunnions T and the hinge bracket H
for the breech mechanism, encloses the rear portion of the barrel being passed
on to it from the muzzle. The front end of the jacket has its inside diameter
reduced so as to form a shoulder which bears against a shoulder 62 on the
barrel.

page_text: The rear portion of the jacket projects beyond the barrel and into this por-
tion the breech bush a is screwed up against the rear end of the barrel B.
The screw threads of the breech bush and jacket may be either interrupted, con-
tinuous or partly both.
The inside of the breech bush a is segmentally screwed to receive the breech
plug. By means of suitable keys k the barrel is prevented from any turning
due to the rotation of the projectile, these keys are preferably unequally spaced
so as to ensure that the jacket is put on in its right position on the barrel B.
A recess R (Figs. 12 and 13) is formed at the rear end of the jacket coinciding
with one in the breech bush when the bush is screwed fully up, and a projection
on the breech plug carrier which has to engage in the recess R prevents the breech
from being closed unless the jacket is properly secured by the breech bush a.
According to this construction when the gun is fired the longitudinal stress
is taken on the jacket, and the radial stress is taken by the barrel.
The barrel B may consist of an inner tube reinforced by outer tubes, or as
shewn by wire W. When wire is employed it is enclosed in a sheath S to protect
it during transport, or when the jacket is removed.
To remove the jacket from the barrel we provide a special separating tool
which consists of a bolt somewhat longer than the gun, made in two parts the
one C telescopically sliding and swivelled in the other C¹; one end has a Hange (2
and the other has a cotter C³ or it might be a nut and washer.
This bolt is passed along the bore of the gun, till the flange C2 bears against
the muzzle end of the barrel, the other end projecting through a cross bar D and
somewhat beyond the breech face of the jacket.
The cross bar D has projections D¹ which engage in the interruptions of the
screw threads in the breech bush a as shewn in Figs. 1 and 8.
The cross bar D is placed and secured by the nut or cotter C³ on the rear end
of the bolt with its projections D¹ introduced into the interruptions of the thread
in the breech bush a, then by turning the cross bar by a wrench D2 the breech
bush is unscrewed out of the jacket drawing with it the bolt CC' and the barrel B
out of the jacket.
To secure the jacket on the barrel the bolt CC is not necessary. The barrel
is placed inside the jacket as far as it will go without force and the bush is then
screwed into its place by means of the cross bar D and wrench D³ until the
breech bush a is quite home. As the breech bush a is screwed up into its right
position the barrel is forced into the jacket until the shoulders j and 62 meet.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is: : -
1. A separable gun constructed substantially as described with reference to
the drawings.
2. For screwing or unscrewing the breech bush, a tool consisting of a cross
bar D with projections D¹ and wrench 12 constructed and applied substantially as
described.
Date 191
2 D
1
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicants.