Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Apr., 1886.
Complete Left, 24th Jan., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 11th Mar., 1887.
I, ALFRED GEORGE FARQUHAR BERnard of Hope Villa, Mere near Bath registered
medical practitioner do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
An improved Torpedo of peculiar shape & construction for use against submarine
objects.
The Torpedo, when discharged will enter the water at any required angle, and if
accurately aimed, will strike an object 50 feet from the surface and explode.
It has a range of 800 yards through, the air.
The Torpedo can be employed against terrestrial as well as submarine objects-but
is specially contrived for the latter."
The Torpedo is discharged from a gun.
The gun is an oval bored breech-loader.
The base of the Torpedo is oval to correspond with the bore of the gun.
For one-fifth of its length from the base, the dimensions of the Torpedo are
unaltered. The remaining four-fifths taper to the extremity, which ends in a point.
A horizontal wing or fin runs along either side of the Torpedo, commencing where
the body commences to taper, and terminating at the anterior extremity.
The wing or fin is so situated as to lie midway between the upper & lower
surfaces of the Torpedo when in situ in the cannon. The anterior two-thirds of the
torpedo contain a central chamber chargeable with gun-cotton.

page_text: I, ALFRED GEORGE FARQUHAR BERNARD of Hope Villa, Mere, near Bath, registerel
medical practitioner, 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 :-
My torpedo differs from all others in the following particulars ...
1st in that it is discharged from a gun.
2nd in that it has a longer range.
3rd in that it travels more rapidly.
4th in that it will pass through air as well as water.
The gun may be constructed of steel wrought iron or gun metal..
Its bore is more or less oval in shape its maximum transverse diameter being to its
maximum vertical diameter as 2.3 is to 1.
The gun may be made of any size.
That represented on sheet 1, by Fig. 1. is a gun 12 feet in length.
In this gun, the length of the bore is 9 feet.
The depth of the bore is 6 inches.
Its maximum transverse diameter is 14 inches.
The gun is a breech-loader, and its entire weight is about 7 tons.
It may be mounted either as a piece of siege or naval artillery.
The breech bore is circular & has a diameter of 15 inches.
The breech mechanism consists of a screw (f. Fig. 1. Sheet 1.) of a lever (d. Fig. 1
Sheet. 1.) & of a rent piece a (same Fig. In loading the gun, the screw is first
unscrewed by means of the lever "d" & the vent piece "a" is thus released taken out, and
laid on the saddle b, the part shewn in the drawing (Fig. 1. Sheet 1.) being placed
uppermost. A primer is then placed in the channel g. The torpedo-to be liereafter
described is then passed through the breech into the gun and the cartridge placed
behind it. The vent piece is lowered into the slot and screwed up by the lever "d" and
the gun can then be fired by any ordinary friction tube; the flash from the friction
tube being taken up (as it were) by the primer, which strikes the cartridge in the
centre & so fires the gun.
The maximum thickness of metal in the building of the gun is 14 inches, near the
breech but for (Vide figs. 3 & 4, Sheet. 2) a length of 5 feet from the muzzle the
thickness of metal does not exceed 5 inches.

page_text: The torpedo (Figs, 5 to 9.
Sheets 3, 4, 5) is a flattened conical shaped body more
or less oval at the base, & more or less pointed at the opposite extremity.
It consists of a body and wings or fins.
The body is hollow for the reception of the explosive charge.
For the first fifth of its length the torpedo retains the same dimensions, & fits
accurately to the bore of the gun--then it tapers to the extremity which is more or
less pointed and constructed to receive a percussion fuse.
A wing, or fin runs along either side of the torpedo, commencing at the junction of
the first & second fifths, & terminating at the anterior extremity.
The wing or fin (. Fig. Sheet 4) lies midway between the upper & lower surface
of the torpedo when in situ in the gun.
As the body of the torpedo tapers, the fin widens, except just at the extremity where
it terminates.
The distance from the latteral extremity of one fin to that of the other fin is exactly
equal to the maximum transverse diameter of the torpedo at its base.
The torpedo is constructed of steel and may be charged with gun-powder, gun-
cotton, dynamite melanite or any suitable explosive medium.
The charge is fired by a percussion fuse, fixed in the apex of the torpedo. After
charging, the torpedo is closed by a screw in its base, "d" Fig. 5, Sheet 3. The
thickness of the walls of the torpedo varies, it is three quarters of an inch at the base,
half an inch in that part of the wall that extends from the base to the junction of the
second with the third fifth; from this point it increases till about the middle of the
fourth fifth, it reaches its maximum, viz. 1.2. inches, then tapers till at the commence-
ment of the last fifth it attains a minimum thickness of one eighth of an inch which it
retains to the extremity.
"
This distribution of varying degrees of thickness prevents the torpedo from being
over weighted at its base. If a heavy charge of weighty explosive is used, the counter-
poise "Fig. 5. Sheet 3, may be employed.
The counterpoise "o," is a hollow body connected to the screw "d" by a hollow
rod "g" (sheet 3).
The counterpoise is weighted by means of leaden shot, which can be introduced to
the required amount through the rod",
9."
The rod is closed by a screw stopper fitting into "d."
The counterpoise is removeable when necessary and is steadied by the cradle "1"
(sheet 3) which is also removeable. The size and weight of the torpedo vary with the
size of the gun for which it is constructed the dimensions of that fired from a gun
twelve feet in length are as follows length from base to apex, twenty eight inches,
maxinium transverse diameter fourteen inches thickness 6 inches (maximum).
The weight will also vary with the nature and amount of the charge and a
torpedo of the above dimensions when charged may range in weight from fifty to
one hundred or more pounds. The special advantages of my torpedo are
1. That it can be discharged without trouble from the side of a ship or fort or from
any spot where a torpedo gun can be placed.
2. Its greater range it will travel at least 800 yds. through the air and strike a
submarine object fifty feet from its first point of contact with the surface of the
water.
3. Its greater velocity. It will traverse the air with nearly the velocity of a
cannon-shot & will travel through water far more quickly than any other forpedo.
4. Absolute accuracy of aim. With practice and care the torpedo can be discharged
at an object with as absolutely accurate an aim as any other species of artillery.
5. It is more economical than any other form of travelling torpedo--as when the
gun has been constructed it can be employed for the discharge of any number of
torpedoes which individually cost a trifling sum-say £10 a piece. Fig. 2-torpedo
cartridge. There is nothing specially worthy of description in the torpedo cartridge
it is constructed to fit accurately the bore of the gun & may contain either gun-
powder or gun cotton or any other explosive medium.

page_text: Having now particularly described the nature of my said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed I wish it to be understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact dimensions & weights here in before given as they may be modified
& varied within certain limits as circumstances may require without departing from the
main principles of my invention & improvements, nor do I claim the invention of the
mechanism of the beeech of the gun other than the fact that the breech bore differs in
shape & exceeds in magnitude very largely the bore of the gun, but what I claim
under the above in part recited letters patent is-
1st. The discharge of the torpedo by means of an explosive agent from the gun.
2nd. The oval shape of the bore of the gun.
3rd. The shape & construction of the torpedo itself viz. its oval base, flattened
conical body & latteral wings or fins & the counterpoise and varying degrees of
thickness of the walls.
Witness,
CHARLES GRANT BERNARD.
ALFRED GEORGE FARQUHAR BERNARD.