Improvements in the Laying and Training Appliances of Ordnance.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 10th Dec.. 1890--Accepted,. 12th Mar., 1801
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Laying and Training Appliances of Ordnance.
1, RANULPH EDWARD MONTAGUE MOSTYN, of the Naval and Military Club,
Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, Lieutenant, Royal Artillery, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has for its object to provide means whereby ordnance can be laid
and trained with greater facility and rapidity than hitherto.
According to my invention I provide for the laying of the gun an adjustable and
fixable stop capable of being moved in guides secured on the carriage of the gun
and marked with a scale and on the gun I provide a stop capable of bearing upon
the underside of the said adjustable stop carried by the carriage.
The said adjustable stop is adjusted and fixed in any suitable manner so that a
pointer carried thereby is brought opposite the indications of the scale corresponding
to the clevation or depression to which the gun is to be laid and.. then when the
stop on the gun is brought up into contact with the adjustable stop the required
angular position of the gun will be obtained.
The adjustable stop may be made to travel along a screw parallel with the
guides and be set by hand or it may travel along the guides themselves and be
fixed by bolts engaging with orifices or serrations in the guides or any other
convenient mode of adjusting and fixing may be adopted. Although I have
described the adjustable stop guides and scale as being on the carriage and the
opposed stop as being on the gun the positions may be reversed if desired.
The training quadrant may have holes made in it into which a pin or projection
may be placed opposite the indication of the scale shewing the particular angle to
which the gun is to be trained and the pointer on the gun slide will come into
contact with this pin or projection and the gun will then be trained to the proper
angle horizontally. Or I may construct the pointer so that it or some part of it
engages under the action of a spring or the like in the holes in the training are or
the arc may be made of or formed with hinged parts which can be raised to act
as stops.
Dated this 19th day of March 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Laying and Training Appliances of Ordnance.
I, The Honble. RANULPH EDWARD MONTAGUE MOSTYN, Captain, Royal
Artillery, Naval and Military Club, Piccadilly, London, 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 invention is an arrangement by which the operation of laying a gun for
elevation is divided into two simple and direct motions, thus effecting a great saving
of time and ensuring absolute accuracy.
It consists of-
1st.
A metal boss or har straight or curved, plain or forked, rigid or hinged,

page_text: conveniently and firmly fixed to the outer coil of the gun, and projecting therefrom
so as to engage against.
2nd. A nut, block, or pin, which can be firmly established at any desired point
on a bar, or frame, or bar within a frame, firmly attached to and standing up from
the guncarriage.
In the case of a 9%. M. L. gun mounted on an ordinary traversing or dwarf plat-
form, I would prefer the following detail.
1st. A rigid steel forked bar (a), about 4" in length, and about 1" in diameter at
the spring of the fork, fixed on the gun at the greatest swell of the breech, and in
the same horizontal plane as the axis of the piece, or thereabouts.
2nd. A quadrilateral gun-metal frame (b) about 18" in height and 4" in breadth,
each side having a section of about 1 sqr. inch, erected with its breadth parallel to
the axis of the piece, and firmly attached to the right bracket or side of the
carriage (c) at a point equidistant with the forked bar on the gun from the centre
of the trunnion. In the upper and lower sides would be conveniently embedded
the two ends of a round steel bar (d), about 16" in length aud 0.75" in diameter,
and cut throughout with a screw thread. Now the long sides of the frame, and
the bar between them, would be curved on a radius equal to the distance from
their points of attachment on the carriage to the centre of the trunnions, so that
the forked bar on the gun would always embrace the bar within the frame. A.
gun-metal nut (e), about 0.5" in depth and 25" in diameter, would travel freely on
the thread of the bar within the frame; and, in an undercut groove on its circum-
ference, would sit loosely a ring or collar (), having two pointers (4) projecting
from it so as always to bear ou the outer surfaces of the long sides of the frame.
In a shallow undercut groove on the outer surface of either-or-each of these two
sides, would slide a slip-of-metal-(i)-properly-engraved with yards or degrees
scales, and be-therefore adjustable to certain indications which would be engraved
on the surface of the frame itself. These indications would refer to the variations
in the height of the sea-level, disturbances of the gunfloor or altered slope of the
trail, and the angles of sight for objects at different altitudes.
When fixing the frame on the carriage, care inust be taken that the travelling
nut is-in position above the forked bar on the gun.
To lay the gun,
1st. Adjust the graduated slip according to circumstances.
2nd. Elevate the gun with discretion.
3rd. Travel the nut till its pointers indicate the required elevation.
4th. Depress the gun firmly till it is fast.
These arrangements would necessarily vary with different types of guns and
carriages, especially with modern B. L. guns, disappearing mountings, and field
guns. Thus the frame might be perpendicular, and the forked bar hinged. The
inner surfaces of the frame and the circumference of the nut might be cut with a
thread, obviating the use of the steel bar; or the frame might be dispensed with,
and the scales engraved on the bar; or the inner surfaces of the frame might be
serrated, and a block with spring-bolts travelled up and down, instead of the nut;
or the sides of the frame might be conveniently pierced, and a pin shot across, in
place of the bolt; or the frame might be on the gun, and the projecting bar from
the carriage or the adjustment for height of tide &c., might be made on the
travelling nut or block, instead of on the frame.
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. I reduce the whole operation of laying a gun for elevation to two simple,
direct, most rapid, and most accurate motions.
2. I ensure that the last motion of laying is invariably in the direction of
depressing.

page_text: 3. I mechanically check this last motion at the required point, and thus effectually
ensure absolute accuracy of elevation.
4. I introduce, in direct connection with the gun itself, the adjustments for tidal
level, varying trail angles, altered level of gun floor, and different altidudes of
objectives.
Dated this 6th day of December 1890.
RANULPH E. MOSTYN,
Captain, R.A.