AN IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING GUNS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury House,
Alverstoke, in the County of Пlants, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF WORKING GUNS."
Sealed the 30th January 1866, and dated the Sid August 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Duncan Pieston
Cunningham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 3rd August 1865.
I, HENRY DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury House, Alverstoke,
County of Hants, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED METHOD OF WORKING GUNS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists of an improved method of working guns, and refers
to the operations of running the gun in and out, and moving it round for
horizontal training. For running the gun in and out I extend chains on
each side of the carriage and along the slide, the ends of which chains are
fastened to the slide. Upon the carriage are chain wheels furnished with
cogs or indented grooves to lay hold of the chains. The chains are laid over
and upon these chain wheels which are turned round by a connection of cog
wheels or other means for communicating or transmitting motion and power,
which wheels are set in motion by crank handles worked by men; or motion

page_text: can be produced by other means. In whichever direction the chains
are made to rotate, the carriage and the gun upon it are necessarily obliged
to travel, as the teeth or cogs of the chain wheel lay hold of the chain, and
so the carriage is propelled or dragged along by the action of the chain wheel
upon the chain. The use of two chains has been described, but one chain
may be used, or more than two. I provide an arrangement consisting of a
lever carrying a depending link, furnished at the bottom with a friction roller,
over which the chain travels for the purpose of lifting the chain up clear of
the chain wheel, so as to allow the gun when fired to run free of the chain.
Instead of chain I sometimes use ratchet bars of suitable length, upon the
ratchets of which bars a cog wheel upon the carriage acts for propelling the
carriage in and out. A principal feature in this arrangement consists in
the means I employ for freeing the cog wheel from the ratchets of the bars
to admit the gun when fired to run in free of the bars.
One method consists in hitting the bar to work np and down upon an axis at
one end, so that by being lowered or raised it is brought to or withdrawn
from the cog wheel.
Another method consists in fitting- the ratchet bar to turn or fold
down, and so by turning it to throw the ratchet in and out of gear with
the cog wheel. To move the gun round horizontally in training, the same
propelling action of a chain wheel upon a chain as before described
or a curved ratchet bar is employed. In this case the chain wheel and
driving gear are attached to the rear part of the slide, and the ends of the
chain are attached to fixed points away from the deck, or the ratchet bar is
fixed on the deck. In whichever direction the chain wheel is turned the slide
is drawn round and so the gun trained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham in the Great Seal
Patent Office, on the 3rd February 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury House, Alverstoke, County of Hants,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Iler most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Hei reign,
did, for Herself, Der heirs and successors, give and giant unto me, the sand
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, Her special licence that 1, the said

page_text: Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
'assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
'and no others, fiom time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
5 therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
'Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
WORKING GUNS," upon the condition (amongst others) that 1, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause
the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that 1, the said Henty Duncan Preston Cunningham,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Diawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say.—
My Invention consists of an improved inethod of working guns, and refers
to the operation of running the gun in and out. Foi running the gun in and
out 1 extend chains on each side of the carriage and along the slide, the ends
of which chains are fastened to the slide. Upon the carriage are attached
wheels or barrels furnished with cogs or indented grooves to lay hold of the
chains. The chains are laid over and upon these cogged chain wheels, which
are turned round by a connection of cog wheel or other means for communi-
cating or transmitting motion and power, which wheels are set in motion by
crank handles worked by men, or motion can be produced by other means
In whichever direction the chain wheels are made to rotate the carriage and
tho
guu upon it are necessarily obliged to travel as the teeth or cogs of the
chain wheels lay hold of the chains, and so the carriage is propelled or diagged
along The use of two chains has been described, but one chain may be used
or more than two. I provide a rangements to free the chains from the
cogged or toothed chaiu wheels when the gun is fired to allow it to run
in fice of the chains Instead of chain I sometimes use ratchet or
cogged bars of suitable length upon which a cog wheel upon and connected
with the carnage acts for propelling the carriage in and out. I have several
methods for freeing the cog wheel on the carnage from the cogged or ratchet
bar to allow the gun to run in free when fired.

page_text: One method consists in fitting the bar to work up and down upon an axis
at one end, so that when the other end is lowered the cogs on the bar are
withdrawn from the connection of the cog wheel. Or the bar may be fitted
to be raised or lowered through its entire length; or the cog wheel on the
carriage may be fitted to slide upon the spindle which carries it, and so be
thrown in and out of gear with the cogged or ratchet bar.
Figure 1 is a side view of a gun carriage and slide fitted with side
chains for running the gun carriage and gun upon it in and out. D is a
wheel or barrel furnished with teeth or cogs to lay hold of a chain when laid
upon it. This wheel or barrel is attached to the cog wheel C, to which
rotation is conveyed by the pinion A, which is turned round by a handle
applied to the spindle which carries it. M, M, is a chain extending along
the sides of the slide E; under the roller H a similar chain and similar
fittings are on the other side of the carriage, the chain M is attached to fixed
points at p, p In whichever direction the wheel D is caused to turn round
the carriage B is necessarily dragged or propelled along the slide E in conse-
quence of the teeth or cogs on the wheel D laying hold of the links of the
chain. I lift the chain off the wheel D when the gun is about to be fired so
as to permit it to run in free of the chain, or the chain may be detached
from the fixed point for this object. The roller H may if desired be
dispensed with.
Figure 2 represents another method of applying or arranging the chain, the
object being an increase of power. Instead of the ends of the chains terminating
at the fixed points P, P¹, the chain is led through blocks at those points, and
either the ends are fastened to the carriage, or the chain being endless is laid
upon a crutch or hold-fast at C¹ (or a compresser lever may be used to hold
it fast to the carriage), the effect of which is that in whichever direction the
chain wheel is turned round the carriage is drawn along the slide. The chain
is disconnected from the carriage by throwing it off the chain wheel and the
holdfast at C, or by releasing the hold of the compresser. The chain can
be arranged to pass under the chain or cog wheel instead of over, or, in
other words the chain or cog wheel can work over and upon the chain,
suitable arrangements being provided to keep it up against the teeth or cogs.
Figure 3 shews an arrangement in which a ratchet or cogged bar is
employed instead of a chain M is a ratchet or cogged bar (a similar one
being on the other side of the carriage), working upon a joint or hinge at P,
and supported at the other end by a pin or bolt inserted in a hole A in an
upright bai B; D is a cog wheel attached to another cog wheel C, carried
on the same spindle; E is a pinion in connection with the larger wheel C,

page_text: to which it conveys motion when turned round by a crank handle, or otherwise.
The cogs of the wheel D take or work in the cogs of the bar M, and in
whichever direction the wheel D is made to rotate the carriage N is propelled
along the slide either to run the gun in or run it out. To free the cogs of
the wheel D from the bar when the gun is fired the pin at A is withdrawn,
when the bar falls down clear of the wheel D as seen in Figure 4. Instead
of the bar being fitted to fall down at one end only, it can be fitted to lower
or sink throughout its whole length. Instead also of the bar being fitted to
fall down it may be a fixture, and the wheel D freed from it by being fitted
to slide upon its spindle, and so passed on one side clear of the cogs of the
bar. Figure 34 illustrates this arrangement. M is a section of the cogged
bar; D is the cogged wheel, which it will bo seen has been slid along the
spindle or strap A, so as to throw it out of gear with the cogged bar.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declaro that I claim as my improved
method of working guns, running the guns in and out by means of one
or more chains or one or more cogged bars fastened to the slide, and actuated
by cogged wheels or other appliances on the carriage, substantially in the
herein-before descubed and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this First day of Februar
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
11. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (L.B.)