IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR, FOR THE WORKING OF GUNS THEREIN, AND IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE WORKING OF SUCH GUNS, WHICH APPARATUS IS ALSO GENERALLY APPLICABLE FOR ASCERTAINING THE ROLLING AND PITCHING OF SHIPS AT SEA
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Husband at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 2nd
February 1871.
I, WILLIAM HUSBAND, of Hayle, in the County of Cornwall, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SHIPS OF WAR, FOR THE WORKING OF GUNS THEREIN, AND
IN APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE WORKING OF SUCH GUNS, WHICH APPARATUS
IS ALSO GENERALLY APPLICABLE FOR ASCERTAINING THE ROLLING AND PITCHING OF
SHIPS AT SEA," to be as follows:-
One part of my Invention has reference to an improved construction
of ships of war, and an arrangement for working guns in such ships,
whereby such guns may readily be fired under water from the bows
or side of the ship in close proximity to an enemy's vessel without the
muzzle of the gun being made to project out through the ship. For
this purpose I construct in the bows of the ship below water line an
aperture open at one end to the sea and communicating at the inner
end with a water-tight space or chamber formed by two transverse
bulkheads, or by a metal tube reaching from near the keel of the ship

page_text: up to the upper deck where the chamber is open. Opposite to the said
aperture on the other side of the chamber I form a second aperture
or port hole, behind which is placed the gun. The front aperture which
communicates with the open sea is closed inside the chamber by means
of a slide capable of being raised up, which slide has a central hole filled
in with a disc or piece of wood or other suitable material capable of
being readily penetrated by a shot, and which is arranged so as to be
quickly removeable and replaceable by another piece or disc. By this
arrangement when the bows of the vessel have been brought into near
proximity to any part of the enemy's ship and the gun is discharged the
projectile will pass across the water-tight chamber and through the wood
or other filling of the slide, and after passing through the aperture
covered by the latter and through the intervening body of water will
penetrate into the body of the enemy's vessel, while at the same time
the gases resulting from the explosion of the gun will rise up through
the water-tight chamber and escape through the opening at top.
Immediately upon the firing of the gun the penetrated slide is raised
up or removed for the purpose of receiving a new filling in, and at the
same time a second slide (which may be of the same construction as the
first) is lowered so as to cover the aperture and stop the ingress of water
through the same. The water that may enter the chamber through the
aperture while this operation is being performed is conducted away
through pipes or passages leading from the bottom of the chamber to a
lower level in the body of the ship. The aperture or port hole through
which the gun is fired may also be covered with a slide, which is raised
when the gun is about to be fired. The front aperture may be formed
either by cutting out a portion of the stem of the vessel, and forming
a flat surface at the back of such cut out portion in which surface the
aperture for the passage of the shot is formed, or a tubular aperture may
be formed extending right through the stem. In the former case the
notch in the stem would be strengthened by a suitable forging and
might be covered in with plates or slides when the vessel is not in action
so as to complete the lines of the ship.
In another modification of the above arrangement I omit the chamber
intervening between the gun and the aperture, and I bring the muzzle
of the gun into the inner mouth of the aperture itself; the before-
mentioned slide with wood or other disc being situated at or near the
outer mouth of the aperture. A water-tight slide or sluice is also
provided at the inner mouth, which is caused to close down quickly on

page_text: the recon of the gun so as to stop the ingress of water until the outer
slide has been removed and replaced.
For the effectual working of guns in the above-described manner it
will be essential for the gunners between decks to know the exact
moment when during the pitching of the ship the gun assumes the
requisite horizontal or nearly horizontal position below water line for
ensuring that the projectile shall effectually penetrate the enemy's ship
at the required line. To enable this to be readily ascertained I arrange
near the gun, or by preference on the gun carriage, an instrument for
indicating the rolling and pitching of the ship, which consists of a metal
disc with a heavy rim supported below centrally upon a point or small
spherical surface. The periphery of this disc is formed with a feather
edge which is in close proximity to a graduated quadrant scale upon a
vertical frame formed of three quadrants placed at an angle to each
other. Through the top of this frame, vertically over the centre of the
disc, a spindle is made to slide up and down, and to enter loosely into a
neck formed on the upper side of the centre of the disc. For observing
the oscillation or pitching of the ship a rapid rotary motion is imparted
to the disc while the spindle is inserted in its neck by coiling a cord
round such neck and rapidly withdrawing the same as is done with
the ordinary gyroscope. The spindle is then drawn out of the neck,
whereupon as the vessel rolls and pitches the disc will continue to
revolve upon its central support in the same plane in which it was set
in motion, and the feather edge will consequently indicate upon the
quadrant scale of the frame (which assumes an angular position
corresponding with that of the ship) the degree to which the ship
pitches and rolls. The gunners while observing this apparatus will fire
off the gun at the moment when the disc indicates upon the scale
that the longitudinal or transverse axis of the ship is in a horizontal
position or nearly so.
In order to insure that the disc is set in motion in a horizontal position
a plumb line or pendulum is suspended over the base of the instrument,
upon which a mark is made on which the plumb line points when the
base is horizontal, and the disc is set in motion at the moment when
the plumb line arrives over such mark. Or a spirit level may be
attached to the apparatus for the above purpose.
In another modification of this apparatus I support the disc in a
vertical or inclined position upon a suspended axis carried either in

page_text: gimbals or otherwise, the graduated scale being made to pass over and
under the top and bottom edges of the disc.
It will be evident that the just described instrument may be employed
generally for ascertaining the degree to which a ship rolls and pitches
irrespective of the firing.