CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS AND ADDITIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CERTAIN CARRIAGE FOR ALL SORTS OF CANNON
Year: 1805

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN GOVER, of Rotherhithe, in the County of Surrey, Gun Carriage
Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Gracious Majesty King George the Third,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster,
the Nineteenth day of December, in the forty-fifth year of His reign,
did give and grant unto me, the said John Gover, my exors, adiñiors,
and assigns, during the term of fourteen years from the date of the
said Letters Patent, special licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority to make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and
the Town of Berwick upon Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS AND ADDITIONS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF A CERTAIN CARRIAGE FOR ALL
SORTS OF CANNON," and for which carriage I have obtained His Majesty's
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, for
the exclusive making, using, exercising, and vending the same; and
whereas in and by the said first-mentioned Letters Patent, bearing
date the said Nineteenth day of December last, there is contained a
proviso, that if I, the said John Gover, should not particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within one month next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters
Patent should be void, any thing therein contained to the contrary
notwithstanding, as by the said Letters Patent, relation being thereunto
had, will appear.
.
NOW KNOW YE, that in pursuance of and compliance with the
said proviso in the said Letters Patent contained, I," the said John
Gover, do by means of the following description and of the several
Drawings hereunto annexed and referred to by the said description,
ascertain and describe the nature_of_my_said Invention as follows:-
In the Drawing marked N° 1, consisting of twelve Sections, I have
shewn the several component parts of the carriage for which I obtained
His Majesty's Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December,
One thousand seven hundred and ninety-six, and which I have here
again introduced, the better to explain the advantages of my improve-
ments upon the sanie.. In this Drawing, however, I shall point out
in the course of the references certain improvements in the appli-
cation of the rollers and in the construction of the jack. It will be
perceived by Sections, 11, and 12, that the entire carriage consists of
an under carriage as marked letter R; an incline and moveable plane
as S, fixed to the under carriage by the bolt passing through or inder
the same, as is particularly shewn in Section 4, letter H; and of an
upper carriage sliding upon the plane as letter T; the plane being ele
vated and depressed by means of the jack fixed at the end of the plane
and under carriage as V. Section 1, shews the under carrriage dis
sected; the letter A, being the sides thereof; the letter 13, being the rails
or transoms and bolts uniting the same together, as shown in Section 2;
Jand is
letter C, being the rollers upon whichi' the said carriage rests,"
traversed fixed within the transoms by means of a bolt passing through
the center upon which they revolve; letter D, being the chain fixed to
the point or center of the evolution of this carriage, as shown by the
dotted lines in the 2 Section, and to which point the after rollers are
directed and are coned for that purpose. But I prefer having the two
fore rollers of a paralel shape and placed' in a direction paralel with

page_text: the said carriage, in which respect this differs from the mode of placing
them in the Specification of my former Patent, as by the present method
the carriage may be the more easily transported from place to place.
Section 3, shows. the entire of the under. carriage complete. Section 4,
E, shews the upper part of the plane upon which the upper carriage is
placed, together with the tongue F, sliding within the grove made in
the plane as N, for the purpose of admitting the recoil of the upper
carriage upon the firing of the gun, the upper carriage being fixed to
the tongue by means of screws or bolts, and thereby secured to the
lower carriage. Letter G, is a view of the under part of the plane,
with the bolt H, by which it is fixed to the under carriage, and which,
passing loosely through two screw eyes I, forms the axis 'upon which
the plane acts.. The improvement in this plane consists of the clamp or
cross bar K, which adds greatly to the strength of the plane, and is a
check against the shrinking or extension of the wood, consequently the
dimensions of the tongue must be such as to permit its passing freely
over this clamp or bar. The letters L, and M, distinctly shew two
tongues, one of which acts with two. vertical rollers revolving hori-
zontally M, calculated to give greater freedom to the motion of the
upper carriage. This tongue is one of my improvements, and the one I
most prefer. The plane is elevated and depressed by means of the
jack fixed within the space formed at the end of the plane n, and to
the under carriage, as shewn in Sections:-1, and 5; 0, the jack, is cal-
culated to unfix at pleasure, having on each side a gudgeon or pinion
by which is is slided into a cap or sockett P, and the bar fixing into
a locking plate at the bottom of the lower transom, Section 1. O, the
jack to be used for the above mentioned purposes, which may also be
applied either for timber, jacks, cranes, or riny other heavy purchase,
and may be variously constructed, as shewn in the two views I have
given in Sections 6, and 7. The fornier acts by a hollow or lantern
pinion as (a), upon which the handle is fixed and secured by a nut
Screwed on the nut of the pinion, and which is called the first motion,
and works within the cogs of the wheel (b), to which the pinion (c) is
fixed which acts upon the bar or rack (). 1 place a rochet wheel as
(e) upon the pinion (a), inmediately between the plate and the handle
of the jack, for the purpose of receiving a paul or stop (f), placed in

page_text: the jack at the aperture on the opposite side as (9), to be slided into
the notches of the wheel when required to prevent re-action; though
from the nature of the construction of this jack that inconvenience will
seldom occur, and may be easily obviated by a little experience without
recurring to the use of the paul. The latter kind of jack differs only
from the former in being worked by an endless screw as (h), instead
of the lantern screw, and possesses this advantage, that no weight will
produce a reaction, as from its nature it pauls itself. Both these jacks
are an improvement upon my first Invention. Section (8) shows the
upper carriage dissected, (i) being the sides, and (k) being the transoms
and bolts by which the same are united, as shewn in Section (9).
Letter (e) shows the four revolving rollers by means of which the upper
carriage moves and slides upon the plane as shewn in Section (10); the
tongue being fixed or screwed to the upper carriage, as appears at (m)
in Section (9). After the recoil of the gun the upper carriage is pre-
vented from returning forward, should its own weight incline it to do
so, by a paul dropping within a notch made in the lower carriage, as
shewn in Section (11, n), but which is again easily raised by a lever
from a purchase given by a small clect or block of wood fixed on the
side of the carriage (o). I would recommend the use of a breeching to
the upper carriage, as it assists in checking the recoil, and prevents any
strain of the lower carriage. When that is fixed, the whole carriage is
traversed with great facility by means of one or two levers fixed to the
lower carriage as (p) in Section 11 and 12. Having already shewn in
what manner I place the rollers to the under carriage as intended to
be used with the center of its action at the head of the carriage,
namely, the point to which the chain of the carriage is fixed, I proceed
to shew in my second Drawing, consisting entirely of improvements
upon my Invention, the manner in which I would place them where
the center of action may be necessarily changed, which must be the
case if ever it should be required to act with the carriage in every
direction of a circle. On that occasion I place the axis of the carriage
in its center, and cause the four rollers to be coned and placed in a
direct line to the center as 13, so as to produce a complete and casy
circular motion of the carriage. Upon this plan it will be seen by the
three first Sections in what manner a bolt driven through the centre

page_text: transom at the point A, to a fixed spot, the carriage will act upon any
platform adapted for the purpose. The centre of the evolution of this
carriage may be also made at the end or after part of the carriage
by a bolt in like manner being driven through the after transom
to a fixed shot. But in that case the placing of the rollers' must be
reversed from the manner in which they are described in the Drawing
(No 1), by placing them in such manner as to obtain the same
mode of action round its new centre as it possessed with the centre
at the head of the carriage. But when the carriage is required to
have a circular motion, another species of under carriage may be
adopted in the room of the one last described, as it acts by the same
rules in obtaining a traversing motion though its formation differs; and
this is by means of a circular wooden carriage or platform acting upon
any number of revolving rollers that may be found convenient to be
fixed within the carriage or platform by iron bolts passing through their
center, as shewn in Section 4. This carriage inay be capable of acting
with only three or four rollers, though the numbers should bear such a
proportion to the weight as to render the action of the carriage easy.
The rollers should obviously be of the conical shape, and placed in a
direction to the center which is rendered stationary by a bolt driven
through its center, or by any other means, so that the carriage or plat-
form. obains an easy circular motion, but care must be taken that the
rollers be so placed as to run level upon the ground. The substance
of this carriage must necessarily be in proportion to its size and the
weight it is intended to support; about six or eight inches in thickness
will be sufficient for one carriage with the gun mounted, and it should
be made of sound wood. Upon this species of carriage or platform I
fix the plane upon a raised fixed block, observing that the axis of the
plane be placed near the extremity, in the manner shewn by letter (c) ;
the jack being also fixed to this carriage or platform at the end of the
plane in the manner before described, and shewn in Section (4). D.
This carriage is worked by the assistance of a lever or purchase, fixed, in
any manner that may be found convenient to the situation or mode of
construction, to the carriage or platform, which may be also calculated
for the service of two or more guns. As the sides of the under
carriage may sometimes be an incumbrance and desirable to be omitted

page_text: :
I have in Sections 5, 6, 7, and 8, in the same Drawing (N° 2) shewn
two species of carriage by which that object may be obtained. The
carriage described in Sections 5, and 6, consisting simply of a bar or
rail E, connected with the transoms at each end, as (F), the bar being
framed into the after transom; but at the other end of it is hung also
a hinge or bolt (G) passing through it, also through the top forc trucks
or rollers (H), and supported or fixed at each end by a plate of iron
fastened to the block. The two fore rollers to this carriage are placed on
the outside of the transom, as appears by the Drawing, the two rollers
in the after part of the carriage being placed in the manner before
described. The plane is fixed to this carriage by being screwed or
fastened to a block raised in the fore transom as (I) in Section 6, in
the manner described, by letter K. The plané being thus secured upou
the block, the bolt necessarily becomes the axis for the elevation and
depression of the plane, which consequently accounts for the necessity
of the bar of the carriage hanging upon a hinge in order to preserve
the level of the under carriage when the plane is put into motion. But
in-the carriage shewn in the Sections 7, and 8, the axis of the plane is
there upon the block, the plane being hung upon the bolt (L), fixed
upon the block in the manner shewn by (M). The two fore rollers in
the Drawing of this appear of the conical shape, but they may be made
of the paralel or barrel shape at discrètion.. The jack is fixed to these
carriages without any variation from the former description. As under
the particular circumstances of confined space for working a gun, it may
be desirable to shorten the carriage, I propose in that case to form
the carriage without the use of the jack; and as the advantage of eleva-
tion and depression by means of inclined plane is thus lost, the plane
innst be fastened to 'the under carriage, which will then be constructed
in the manner shewn in Sections 10, 11, and 12. The principle of the
carriage may be also applied to a field carriage as shewn in Section (9),
the perch of the carriage serving in the room of my under carriage,
upon which the plane may be hung on the bolt fixed upon a block. raised
on the axletree at (1), the jack being fixed at the end of the perch in
the same mamer it is fixed to the carriage before described. This perch
may then either be supported by a Hanoverian truck as (2) to obtain
proper level; or, if the perch rests upon the ground, the bar of the

page_text: found
jack must be rendered of a suitable length, the upper carriage may then
be placed upon the plane in the usual manner; or if there should be
I any difficulty in traversing the field carriage, a flat wheel serving
as a platform may be placed upon the plane (as fixed) by a bolt driven
through a hole made for the purpose in the centre of the wheel and
lodged in the block upon the axletree of the field carriage. The whole
of the carriage as described in Section 3, may then be placed upon the
wheel or platform, which will give the liberty of bringing the gun into
action in any direction that may be desired, the gun being thus raised
above the height of the wheels of the field carriage, which wheels must
necessarily be sufficiently wide asunder to admit the wheel or platform
between them, and the free exercise of the gun upon it.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Gover, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the forty-
fifth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third,
by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in
the wear of our Lord Oue thousand eight hundred and five