A LIFTING BATTERY APPLICABLE TO SHIPS AND FORTS
Year: 1864

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Luke Thomas at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 21st April
1864.
I, LUKE THOMAS, of No. 136, Leadenhall Street, in the City of London,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A LIFTING BATTERY
APPLICABLE TO SHIPS AND FORTS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in a lifting and lowering gun platform for the working
of guns. On this platform (placed between decks in a ship, or in a hollow
sunk chamber in a fort), the gun may be loaded and trained, and then run
up with the platform to above the deck of ship or parapet of fort, and fired
"en barbette," and then immediately run down, so that during the loading and
training of the gun, the men and the gun itself are protected from the enemy's
fire, and the liability to danger is greatly diminished from the necessarily short
time during which the gun is exposed.
I propose to effect the working of the platform by the application of the
pressure of steam, water, gas, or other elastic fluid, and to do so in the fol-
lowing manner, that is to say, I fit to the piston rod or piston rods of a steam
cylinder or cylinders, hydraulic ram or rams, or cylinders of other apparatus
for applying fluid pressure, a platform or table whereupon the gun is placed
on a revolving carriage, and I so arrange that when the piston is at the bottom
of its stroke, the platform shall rest with its under side on the top of steam,
hydraulic, or other cylinder, in which position the gun is loaded, and when it
is desired to raise or lift the gun to the requisite height, the pressure is
admitted or applied on the under side of piston by any convenient arrange-

page_text: ment of valves, and the piston will be thereby put into action, thus lifting or
raising the platform and gun.
When my Invention is applied to ships or gun boats, the deck or decks is
or are cut away to an extent equal to the size of the platform, and vertical
guide rods may be employed, secured at their upper ends to the upper deck,
and secured at their lower ends to the lower deck, or otherwise conveniently
secured. The platform being provided with grooves or recesses at its outer
edge in number corresponding with the guide rods employed. This arrange-
ment will serve to steady and keep the gun platform in position during its
upward motion. The gun having been lifted or raised to its proper position
and discharged, the steam or other pressure is removed from under side of
piston, and the platform returns to its original position with its under side on
the cylinder or cylinders, when the gun can be re-loaded; or the gun can be
run off in case of its being disabled, and immediately be replaced by another.
The platform may be also used for mortar firing. In heavy weather, or
when for other reasons the guns are not required on deck, they can be run
off the platform, and the platform run up close to the deck, and there securely
locked.
When my Invention is applied to forts, a chamber is constructed below the
parapet for the receipt of the steam, hydraulic, or other motive apparatus, and
the platform with gun.
I propose in some cases, if I find it advantageous, to adopt fixed piston
rods and moving cylinders, and in these cases the platforms will be attached
to the cylinders instead of to the piston rods.