IMPROVEMENTS IN HEAVY ORDNANCE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of Harris
and Mills, of 23, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent
Agent, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HEAVY ORDNANCE." A com-
munication from abroad by James Henry McLean, of St. Louis, in the State
of Missouri, Doctor of Medicine, and Myron Coloney, of New Haven, in the
State of Connecticut, Journalist, both in the United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard
Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 28th December
1880.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HEAVY ORDNANCE." A communication from abroad by James Henry
MoLean, of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, Doctor of Medicine, and Myron
Coloney, of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, Journalist, both in the
United States of America.
The Invention relates to a gun of heavy calibre, adapted for use in forts or on
war ships of large size.
The barrel is made up of three (more or less) tubes or sections, slipped one
within another, secured together and to the breech by dovetailed or shouldered
joints, and by a band shrunk on each tube in front of the shorter tube in which it
is encased, the simple fitting of the one tube within the other leaving it capable
without strain or violence of such relative longitudinal movement as may be
caused by unequal expansion and contraction.
The loading is effected by a transversely sliding breech-block, made up of a
number of plates bolted together, and having two chambers, one of which is
presented externally for the reception of a cartridge while the other is in position
in rear of the bore.

page_text: In order to provide the transverse chamber or opening required for the chambered
breech slide to move in, the breech of the gun is made in three parts, namely, a
casting forming the cascabel or extreme rear part of the gun, containing a recoil
piston and firing pin, and massive plates forming the top and bottom of the
chamber, and connecting the cascabel to the composite barrel, engaging over suitable
shoulders thereon and securely bolted to both.
Hydraulic engines are employed to feed the cartridges in succession from suitable
magazines to the slide chambers, shift the slide alternately in opposite directions,
and drive the cartridge partly out of the slide chamber and within the bore, the
engine which performs the last named duty serving also to take up the recoil and
to withdraw the empty shell within the slide chamber in readiness for the next
movement.
Hydraulic engines are also employed for elevating and training the gun.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 27th June 1881.
BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 23,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HEAVY ORDNANCE." A communication from abroad by James Henry
McLean, of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, Doctor of Medicine, and Myron
Coloney, of New Haven, in the State of Connecticut, Journalist, both in the United
States of America.
The Invention relates to a gun of heavy calibre adapted for use in forts or on
war ships of large size.
The barrel is made up of three (more or less) tubes or sections, slipped one within
another, secured together and to the breech by dove-tailed or shouldered joints, and
by a band shrunk on each tube in front of the shorter tube in which it is encased,
the simple fitting of the one tube within the other leaving it capable without strain
or violence of such relative longitudinal movement as may be caused by unequal
expansion and contraction.
The loading is effected by a transversely sliding breech block, made up of a
number of plates bolted together, and having two chambers, one of which is
presented externally for the reception of a cartridge while the other is in position
in rear of the bore.
In order to provide the transverse chamber or opening required for the
chambered breech slide to move in, the breech of the gun is made in three parts,
namely, a casting forming the cascabel or extreme rear part of the gun, containing
a recoil piston and firing pin, and massive plates forming the top and bottom of the
chamber, and connecting the cascabel to the composite barrel, engaging over suitable
shoulders thereon and securely bolted to both.
Hydraulic engines are employed to feed the cartridges in succession from suitable
magazines to the slide chambers, shift the slide alternately in opposite directions,
and drive the cartridge partly out of the slide chamber and within the bore, the
engine which performs the last named duty serving also to take up the recoil and
to withdraw the empty shell within the slide chamber in readiness for the next
movement.
Hydraulic engines are also employed for elevating and training the gun.
And in order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood, I will
proceed, aided by the accompanying Drawings, more fully to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a plan view; Figure 2 is a side elevation; Figure 3 is a horizontal
section of the gun proper, omitting the carriage; Figure 4 is a vertical longitudinal
section of the same; Figure 5 is a partial vertical longitudinal section on a larger
scale; Figure 6 is a transverse section of the breech and breech slide; Figure 7
is a section illustrating another mode of putting together the parts of the breech
slide.
The barrel is made of three parts or tubes A, C, and E, of unequal length, one
fitted within another. A ring or band B is shrunk on the inner tube A after
1
19
...

page_text: superior strength to the gun, for the reason that while in use expansion by heat
occurs first, and principally in the inner tube A, and next in order and degree in
the central tube C, so that when the piece becomes heated, and before any excessive
strain can occur, the concentric tubes will be forced into close contact, and will
sustain the strain with the nearest possible approach to uniformity. This is much
better than the mode heretofore practiced, of shrinking one tube on another, and
thereby placing the fibres of the iron or steel in the outer tube under a severe
initial strain while in a cold state.
One effect of the heating of the inner tube A in excess of the tube C in which
it is fitted is to extend the said tube A in length relatively to the tube C, resulting
in the opening of a slight crack or seam between the band B and the end of the
tube C.. This seam is closed again on the cooling of the metal. The same effect
occurs between the band D and the end of the tube E.
The
The breech of the gun is made up of separate plates I, I, of hammered steel and
a breech block or casting I¹, forming the cascabel or rear part of the breech. The
plates I, I, are fitted, as shown, over shoulders formed to receive them on the
barrel E and breech block I, and are securely fastened to both by bolts J, J, thus
giving to the gun in all its parts the required strength to adapt it to resist the
heavy longitudinal and transverse strains to which it is subjected in use.
space between the plates I, I, forms a chamber for the reception of the transversely
moving breech slide. This is made up of separate plates K, K', K2, of cast steel
fitted one within another, as illustrated in Figure 6, or forged plates K, K1, K2, as
illustrated in Figure 7, bolted together. In either case the central plate K² is
provided with the two parallel chambers k², k², for receiving the cartridges in
succession, and conveying them to firing position in rear of the barrel.
By making the parts of the gun of separate plates of steel, the avoidance of
flaws is insured and a structure of the greatest possible strength is produced.
F, F, represent feeding troughs or magazines located on each side of the barrel
supported at one end by the trunnion plate Q, and at the other end by a bracket R,
and employed to contain the cartridges, which are driven backward into the
respective slide chambers by successive strokes of a hydraulic engine G, after they
have been hoisted up into the magazine troughs. H is a double acting hydraulic
engine to impart the required reciprocating movement to the breech slide K. Its
movement may be facilitated by supporting it on a series of anti-friction rollers, as
illustrated in Figure 6.
A breech engine, consisting of a piston L, M, N, controlled by a valve O, is used
to force the cartridge forward 10 inches, more or less, into the rear of the barrel
so as to form a perfect gas check between the slide chamber and breech. The
piston head L fits the slide chamber, or nearly so, and is connected by the piston
body or rod M with the head N, which works in the hydraulic cylinder O¹. In the
face of the head L is formed a horizontal undercut or T-groove l, which registers
with a similar horizontal groove i extending across the face of the fixed back I¹ of
the breech, as indicated in Figure 3. This groove receives a flanged or T-shaped
lug projecting from the base of the cartridge, so that the empty shell may
be drawn back within the slide-chamber by the reverse movement of the
piston L, M, N, after the discharge. The hydraulic engine L, M, N, O, may be
made to hold the cartridge firmly within the base of the barrel or to permit any
degree of recoil within the slide chamber which may be desired to relieve the
breech of the gun from undue strain. The rearward movement of the piston L, M, N,
whether effected by hydraulic pressure or by the force of the recoil, carries back
with it the firing pin P, which is held by the trigger T catching in notch p, in
readiness for the next discharge. t is the spring by which the pin P is driven
forward when released by the trigger.
The gun is mounted on wheels U, V, the latter being mounted on suitable
journals beneath the breech, and the former on the trunnions Q, Q. The wheels U
and V, run on track rails u and respectively. The gun is moved forward on its
wheels U, V, and the recoil of the entire gun received by a hydraulic engine S.

page_text: The
The frame W, of which the wheels U, V form a part, is mounted by secondary
trunnions won cheeks W1, mounted on a turntable X for training the gun.
elevation of the gun is effected by a hydraulic engine Y, mounted on the table X,
and supporting the frame W at any angle.
The water pressure for working the hydraulic engines is produced by compressed
air or steam pumps, and communicated by pipes in customary or suitable
manner. As these details are not new or peculiar they do not need specific
description.
By effecting the entire manipulation of the gun through the medium of hydraulic
engines as described, controlled by levers, all within reach of the operator, a gun
weighing 125 tons or more, and carrying a projectile of 2000 pounds in weight, is
adapted to be loaded, aimed, and fired by one man with as great ease and facility as
a musket.
Having thus described the
which the same is carried into
claim is,
First. A cannon composed of
secured by a band or bands
permitting relative expansion
forth.
nature of the said Invention, and the mode in
effect, I would have it understood, that what I
two or more barrels or tubes one within another,
shrunk on preventing their separation while
and contraction longitudinally as herein set
Second. The chambered breech slide made up of a series of plates K, K¹, K²,
bolted together, as and for the purposes herein shown and described.
Third. The combination of the barrel A, breech slide K, and a hydraulic engine H
for moving said slide.
Fourth. The combination of the barrel A, breech slide K, feeding troughs F, and
loading engines, substantially as and for the purposes set forth.
Fifth. The combination with a barrel and breech slide of a recoil piston and a
hydraulic engine L, M, N, O, for pressing the charge forward into the barrel.
Sixth. The combination with a gun mounted substantially as herein described
of a hydraulic engine S for taking up the recoil of the gun and moving it forward
into firing position.
Seventh.. The combination with a barrel and breech slide of a breech made up of
block or cascabel I' and connecting plates I, I, substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty fifth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
12 T D METS
B. J. B. MILLS. (L.S.)