IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN CARRIAGES AND SLIDES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wightwick Rendel, of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN
CARRIAGES AND SLIDES."
Sealed the 8th March 1870, and dated the 25th September 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wightwick
Rendel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 25th September 1869.
I, GEORGE WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Civil
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN GUN CARRIAGES AND SLIDES," to be as follows:-
The improvements have reference to the construction and mode of
working of gun carriages and slides whether for land or for sea service,
and have for their object to facilitate and render more secure the
running in, out, and training or turning from port to port of the guns
when mounted on such carriages and slides.
One part of the improvements is specially applicable to carriages and
slides in which the running in and out is effected by one or more.
endless chains, and the training by a pinion gearing into a rack laid

page_text: on the deck. It consists in the employment on the carriage of a
special clip or clamp through which the chain or chains pass, and so
arranged that the action of throwing the carriage on to its wheels for
running out or in causes the clamp to seize the chain, and similarly the
movement of throwing the carriage off its wheels releases the chain so
that it cannot be left in action when the gun is fired, and therefore no
accident can happen to the working gear from such a cause.
Another part of the improvements consists in connecting the training
shaft with the gear for running in and out by a clutch, so that it can be
put in or out of action at will and worked by the same crank handles
and gear as the running in and out chains, and I make the clutch so
that it can be moved by the foot and passed into a notch in such a way
as to remain securely fixed in or out of gear as desired.
Another part of the improvements consists in the application of
pawls to the teeth of the rack which is laid in the deck for training the
gun, and I apply these pawls in such a way that the action of throwing
the slide on to the eccentric roller bearings provided to facilitate training.
lifts the pawls so as to free the slide for training, while at the same
time when the eccentric rollers are thrown out of action after the slide
is laid to the required angle the pawls descend and hold it securely.
Another part of the improvements consists in connecting the eccentric
rollers provided under the carriage for running in and out by levers and
bars in such a way that they all act together, so as not only to secure the
carriage being lifted parallel from the slide, but so that they may be all-
brought into action from one side or from the rear or from the sides only
of the carriage.
Another part of the improvements consists in placing the rollers
provided under the slide to facilitate training at or near the centre of
the length of the slide and also near its middle line, and in dividing
the said rollers into two or more parts in their width and in working
them by connecting bars from the outside, by which arrangement I am
enabled to turn the gun on its carriage and slide with equal facility
about either the front or rear pivot, and thus to train it from one port
or throw it round to change from port to port with ease, and in
connection with this arrangement I make a portion of the toothed arc
and racer one or both laid upon the deck for training moveable upon a
pivot or otherwise so that it may be turned round and brought into a

page_text: new position to suit another port when desired to change the gun from
one port to another contiguous one.
Another part of the improvements has more especial reference to
carriages and slides for land service, and may be combined with the
before mentioned improvements, or applied separately. It consists in
making the carriage to run upon the slide or platform on permanent
rollers so as not to require to be lifted for running in or out, and the
rollers may be flanged or grooved or made to run in guides on the slide
beams.
Another part of the said improvements consists in a mode of training
or traversing carriage slides or platforms for land service by cogged
wheels attached either through the axles or direct to the trucks on which
the slide or platform rests. I proportion the diameters and speeds of
the cogged wheels so attached to the radius of the arcs on which the
wheels travel, and drive them by a train of wheels from one or more
ordinary crank handles. In this manner I turn the fore and after
platform trucks at the proper speed to cause them to advance con-
centrically on their racers, and by means of the friction of the trucks
on the racers train or travel the platform with the carriage and gun
on it.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Wightwick Rendel in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 25th March 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Civil Engineer, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Wightwick Rendel, Her special
licence that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Wightwick
Rendel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: during the term 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN GUN CARRIAGES AND SLIDES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one
of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the samo 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 I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, do
hereby declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
The improvements have reference to the construction and mode of
working of gun carriages and slides whether for land or for sea service,
and have for their object to facilitate and render more secure the
running in, out, and training or turning from port to port of the guns
when mounted on such carriages and slides.
Figure 1 is a side view, and Figure 2 a plan of a gun with its carriage
and slide with several of the improvements applied thereto. a is the
gun mounted on a carriage 6, which traverses on a slide c, having a
front pivot at c¹ in the gun port. The carriage and slide are provided
with apparatus for checking the recoil and for elevating the gun, which
is shown in part in the Drawings, but as the present Invention does not
relate to these parts, which are well known and understood, further
description is unnecessary.
One part of the improvements is specially applicable to carriages and
slides in which, as these Figures represent, the running in and out is
effected by one or more endless chains. It consists in the employment
on the carriage of a special clip or clamp, through which the chain or
chains pass, and so arranged that the action of throwing the carriage on
to its wheels for running out or in causes the clamp to seize the chain,
and similarly the movement of throwing the carriage off its wheels
releases the chain, so that it cannot be left in action when the gun
fired, and therefore no accident can happen to the working gear from
such a cause.
is

page_text: In Figures 1 and 2 d, d, are two endless chains, one on each side of
the slide, they pass over chain wheels d', d, fixed on an axis e mounted.
in bearings on the end of the slide; d, d, are pulleys over which the
chain passes. On the axis e are spur wheels e' driven through trains
of wheels carried by standards fixed on the slide from the crank
handles ff, and so the chains & receive motion. g, g, are the rollers
on which the gun carriage is run out; they rotate upon their axles,
which themselves can turn in their bearings on the carriage, and the
bearings are slightly eccentric to the parts of the axles on which the
rollers turn; g, g', are sockets keyed on the axles to receive handspikes,
by which the axles are turned partly round when it is desired to make
the rollers take the weight of the gun and carriage in running out.
When the rollers g are not set down by the handspikes, as above
described, the carriage rests upon the slide, and its friction thereon aids
in controlling the recoil. On either end of the axle of the hinder
rollers g is an eccentric pin actuating the moving part of the clutch /
for seizing the chain d. The clutch h with its cover plate removed is
shown at Figures 3 and 4; in Figure 3 it is shown as it appears when
the chain is released, and in Figure 4 the chain is clutched, being
deflected out of its course and nipped by the sliding part of the clutch,
into which the eccentric pin on the axle enters, as the Drawings clearly
show. The parts are so set that when the carriage is on its rollers the
chains are nipped, and when the carriage is let down upon the slide, as
for firing, the chains are released.
Another part of the improvements consists in connecting the eccentric
rollers provided under the carriage for running in and out by levers and
bars in such a way that they all act together, so as not only to securo
the carriage being lifted parallel from the slide, but so that they may
be all brought into action from one side, or from the rear, or from the
sides only of the carriage.
In Figures 1 and 2, g³, g, are arms on the axles of the rollers g; they
are coupled together by links or bars ³ so as to cause the axles to
move in unison.
Another part of the improvements consists in connecting the training.
shaft with the gear for running in and out by a clutch so that it can be
put in and out of action at will, and worked by the same crank handles
and gear as the running in and out chains; and I make the clutch so

page_text: that it can be moved by the foot, and passed into a notch in such a way
as to remain securely fixed in or out of gear as desired.
zz
The training shaft is marked i in Figures 1 and 2; it is carried in
bearings on the slide, and has upon it a pinion gearing with a tooth
arc k fixed to the deck or gun platform. The pinion & can slide on its
axis to throw it out of gear if desired; is another pinion on the axis i,
gearing with a similar pinion on the axis e, on which it can turn freely,
but it can be rendered fast thereon by a sliding clutch 2 on the axis
actuated by a clutch fork turning on a centre A, as is more clearly
seen at Figure 5, which is a vertical section of the end of the slide. The
fork is controlled by a lever jointed to it; the inner end of this
lever is pressed down by a spiral spring, which when left free holds it in
one or other of the notches provided for it, and so the clutch is held
with the training gear either in or out of gear. When it is desired to
move the clutch on its shaft the lever is set free by depressing its
outer end by placing the foot upon it, and it is then pushed sideways one
way or the other as may be required.
Another part of the improvements consists in placing the rollers
provided under the slide to facilitate training at or near the centre of
the length of the slide, and also near its middle line, and in dividing
the said rollers into two or more parts in their width, and in working
them by connecting bars from the outside, by which arrangement I am
enabled to turn the gun on its carriage and slide with equal facility
about either the front or rear pivot, and thus to train it from one port
or throw it round to change from port to port with case; and in con-
nection with this arrangement I make a portion of the toothed arc laid
upon the deck for training moveable upon a pivot or otherwise, so that
it may be turned round and brought into a new position to suit another
port when desired to change the gun from one port to another contiguous
one.
In Figures 1 and 2 m, m, are rollers mounted near the centre of the
length of the slide, and also near its middle line. Their axles m² aro
eccentric, as already described, in respect to the rollers g of the carriage,
and they have arms m³ fixed upon them, from which connecting links
or bars m³ pass to short levers m' jointed to the sides of the slide, and
these levers are made with sockets at their ends to receive hand spikes,
by means of which the rollers m are depressed when the slido is to be

page_text: trained. Each of the rollers m is divided in the middle into two parts,
which are able to turn independently on the axle. The rollers run upɔn
racers or metal arcs let into the deck; these parts are also scen in
Figure 6, which is a transverse section of the slide.
Figure 7 shews an arrangement which is adopted in connection with
this method of mounting the slide when it is required to pass the gun
from one part to another. When the gun is being worked in the port Z
the movable part W of the rack which is mounted on a centre at 10 is
set in the position shewn by firm lines. If desired to work the gun in
the other port Y the slide is first thrown round by the pivot X until the
pivot pin in port Y can be entered (the pinion wheel on the training
shaft having first been drawn back out of gear). The moveable toothed
arcs W and V are then revolved on their centres until they come
against stops into the position shown by dotted lines, when the training
pinion can again be thrown into gear, and the gun trained about the new
centre in port Y. The pivot arcs may be secured at the loose ends by
pins dropped through them, or by flaps and keys, as in the case of the
slide, or in any other suitable manner.
Figure 12 shows another arrangement of the same nature, in which
only one piece of the toothed arc is pivotted.
Figures 8 and 9 are enlarged views of the pivotting arc showing how
its pivot may be secured through the deck if desired. The racers on
which the slide bearings and racers rest are sunk flush in the deck, so
that the pivotting arc may pass freely over them. Any portions of the
toothed arcs besides the piece at their intersection may be made to
pivot to clear the racers, as in the case of the arrangement shewn in the
Drawings; or the whole may be pivotted in one piece.
Another part of the improvement consists in the application of pawls
to the teeth of the rack which is laid in the deck for training the gun,
and I apply these pawls in such a way that the action of throwing the.
slide on to the eccentric roller bearings provided to facilitate training
lifts the pawls so as to free the slide for training, while at the same
time the eccentric rollers are thrown out of action; after the slide is laid
to the required angle the pawls descend and hold it securely.
In Figures 2 and 6 n are the pawls taking into the toothed arc k, and
locking the slide when they are in action. m³* are stops on the links m³
which when the rollers m arc depressed for training come against the
tails of the pawls », and lift them so as to set the slide free.

page_text: Another part of the improvements has more especial reference to
carriages and slides for land service, and may be combined with the
before-mentioned improvements or applied separately. It consists in
making the carriage. to run upon the slide or platform on permanent
rollers so as not to require to be lifted for running in or out, and the
rollers may be flanged or grooved or made to run in guides on the slide
beams.
Figure 10 is a side view, and Figure 11 a plan of a gun with its carriage
so mounted. a is the gun; b, the carriage; and c, the slide as before, but
the carriage, in place of being mounted on rollers which can be depressed
to take the load or raised to allow the carriage to rest directly on the
slide as in the former case, is mounted on rollers g without this power of
adjustment, and which consequently constantly have the load upon
them. In the arrangement shewn four rollers are employed on each
side of the gun. In order to control the gun during the recoil suitable
apparatus sufficiently powerful is employed. I employ by preference a
number of parallel plates on the slide, which are nipped by clipping
apparatus on the carriage, an arrangement for controlling the recoil
usually known as a "compressor."
Another part of the said improvements consists in a mode of training
or traversing carriage slides or platforms for land service by cogged
wheels attached cither through the axles or direct to the trucks on which
the slide or platform rests. I proportion the diameters and speeds of the
cogged wheels so attached to the radius of the arcs on which the wheels
travel, and drive them by a train of wheels from one or more ordinary
crank handles. In this manner I turn the fore and after platform trucks
at the proper speed to cause them to advance concentrically on their
racers, and by means of the friction of the trucks on the racers train or
travel the platform with the carriage and gun on it.
In Figures 10 and 11, o are the racers or guide arcs on the gun platform,
and p are the rollers running thereon and carrying the slide. Two of these
rollers, one at the front and one in rear of the gun, are driven; each of
these rollers has spur teeth upon it and gears with a pinion q. The two
pinions are on one axis, which is driven by a train of wheels from a
crank handle at the end of the slide, as is shewn, and the pinions q arc
so proportioned to the wheels with which they gear that the two rollers p.

page_text: are driven at surface speeds proportioned to their distances from the
pivot about which the gun trains.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of March,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
seventy.