Improvements in Beds or Mountings for Siege or Heavy Mortars.
Year: 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Beds or Mountings for Siege or Heavy Mortars.
I, THOMAS ENGLISH of Hawley, near Dartford, in the County of Kent, Civil
Engineer do hereby declare- the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :---
My invention relates to beds or mountings for mortars for use in siege trains
or in fortifications or coast defences or on shipboard, so constructed and arranged
that the mortar can recoil in its bed in the direction of its axis under control of
hydraulic buffers, and is returned to firing position by a compressed air spring.
The elevation of the mortar in the bed can be varied, and the bed carrying it
can be traversed horizontally round a pivot.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings is a side elevation partly in section of a
mortar with bed according to my invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan, shewing the mortar horizontal.
On a platform A, which may be of wood, I bolt a circular foundation plate B
with a central hole to receive a pivot C, and with a flange bat its periphery to
form a race for conical rollers & which are carried by a live ring I that can
revolve round the central boss of a circular ribbed steel casting E of which the
pivot C forms part. On the casting E is fitted another steel casting F which at its
base is circular, carried on the rollers d, but changes in shape upwards forking
into two side brackets with bearings for the trunnions of a cast steel cradle G
surrounding the mortar H, in which cradle the mortar is fitted to slide in the direction
of its axis. On the breech of the mortar is an enlarged collar H having a chase on
one side fitted to slide along a guide G¹ projecting down from the cradle G, thus
preventing the mortar from turning. In the cradle, parallel to the axis are fixed two
hydraulic buffer cylinders one on each side fitted with solid pistons g which are
somewhat loose in the cylinders so as to allow liquid, with which the cylinders are
charged, to pass them. The piston rods pass down through stuffing boxes, and are linked
to lugs on the collar H¹ at the breech of the mortar. The upper parts of the
hydraulic cylinders are prolonged upwards as solid plungers which pass through
stuffing boxes into cylinders K that are firmly secured on the mortar near its muzzle
and are charged with compressed air. When the mortar recoils on being fired, the
cylinders K move along their plungers, farther compressing the air, which, after the
force of the recoil is expended, acts as a spring returning the mortar to its firing
position. The speed and force of the recoil are also chiefly controlled by the movement
of the pistons g displacing the liquid through the small area of passage around them.
On the cradle G at one side is fixed concentric with the trunnions a toothed sector L
gearing with a worm 7 which can be turned by a hand wheel in bearings attached to
the bed F, so as to give the mortar any desired elevation. By hand spikes inserted in
holes of the bed it can be traversed round the pivot C as a centre, so as to give the
mortar any desired direction. The bed is prevented from rising from the foundation
plate B by clips 6' which are attached to the bed F and hook under the flange 6 of the
foundation plate.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:
For mounting o cisca or baawv mortar the combination of a foundation plate with

page_text: live roller ring, a bed or frame pivotted to turn thereon, a cradle trunnioned on the
bed and surrounding the mortar, and hydraulic buffers and air springs for recoil
substantially as described.
Dated this 14th do of Anvil 1900
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.