IMPROVEMENTS OK AMMUNITION LIFTERS OR HOLDERS, AND CARRIAULS Han
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, of Bury, near
Gosport, County of Hants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
OK AMMUNITION LIFTERS OR HOLDERS, AND CARRIAULS
Hanis, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN SHOT OR AMMUNITION LIFTERS OR HOLDERS, AND CARRIAGES FOR THE SAME,"
to be as follows:-
My Invention relates, firstly, to improvements in lifters or holders for lifting
and transporting shot or ammunition; secondly, to a carriage for the more
convenient taking up and transport of the shot or ammunition. Under the
first head use a kind of tongs or forceps to go over and grasp. nip. or
embrace the shot or ammunition so as to obtain a picking-up action.
My first improvement consists in the use and application of a bolt or pin
which when the tongs are made to embrace the shot is passed through the
movable leg of the tongs, and also through a bar which connects the two legs
together: by the introduction of this bolt the legs are prevented from spreading

page_text: The bar
asunder when the weight of the shot is supported upon the tongs.
before referred to is movable upon an axis in the fixed leg of the iongs..
My next improvement under this head also consists in the use and applica-
tion of distance pins or stops to prevent the legs spreading too wide asunder
when the aforesaid connecting bolt or pin is withdrawn. The lifter or holder
is suspended by a radius bar or otherwise.
My carriage for taking up and transporting the shot or ammunition is so
arranged that the body frame of it in combination with the handles or shafts
forms a lever; the wheels and axles form the fulcrum of the lever. The shot
holder or lifter is attached to the carriage at a suitable point for the action of
the lever, and on the handles or shafis being pulled down the shot or ammuni-
tion is lifted up.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham in the Great Seal Paient
Office on the 12th July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
DUNCAN PRESTON CUNNINGHAM, of Bury, near Gosport, County of Hants. send
greeting.
WHEREAS er most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent. bearing date the Twelfth day of January. in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven. in the thirtieth year of Her reign.
did, for Herself. Her heirs and successors, give and grant. unto ine. the
said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham. Her special licence that I, the said
Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, my executors, administrators, and
assigns. or such others as 1. the said Henry Duncan Presion Cunningham.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter 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 SHOT OR
AMMUNITION HOLDERS OR LIFIERS. AND CARRIAGES FOR THE SAME," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I. the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham, 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 same was to be
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Henry Duncan Preston Cumminghun, do
hereby declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:--
My Invention relates, firstly. to improvements in lifters or holders for
lifting and transporting shot or projectiles or ammunition; and, secondly, to a
carriage for the more convenient taking up and transport of shot or projectiles
or ammunition.
Under the first bead I use a long or forcep-like kind of instrument to go
over and grasp, nip. or embrace the shot, projectile, or ammunition, and my
improvement consists in the use and application of a bolt or pin, which when
the lifter is made to embrace the shot or projectile is inserted through the
movable leg of the tongs, and also through a bar which connects the two legs
together, or the bolt may be inserted through the two legs arranged to be
brought together or lock into each other for that purpose. By the intro-
duction of this bolt the legs are securely prevented from spreading asunder
when the weight of the shot or projectile is supported upon the lifter. To
obtain this security with further simplicity and with reference to the going
overaction of the shot lifter. that is, when it is passed over the shot or
projectile without opening out the legs. I also propose to form the lifters
without any joint, the legs being fixed and immoveable.
Figure represents a shot lifter with a movable leg B' working at the
joint E; A is a bar upon an axis at D in a fixed leg B; C is a hole passing
through the leg B and the bar A; when a bolt or pin is inserted into this
hole through the leg B and bar A. the leg B' cannot open out, and thus
the shot suspended in it is held securely and cannot be released by opening
out the lifters without previously taking out the bolt or pin; Figure 2 repre-
sents a lifter with the movable leg B' so constructed that by moving it at the
joint E it shuts into or upon the fixed.leg B, and the insertion of a bolt or
pin at the hole (securely keeps the two legs together: Figure 3 represents
lifter with fixed or immoveable legs: A. A. are handles to facilitate the
andling and transport of the projectile: Figures 4 and 5 shew the manner
he shot or projectile is held in the lifter after it has been passed over the
projectile; the cross bottom bars seen at F. F, form a cradle for the projectile
o rest in these cross bars can be curved in the cenire, as seen in Figure 6, for
he purpose of holding spherical shoi. I also in some cases rag or roughen

page_text: the surface of the bars. as seen in this Figure, to prevent the projectile
slipping. My carriage for taking up and transporting shot, projectiles, or
ammunition is so arranged that the body of it in combination with its handle or
shaft forms a lever wherewith to lift or raise the shot, projectile, or ammu-
nition: the wheel and axle form the fulcrum of the lever; the shot or
projectile is lifted in the shot lifter by the insertion of the ends of the lever
in suitable holes for the purpose. Figure is a side view, Figure 8 a top
view, and Figure 9 a front view of the shot carriage applied to a lifter
The
holding a projectile; this lifter is that shown in Figures 3, 4, and 5.
lever principle is illustrated by the bar B. D, supported by the axles and
wheels which form the fulcrum at A; the projectile is held in the lifter C,
and suspended at the two points B. B; this double point of suspension keeps
the axis of the projectile or ammunition in a fixed position and gives steadi-
ness to its transport over uneven ground; it also facilitates the action of
picking up the projectile without detaching the lifter from the carriage, as
by wheeling the carriage over the projectile the end B of the lever being
sufficiently depressed so as to allow the lifter to pass along, under, and over the
projectile, shot, or ammunition to a proper balancing point for lifting it; the
operation of lifting the projectile is very greatly facilitated and a great
advantage thereby obtained. The release of the projectile from the carriage
is also facilitated by a similar reversed movement.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,--
First, constructing shot or ammunition lifters or holders of the tong or
forceps description with the legs rendered secure from spreading or opening
out. substantially as and for the purpose herein-before described and repre-
sented in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, constructing carriages for shot or ammunition lifters or holders.
substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Duncan Preston Cunningham,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
H. D. P. CUNNINGHAM. (...)