Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Jan., 1887
Complete Left, 3rd Oct., 1887
Complete Accepted, 4th Nov., 1887
I. JOHN STURGEON, of 6 Lincolns Inn, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick
Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
:-
The object of my invention is to construct a gun for the discharge of missiles
with great rapidity, or at suitable intervals, by means of compressed air, instead of
ordinary explosives; such missiles being fed forward to the gun by means of air
pressure, as quickly as they can be discharged from the gun.
The air is compressed by special air pumps worked by hand, steam or other power,
when available, and is conveyed by a tube to the breech of the gun.
The shots employed would be preferably spherical and are directed or conveyed to
the breech through a tube which may be coiled in the gun carriage, or other suitably
placed tube.
Air pressure is brought to bear in rear of the shots in such a manner as to
force them forward, such pressure being regulated or arrested by suitable valves.
Communication is made with the breech by suitably arranged pipes through which
the pressure is transmitted for discharging the shot, the pressure is also regulated
or arrested by valve or valves. The shots may be discharged with great rapidity or
intermittently.
The main compressed air admission valve is so arranged that it can be held in one
position, open to the compressed air in line with the axis of the gun so as to discharge
a stream of shots, or may be revolved or moved so as to shut off or open communication
with the compressed air for intermittent discharges.
T
• 11
1007

page_text: I, JOHN STURGEON of 6 Lincoln's Inn Birmingham in the County of Warwick,
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 :-
The main object of my invention is to construct a gun for the discharge of missiles
either with great rapidity or by dropping shots, as may be required, and chiefly at point.
blank range, by means of compressed air instead of ordinary explosives.
I shall now by the aid of accompanying drawings fully describe my invention and
some modes of carrying it into effect.
Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section through a machine gun of iny construction
and Figure 2 a plan.
The air for supplying one or more guns is compressed by any suitable or specially
constructed pump or pumps worked by hand or when available (as may happen on
board ship or within fortifications) by means of steam or other power. The
compressed air is conveyed to the gun by the pipe A a branch therefrom leading to
the rear of a coil of pipe A' forming a magazine for the bullets which are thus, by
the air pressure behind continuously pressed forward into the breech of the gun as fast
as those in front are discharged therefrom. This magazine is in connection with the
underside of the breech of the gun barrel B as shown or it may enter it laterally or
from above. Or the magazine may consist of a tube leading direct from the air
compressor to the gun. The magazine or coil A' as shewn in the drawing is placed
in a vessel or drum mounted on the gun carriage and which may be closed below.
An air reservoir which is in connection with the pump or compressed air supply and
with the coil A may be placed on the gun carriage within the coil A' to form an
equaliser or store of power.
The pipe A is continued up to the breech in the rear of the bullet entry as shown
and provided with one or more bends or coils as shown at A* for the purpose of
affording the needed flexibility for the gun barrel to be trained or laid laterally and
vertically as required without special sliding sockets or the like. Under the breech
the pipe is divided. One branch leads to a main valve or cock D for the intermittent
admission of compressed air to be brought to bear in rear of the bullets in the gun in
order to force them forward one by one and discharge them out of the gun muzzle.
Another branch of the pipe A leads to the supplementary valve or cock E for effecting
an occasional very rapid or so to say continuous shower of bullets.
The main valve D is mounted in trunnions F on a bracket fixed to the side of the
vessel C or any other suitable fixed part on the gun carriage. The gun thus pivotting
in the trunnions can be laid in any vertical position for proper aim by taking hold of
the handle H. For the lateral training the lower part of the vessel or drum is made
to turn in a rim or box G, and the gun can be turned by taking hold of the handle I.

page_text: Antifriction rollers or balls may be provided to diminish the vertical and lateral friction.
The coil in the pipe A gives sufficient flexibility for permitting the training of the
gun in both directions.
The main compressed air admission valve D is so arranged that it can be held in
one position, open to the compressed air in line with the axis of the gun as here shown,
by means for instance of a small stud d with slightly rounded bottom which by means
of a helical spring dis pressed into one of the two shallow cup shaped recesses formed
in opposite sides of the plug of the cock D. The spring is in a chamber in the
shell of the cock, which chamber is closed by a plug d².
To work the gun in the ordinary way the two way cock E is closed and the main
valve or cock D is turned by its handle K as quickly as convenient or required.
When the chamber in the cock D comes opposite the compressed air inlet L it takes
in a charge of compressed air filling the chamber. In the meantime the air pressure
at the rear of the bullets in the coil or magazine has forced a bullet up into position in
the breach of the gun. As soon as the chamber in the main valve D comes into the
horizontal position shown (being held momentarily thus by the stud d the bullet in the
breach is discharged by the compressed air contained in the chamber of the valve,
the process being repeated as rapidly as the valve is revolved. But when at closé
quarters and for a short space of time a very rapid or shower like discharge or stream
of bullets is to be made, the main valve D is left standing in the horizontal position as
shewn, the cock E being opened in the position shewn, so as to admit the compressed
air continuously to and through the open cock or valve D and discharge the bullets
as fast as they are forced up into the breech. To stop the continuous action of the
gun the cock plug E is turned off or one quarter round. When working the gun
by the main valve D, if it should be found that the chamber of the valve does not take
in sufficient air for the required range and effect, the cock E may be left open in the
position shewn or partly open so as to give an additional supply of compressed air
during the time the chamber of the main valve is passing the opening.
When the magazine is emptied it may be refilled from the top by taking out the
plug M and pouring in a fresh supply of bullets through a funnel.
In order to work the gun automatically, instead of the handle attached to the shaft
of the main valve I attach thereto a small rotative engine of any suitable form,
actuated by a portion of the compressed air that supplies the gun, the pressure
being regulated by a suitable valve so as to run the engine at any suitable speed.
In the illustration I have shewn the valves of the revolving type, but they may be
also made reciprocating, and actuated by hand or compressed air, being in the latter
case worked by means of a suitable tappet and piston motion, as is well understood, or
the requisite to and fro movement may be imparted by means of an electro-magnet.
The gun may be mounted on a light limber for field purposes or on small wheels
suitable for garrisons or ships.
Sometimes I mount the gun barrel on the ball and socket principle and by preference
on a pipe fixed in the top of the compressed air store vessel. When the gun barrel
has been properly laid or aimed it is fixed in that position by any suitable means for
jamming the ball in its socket so that the cock D may be rotated without disturbing
the aim. But when the gun is being worked on the continuous shower plan, the main
cock D being then stationary the gun barrel would generally not be fixed in
position.
I do not confine myself to the precise details shown and described, as the same may
be varied in so great a variety of ways while still retaining the same principles of
action that it would be impossible to describe them all in this Specification.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :-
First: The application of highly compressed air to the feeding of bullets or other
missiles to a gun barrel and to the discharge therefrom substantially in the manner
hereinbefore described.
Second: A machine gun in which the bullets or other missiles are projected by

page_text: compressed air consisting mainly of the following parts viz. a gun barrel, a bullet
magazine of coiled or other tube communicating with the breech of the barrel and
with the compressed air supply, and a cock or valve for intermittently admitting
compressed air from the supply to the back of the bullet in the breech and projecting
the bullet substantially as set forth.
Third A machine gun consisting of the secondly claimed parts combined with a
compressed Air Reservoir or receiver mounted on the same carriage as the gun,
forming a portable apparatus which may, if required be detached from the air
compressing pumps.
Fourth In a machine gun in which the bullets or other missiles are projected
from the gun barrel by a cock or valve for intermittently admitting compressed air or
other fluid the application of a supplementary cock or valve for admitting temporarily
and at close range a continuous compressed fluid supply while the first named cock or
valve is kept stationary and open to the supplementary cock or valve and to the gun
barrel substantially as set forth.
Fifth —Driving the main valve of a gun as fourthly claimed by means of a small
compressed air Turbine or other suitable rotative engine attached to the shaft thereof
as set forth.
Sixth The constructions of machine gun substantially as described with reference
to the accompanying drawings.