IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR LOADING HEAVY ORDNANCE WITH BALLS, SHELLS, OR OTHER PROJECTILES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International Patent
Office," No. 8, Southampton Buildings, "Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR LOADING HEAVY ORDNANCE WITH BALLS,
SHELLS, OR OTHER PROJECTILES."-A communication from abroad by
James Buchanan Eads, of St. Louis, Missouri, United States of
America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th October 1867.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8,
Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Con-
sulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR LOADING HEAVY ORDNANCE.
WITH BALLS, SHELLS, OR OTHER PROJECTILES," a communication, to, be as
follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to raise and place in the bore of the
gun heavy shot, shell, or other projectiles by mechanical means with the
assistance of very little manual labour:
The said Invention relates to the employment of a platform on which a bed
is fitted to receive the shot, the platform being so arranged and combined
with machinery operated by steam or other motive power that the said

page_text: platform may be raised or lowered to lift the projectile to the muzzle of the
piece, and then introduce it into the bore. Two cylinders may be used, one
being placed on either side of the carriage and directly below the trunnions of
the piece to be loaded. The piston rods are extended forward in a horizontal
plane and attached to the lower ends of the vertical arms of two bent levers.
One of these levers is placed on either side of the piece with its fulcrum
located in about the same horizontal plane as the trunnions, and its horizontal
arms extending as far forward as the muzzle, where it is attached to the afore-
said shot platform. As the said vertical arms are moved forward or backward
by means of the steam applied to pistons within the cylinders, it follows that the
forward ends of the horizontal arms of the said levers, and with them the
shot platform and the shot itself will be with ease elevated to such a plane
that it may readily be introduced into the muzzle of the piece. One cylinder
may be placed beneath the piece and made to answer the purpose of two
cylinders by coupling its piston rod with both levers. The device, however,
which I prefer to employ consists of a telescopic series of cylinders with their
axes in a vertical or nearly vertical plane, and placed directly beneath the shot
platform. As steam is introduced into these cylinders they are raised one out
of another until the shot platform is at the proper height to introduce the ball
or other projectile into the piece. The shot platform is hinged at its back to
the top of the upper cylinder of the series, and a guard extends under the
gun. The platform can be raised so as to cause the said guard to come in
contact with the gun, and a little more steam being then applied the front end
of the platform will be raised while the said guard and hinge hold the back
end of the same down on a level with the bore of the gun. The platform is
thus inclined so as to allow the shot to roll or slide into the piece as soon as a
spring catch which has hitherto retained it on the platform is released.
Instead of using steam cylinders for the telescopic arrangement solid cylinders
may be employed, and the elevation of the interior cylinder or cylinders
may then be accomplished by external machinery actuated by steam or other
power.
The carriage which supports the gun and the slides or chassis may be of
any approved pattern or construction, and the lower or outer cylinder may be
connected to the carriage by stay rods. When steam cylinders are used they
are turned and well fitted together as to be properly steam-tight. The lower
cylinder is open at the top end and closed at its bottom end, while the other
cylinders are open at the bottom and closed at the top. Steam may be
admitted to the cylinders from a suitable valve chest, its admission being
controlled by means of a lever or other device. A single cylinder closed at
.

page_text: both ends may be sometimes used, the said cylinder having one, two, or more
piston rods working through as many stuffing boxes in the cylinder head.
These piston rods carry the shot platform on their upper end. The said plat-
form consists of a lower or bed piece which is securely affixed to the top of
the inner cylinder or to the piston rods. The movable or tipping platform is
hinged to the bed piece at the inner side. The curved guard piece is securely
affixed to the said movable platform in such a position as to catch under the
muzzle of the gun when the platform is raised. As soon as the said guard
piece is thus caught against the gun it will cause the movable platform to tip
or rise upon its fulcrum, thus inclining the top surface of the said platform
downward toward the muzzle of the piece, thereby causing the projectile when
the same is released from the spring catch to roll or slide into the said piece.
The said catch is attached to the platform and may be withdrawn from the
stop or check piece which holds it by means of a hand ring and rod. The
said check piece falls or slides down and the ball rolls or slides over it. The
interior cylinder is allowed to rise for a short distance and is then stopped by
a bolt partly in each of the two top cylinders, the object being to cross the
joint between the two upper cylinders when they are extended with this
interior one for the purpose of stiffening and affording the necessary lateral
rigidity to the upper end of the series when the cylinders are extended or
elevated.
Various other arrangements of machinery may be employed operated either
by hand or by steam power. For instance, a vertical rack supporting the
shot platform may be raised or lowered by a toothed pinion placed on a shaft
arranged at any convenient part of the carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me; the

page_text: said William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR MACHINERY FOR LOADING HEAVY ORDNANCE
WITH BALLS, SHELLS, OR OTHER PROJECTILES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
forming a part of this Specification:-
The chief object of this Invention is to raise and place in the bore of the
gun heavy shot, shell, or other projectiles by mechanical means with the
assistance of very little manual labour.
The said Invention relates to the employment of a platform on which a
bed is fitted to receive the shot, the platform being so arranged and combined
with a steam cylinder or cylinders or with other machinery operated either by
steam power or by hand, or by any other power that may be made applicable
to the purpose, that the said platform may be raised or lowered to lift the
projectile to the muzzle of the piece when the projectile is placed on the
platform, and then introduce the said projectile into the bore. Two cylinders
may be used, one being placed on either side of the carriage and directly
below the trunnions, with the piston rods extending forward in a horizontal
plane and attached to the lower ends of the vertical arms of two bent levers;
one of these levers is placed on either side of the piece with its fulcrum
located in about the same horizontal plane as the trunnions, and its horizontal
arms extending as far forward as the muzzle where it is attached to the
aforesaid shot platform. As the said vertical arms are moved forward or
backward by means of the steam applied to pistons within the cylinders

page_text: the
it follows that the forward ends of the horizontal arms of the said levers,
and with them the shot platform and the shot itself, will be with ease
elevated to such a plane that it may readily be rolled if round, or caused
to slide if elongated into the muzzle of the piece. One cylinder might
be placed beneath the piece and made to serve the purpose of two by
coupling its piston rod with both levers. Another device, and the one
which will be herein-after more fully described, consists of a series of teles-
copic cylinders, with their axes in a vertical or nearly vertical plane and
placed directly beneath the shot platform. As steam is introduced into these
cylinders they are raised up one out of another until the shot platform is of
proper height to introduce the ball into the piece; by having the shot
platform binged at its back end or side to the top of the upper cylinder of
the series, and a guard connected therewith so as to extend under the gun
when the platform shall have been raised so as to cause the said guard to come
in contact with the gun and a little more steam is applied, the front end of
the platform will be raised up while the said guard and hinge holds the
back end of it down on a level with the bore of the gun, thus tipping the
platform so as to allow the shot to roll off into the piece (if it is a round
shot or be pushed off if it is an elongated one) as soon as a spring catch
which has hitherto retained it on the platform shall have been released.
Instead of using steam cylinders for the telescopic arrangement, solid
cylinders may be used, and the elevation of the interior cylinder or cylinders
may then be accomplished by external appliances of machinery actuated by
hand power or steam engines located in some convenient position on the gun
carriage.
:
To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my improved device
for loading heavy ordnance I will proceed to describe its construction and
operation.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
1, is a plan of the same.
Figure 4, Sheet 2, is a vertical
Figure 5, Sheet 2, is a sectional
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a side elevation of a piece of heavy ordnance with
it's carriage and shot. lifter. Figure 2, Sheet
Figure 3, Sheet 1, is a front end elevation.
central sectional elevation of the shot lifter.
elevation of the top end of the shot lifter showing the shot platform in its inclined
position as it appears at the moment before the shot is rolled or pushed into the
gún Figure 6, Sheet 2, is a plan of the shot platform showing the spring
catch used for retaining the shot on the platform and the device for operating

page_text: The carriage A which supports the gun B and the slides or "chassis
C may be of any of the most approved patterns now in use or hereafter made
applicable to the operating of heavy ordnance, and hence these parts need
no minute description here. The shot lifter consists (in its most approved
form) of a series of telescopic cylinders D, D', D2, D3, arranged to slide one
within the other, and a shot platform E is affixed to the top of the inner
and smaller cylinder; the cylinders D, D1, D2, D³, may be nicely turned and
fitted together so that some mechanical device may be applied to raise the
inner cylinders, and with them the platform and its shot; but the most
preferable way to produce the desired result is to fit the said cylinders
together steam-tight and then admit steam directly into the interior cylinders
(which are open ended at the bottom) when they will rise up out of the
cylinder D, and so lift the shot platform with them until the required
elevation of the shot shall have been attained; the lower cylinder D is to
be open at the top end and closed at its bottom end. All of the other
cylinders, of which there may be two or three, or more, will be open at the
bottom and closed at the top. Steam may be admitted to the cylinders
from the valve chest d through the pipe d by simply moving the lever d² to
one side and shut off by the reverse operation. The same result might
easily be arrived at by the use of one single cylinder closed at both ends as
in a steam engine, and having two or more or even one piston rod working
through as many stuffing boxes as piston rods in the cylinder head, the said
piston rod or rods carrying on their upper end or ends the shot platform E;
the said shot platform consists of a lower or bed piece e securely affixed to
the top of the cylinder D³, and a movable or tipping platform hinged to
the bed piece at x. A curved guard piece e is securely affixed to the
movable piece e¹ in such a position as to catch under the muzzle of the gun
when the platform is raised up as shown in Figures 1 and 5. As soon as
the said guard piece becomes caught against the gun it will cause the piece e¹
to tip up around the point x as is clearly shown in Figure 5, thus inclining
the top surface of the platform toward the piece, and thereby facilitating the
rolling or sliding of the ball into the bore of the piece. A spring catch e³ in
the interior of the platform piece e may be withdrawn by means of the hand
ringe and rode from the stop or check piece at the proper moment to
let the said check piece fall or slide down and the ball to roll or slide over
it. The dotted lines in Figure 4 show the shot lifter raised up while the
full lines represent it in its contracted position; the cylinder D may be
connected with the "chassis" part of the carriage by means of the stay rods F.
An interior cylinder D is allowed to rise for a short distance and is then stopped

page_text: by the bolt Ds, partly in each of the two top cylinders, the object being to
cross the joint between the two upper cylinders, when they are extended
with this interior one for the purpose of stiffening and affording the necessary
lateral rigidity to the top end of the telescope when it is extended or elevated.
The description herein-above given of a shot lifter as combined with a gun
carriage relates to certain means for accomplishing the desired result; of
course the same object may be accomplished by various other arrangements
of machinery, as has been suggested, operated by hand or by steam power.
For instance, a vertical rack supporting the shot platform may be raised or
lowered by a toothed pinion placed on a shaft actuated by hand or by steam
power applied at any convenient part of the carriage.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be conveniently
and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, the combination of a
gun carriage A, C, with a shot lifter and shot platform E substantially as
set forth.
In witness whereof I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE (L.S.)
Witness,
THOS. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
8, Southampton Buildings,
W.C.