Improvements in Brakes for Gun Carriages.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Brakes for Gun Carriages.
I, GEORGE HENRY BANISTER of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich 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 :-
This invention relates to brakes for gun carriages which brakes are chiefly
designed for the carriages of field or siege artillery.
According to this invention I provide a gun carriage with brake-apparatus so
constructed and arranged that, when the carriage is travelling from place to place
the brake may, when desired, be applied to the wheels of the said carriage by a
hand wheel and screw or other equivalent means and that when the gun is to be
fired the said brake may be adjusted to act automatically to control the recoil of
the carriage as hereinafter described.
The automatic action of the brakes is provided for by so arranging and
supporting the brake blocks relatively to the wheels that the said wheels will act
upon the brake blocks to apply pressure during recoil, and to remove it in the
running forward of the carriage.
In order that the nature of my said invention may be clearly understood I will
now proceed to describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings,
in which
Figure 1 is a plan of a portion of a gun carriage fitted with brake apparatus
constructed according to this invention, and
Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same, with one of the wheels removed for the
sake of clearness.
A A are the side frames and B B the wheels of the gun carriage. A cross
shaft or tube C is supported at its ends by pins which fit into the ends of the tube
and are carried by two bosses D; upon these pins the said shaft or tube may be
rotated.
Attached to the carriage are two links E, one at each side thereof. The said
links are connected with the loops or eyes d carried by the bosses D and to the
loops or eyes e fixed upon the carriage and serve to suspend the cross tube or
shaft C in such a manner that it may be vibrated about the loops e as hereinafter
described.
The bosses D are provided with lugs to which are bolted the links F. The
said links F converge or extend towards one another from the lugs and are
connected together and to a shorter double link G by a bolt g in the manner
illustrated. The said double Fink G is connected by a ping to the end of the
screw rod H which travels in guides h, about which pin g' the link G may rotate
slightly. The screw rod H is operated by the hand-wheel 1. The boss i of the
said hand wheel forms a nut for the said screw rod and is carried by a bracket J
in which it is free to rotate.
The said bracket is fixed to the breast of the gun carriage. K is a tension rod
connecting the bolt g with a collar in which the shaft or tube C is free to rotate.
The shaft or tube C is provided with a collar L fixed thereto and furnished with a
lug which is connected by the link spring N and link to the bolt g. The
said shaft or tube C is also provided with two arms O and an arm P, all of which
arms are firmly fixed thereto. The arms O carry upon suitable pivots the brake
blocks o, and the arm P is provided for a purpose hereinafter explained.
The shaft C must be so placed that its centre does not coincide with the centres
of the wheels, and it is preferably arranged so that its axis lies near the outer

page_text: circumference of the wheels so that in the movement of the levers O about the said
axis the blocks will approach and recede from the wheels as herein described.
Stops Qand guide plates R are affixed to the underside of the frames A to
restrict the movement of the shaft or tube C within certain limits. Upon one of
the side frames A are bearings S for the shaft T. The said shaft T is provided
near its upper end with at handle t,-and-near its lower end with collar t' below
which is a toc tthet handle and. the toe being preferably arranged to project from
the shaft T'at right angles with each other.
The operation of the improved brake will now be described.
When the parts occupy the positions shown in the drawings the brake blocks o
are clear of the wheels and the brake is in readiness for non-automatic operation.
The arm P is held between the collar t¹ and the toc., and therefore the shaft or
tube C can have no rotation about its own axis. The said shaft is retained against
the stops by the screw rod H and links G and F so that the brake blocks are
equidistant from the peripheries of the wheels. To apply the brake blocks to the
tyres of the wheels the hand wheel I is rotated so that the screw rod H is caused
to draw the double link G towards the hand wheel, together with the links F and
the cross shaft or tube C, which being thus swung with its suspension links E
about the loops e will bring the brake blocks o into contact with the tyres of the
wheels A.
Should either of the brake blocks come into contact with the wheel sooner than
the companion block, and thus cease to move, the end of the shaft or tube C to
which the said companion block is attached will continue to travel until both blocks
are acting with equal pressure upon the tyres. The slight amount of freedom for
lateral vibration allowed to the link G permits the point to move laterally to
enable such adjustment of the shaft or tube C to take place and ensures that each
of the two brake blocks shall bear upon the tyres with equal force.
To release the brake blocks from contact with the wheels the handwheel I is
rotated so that the screw rod H forces the shaft or tube C away from the hand-
wheel and into contact with the stops Q against both of which it bears equally by
reason of the free lateral movement of the link G and its attachments as above
explained.
It will be observed that the end of the arm P which is engaged by the collar t¹
and toe is so formed as to offer no impediment to the longitudinal movement or
travel of the said arm with the tube or shaft C, when the said tube or shaft is
moved by means of the hand wheel I as above.described.
To adjust the brake mechanism for automatic action the brake blocks are
brought into contact with the tyres of the wheels B in the manner hereinbefore
described; the shaft T is then rotated by moving the handle t into a position at
right angles with that in which it is shown in the drawings whereupon the toe t²
will be moved from under the arm P, which will then no longer be retained to
prevent the rotation of the shaft or tube C.
When the gun carriage recoils, the wheels will rotate in the direction indicated
by the arrow in Figure 2 and by reason of the friction between the brake blocks
and the tyres of the said wheels the brake blocks o and the arms O by which they
are carried will be caused to travel downward, rotating the shaft or tube C upon
its bearings.
During the first portion of the said downward travel of the blocks o they will
move away from the wheel tyres, because the arms O, when the brake blocks are
screwed against the wheels as aforesaid, are inclined above a line taken through
the centres of the wheels and of the shaft or tube C. The weight of the said
arms and brake blocks however, will suffice to continue their movement to a point
below the line to bring the brake blocks into contact with the tyres again.
Any movement of the wheels after the blocks have resumed contact therewith as
described,, will further rotate the arms O with the effect of forcing the blocks o
against the tyres with a constantly increasing pressure, the wheels and the brake

page_text: blocks rotating in the same direction until the friction due to the pressure of the
said blocks stops the rotation of the wheels.
Conversely, when the gun carriage is run forward, after having been auto-
matically stopped in recoil by the brakes as aforesaid, the brake blocks offer no
opposition to the rotation of the wheels which will raise the said blocks from
below the line so that they bear but lightly on the tyres. On cessation of the
said forward movement the brake blocks remain in contact with the tyres in
readiness to check the next movement of recoil as will readily be understood.
2
The spring N exerts a constant but slight tension upon the arm and therefore
when the shaft or tube C is free to rotate, the said spring operates in addition to
the weight of the arms O and brake blocks o to maintain the latter in even contact
with the tyres. The said spring though not absolutely essential to the action of
the brake conduces to the efficiency of the same in checking the recoil for the
reason that it prevents the inconvenience which arises, (when the weight of the
brake blocks o and arm O is alone relied upon to keep the blocks in contact with
the tyres,) from the elasticity of the parts whereby the blocks tend to spring
slightly from the tyres during recoil.
To adjust the brake for non-automatic action after it has been operating
automatically, the arm P is raised by hand and the shaft T is rotated by the
handle t to lock the said arm in its raised position. The hand-wheel I may then
be operated to put the shaft or tube C into contact with the stops Q when the
parts will have resumed the positions in which they are shown in the drawings.
The strength of the spring N is not sufficient to produce any inconvenient
resistance to the raising of the arm P by hand in the manner described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it understood
that I claim :-
First. In a gun carriage the combination of a brake with the wheel or wheels
in such a manner that the movement of the said wheel or wheels in the recoil and
in the running forward of the gun carriage applies and removes the pressure of
the brake as and for the purpose specified.
Second. In a gun-carriage-brake the block or shoe carried by and movable
about a shaft in such a manner that the path of movement of the pivot of the
said block about the shaft is eccentric to the periphery of the wheel for the
purpose specified.
Third. The suspension of the said shaft in bearings which are adjustable to
vary the distance of the brake-blocks from the wheels, substantially as and for the
purposes specified.
.
Fourth. In a gun-carriage, apparatus consisting of the brake-blocks and shaft
in combination with an arm or projection on the said shaft, and a retaining device
adapted to engage with the said arm or projection, substantially as and for the
purpose specified.
Fifth. The combination with the said apparatus of mechanism for the adjustment
of the brake-blocks into and out of position for automatic action substantially as
set forth.
Sixth. The brake-apparatus constructed and arranged substantially as described
with reference to the accompanying drawings, and operating as and for the
purposes specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.