Improvements in Gun-carriages.
Year: 1892

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by DIE ACTIEN GESELLSCHAFT GRUSONWERK, of
Magdeburg, Buckan, in the Empire of Germany, Manufacturers.].
Improvements in Gun-carriages.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 improvements in wheeled gun-carriages.
The object of my invention is to shorten the recoil as much as is practicable,
and to enable the operation of running out to be performed automatically with but
slight strain of the material of the gun-carriage.
According to my said invention I arrange a recoil-brake on the trail of the gun-
carriage, part of which brake is held by a spur driven into the ground.
It
The said brake is hydraulic and may be constructed in any desired manner.
may for instance comprise a cylinder which is filled with glycerine and in which a
perforated brake piston moves during the firing.
In order that my said invention may be clearly understood I will now proceed to
describe the same with reference to the accompanying drawings by way of example,
in which
Figure is a side elevation of a gun provided with a press which accumulates
the power of the recoil and utilizes the same for the running out of the gun.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal central section through the end of the trail, and
Figure 3 is a transverse section of the press or brake on the line x, y of
Figure 2.
Like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A is the trail of the gun carriage. B is the rod by which the trail is connected
with the piston C of a press or brake. D is the cylinder provided with a spur E
which is driven into the ground and holds the cylinder upon the same.
The space F behind the piston is filled with liquid. G is a spring-loaded valve
controlling an aperture G' by which the portion F of the cylinder D communicates
with an air-vessel H cast on the said brake cylinder. The liquid is forced during
the recoil into the said air-vessel by way of the aperture G', and other apertures a
also connecting the cylinder space F with the vessel H and hereinafter referred
to more particularly, so that the pressure of the air in the said vessel increases.
If the forward end of the cylinder D be closed by a cover, a vacuum will be pro-
duced, during the recoil, in the space J in front of the piston C. The said aper-
tures a may, as shown, be unprovided with valves, and of such a size that they
offer sufficient resistance to the liquid forced into the air-vessel by the movement
of the piston; or there may be an aperture or apertures provided with a valve or
valves opening towards the space F so as to close during the recoil and open
during the running out of the gun.
After the termination of the recoil, the air under pressure in the air-vessel forces
the liquid through the apertures a back into the brake cylinder, whereby the
piston C is compelled to move forwards and to run the gun out. The liquid
in returning from the air-vessel H through the small apertures a into the space F
controls the movement of the piston C so that the gun will return gently to the
firing position.
The resistance of the press or brake is preferably such that the moment of the
force tending to cause the jumping of the gun about the spur is just balanced by
the weight of the gun and carriage. Thus the entire weight of the gun and
carriage is thrown upon the trail, the wheels being completely relieved; therefore

page_text: a brake acting upon the latter during the firing would be superfluous. During the
running out the weight is again distributed between the wheels and the trail of the
gun-carriage.
The force tending to counteract the jumping of the gun about the spur diminishes
towards the termination of the recoil movement because the centre of gravity
approaches the spur E therefore the press or brake must be so arranged that its
resistance gradually diminishes during the recoil.
This object is easily effected by the appropriate arrangement of the valve G.
As compared with those guns in which only the gun proper, or that and part of
the gun-carriage, is put under the control of the brake, this invention possesses the
advantage that in consequence of the greater masses to be set in motion the length
of the recoil is shortened without increasing the tendency of the gun to jump or
subjecting the gun-carriage to excessive stresses. As compared with those guns
the recoil of which is under the control of ordinary hydraulic brakes, it has the
advantages that the gun is run out automatically without the use of inclined
planes to the firing position, and that the brake apparatus constitutes part of the
gun-carriage which does not require to be specially fixed in the ground.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
First. A wheeled gun-carriage in which the trail is connected by a recoil press
or brake with a spur to be driven into the ground, in such a manner that the entire
gun and carriage will have a limited recoil, for the purpose specified.
Second. A wheeled gun-carriage having the trail connected by a recoil-press
or brake with a spur to be driven into the ground, in which the piston of
the recoil brake forces the brake liquid into a closed air-vessel, for the purposes
specified.
Third The improvements in gun-carriages, substantially as hereinbefore described
with reference to Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the accompanying drawings, for the purposes
specified.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.