Improvements in Sighting Mechanism for Ordnance.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 10th June, 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Sighting Mechanism for Ordnance.
I, CARL FERDINAND JEANSÉN, of 1321, Yale Street, in the City of Washington,
District of Columbia, United States of America, Gentleman, 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 sighting mechanism for disappearing guns, or guns
which are mounted on pivotal or rocking supports, which are forced backward
by the recoil of the gun in firing, so that the latter will disappear in a pit or
behind a parapet, and thus be out of sight of the enemy or an opposing force,
enabling it to be loaded and aimed without danger. The invention is intended
more especially for use in individual firing at long and short ranges. The object
of the invention is to provide such a gun with a sight,, a movable sight support,
a stationary support to which the sight support is pivoted,, and connections between
the gun and sight support, operated simultaneously with the gun when elevated
or depressed to obtain the range, whereby the said sight support will move in the
arc of a circle in unison with and proportional to the are described by the gun in
firing position, such movement of the gun being controlled while lowered or out
of sight of the enemy, by the operator who takes the sight.
The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of parts here-
inafter fully described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a disappearing gun provided with my improvements
and showing so much of the carriage as is necessary to illustrate the invention,
the tubular standard being broken away at the lower end.
Fig. 2 in an end elevation partly in section of the elevating gear.
Fig. 3 is a side elevation similar to Fig. 1, but showing a modified construction.
Fig. 4 is an end elevation, partly in section, of the lower end of the elevating
gear shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view of the invention shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 6 is a similar view of the modification shown in Fig. 3.
Fig. 7 is a similar view of another modification.
In the said drawing, referring now to Figures 1, 2 and 5, the reference numeral 1
designates the gun, 2 the supports, the upper ends of which receive the trunnions
of the gun and 4 the carriage to which the said supports are pivoted. The said
carriage and the rocking or tilting supports may be of any ordinary or suitable
construction, and as they form no part of the present invention, a detailed de-
scription thereof is not necessary.
The numeral 5 designates a tubular standard fixed to the carriage 4 at one side
thereof and provided at the upper end with a bracket 6, to which is pivoted a sight
support 7 carrying a telescope or other sight 8 of any suitable construction.
Pivoted to aid sight support is a vertical rod 9 located in the standard, the lower
end of which is pivotally connected with an arm 10 pivoted to a bracket 11 of
CD
077

page_text: 5
said standard. The pivotal point of the sight support and the pivotal point of the
arm 10 are exactly the same distance from the vertical rod 9 so that they move
in unison and parallel with each other. Pivotally connected with the lower end
of rod 9 is a short rod 12 which is pivotally connected with a segment 13 pivoted
to said standard. This segment is formed with teeth 14, with which engages a
worm 15 of the shaft 15" journaled to the carriage, and provided intermediate its
ends with a bevel gear 16, which engages with a corresponding gear 17, on the
upper end of an inclined shaft 19, which is rotated by gears not shown on a shaft 20
provided with a hand wheel 21. By this means,, the said worm shaft can be turned
by a person standing on the platform 23, for elevating or depressing the gun in 1
aiming the same. At the rear or outer end of the shaft 15" is a worm gear 22
which meshes with a corresponding worm wheel 22" on one end of a transverse
shaft 24. This shaft is journaled to the carriage 4 and is provided with two
cog wheels 25, which engage with movable rack plates 26 provided with
trunnions 27, with which is pivotally connected a bar 28 by which the gun is
elevated or depressed in aiming the same. Each end of this bar is provided with
two lugs, the upper ones of which are connected with pivots 29 of a band 30,
extending around the breech of the gun while the lower ones are pivotally con-
nected with the rack plates. The rack plates are formed with dovetailed grooves
with which engage corresponding ribs 31 secured to the inner sides of the sides
of the carriage 4. The ribs are in the form of a segment of a circle and the grooves
being correspondingly formed, as the breech of the gun is elevated and depressed,
the said rack bars slide in the ribs.
The centers f, g, hand i, see Fig. 5, bear a proportional relation to the pivotal
points b, c, d, and the center e of the are described by the pivotal point d. The
lengths f, g-h and h-i are proportional to the lengths b-e, cd and de.
The gearing comprising worm wheel 13, worm 15, worm 22, worm wheel 22"
and gears 25 with circular racks 26, is so proportioned, that the angular movement
of the point h, on segment 13, around the center i is simultaneous with and equal
in magnitude and direction to the angular movement of the pivotal point d, on
the circular rack 26 around its center of rotation e. As the points f, g, h, i, bear
a proportional relation to the points b, c, d, e, and as point h has the same angular
movement around the center i as d has around the center e, it follows that the
angular movement of the point g around its center of rotation f is simultaneous
with and equal in magnitude and direction to the angular movement of the point
around its center of rotation b. fy and be correspond to arm 10 and gun
in firing position, respectively, in Fig. 1. The arm 10,, rod 9, and sight support 7,
see Fig. I have a parallel motion, and the sight support will move in parallelism
with arm 10, which in its turn, as before shown, moves simultaneously and with
the same angular velocity and direction as the gun. The arm 10 is in its original
position made to be parallel with the axis of the gun and consequently both arm 10
and sight support 7 will move in parallelism with the axis of the gun.
1
The operation is as follows, supposing the gun to have been fired and lowered
by the recoil into the pit or behind a parapet and loaded for again firing. The
gunner will take his position on the platform with his eye to the sight, and
will turn the hand wheel, which through its connections will rotate the shaft 19
and worm shaft 15. The worm 22 and worm wheel 22" will rotate the shaft 24
and cog wheels 25, which latter engaging with the rack plates, will move the
letter up and down, as the case may be, and also correspondingly move the bar 28
and so depress or elevate the gun. At the same time the worm 15 on the other
end of shaft 1.5" will rotate segment 13, and through link 12, the arm 10 and
rod 9, raise or lower the sight support 7 always in parallelism with gun. Wher
the object or point sought to be struck by the projectile comes within vision, the
movement is stopped and the gun raised into firing position and fired.
In Figures 3 and 4, I have shown a modified construction in the means fo
meving the sight support. The transverse shaft is also operated from below the
In thise case
platform instead of by the gunner or person who takes the sight.

page_text: the bar connected with the breech of the gun and the sight support and vertical
rod and short rod which operate the sight support are the same as above described.
the essential difference being in the connection between the transverse shaft carrying
the pinions which operate the rack plates and the devices for operating the
vertical rod for moving the sight support. Referring now to said Figures 3 and 4,
at one end the transverse shaft 24 is provided with a pinion 32 which meshes with
a cog wheel 35, on the inner end of a stud shaft 36, journaled in the lower end
of the standard and provided with a pinion 37 at the opposite end which engages
with a rack bar 38 sliding in ways in the lower end of the standard. The rod 12
is pivotally connected with this rack bar 38. Referring to the diagrammatic
view Figure 6, the points f, g, h, bear a proportional relation to points b, c, d.
The gearing connecting rack plate 38 with rack plate 26 is so proportioned that
the velocity of point h bears the same proportion to the velocity of point d as hg
bears to de. The line of travel of point his located in the same relation to
point f, as the line of travel of point d is located in relation to point b. As a
consequence it follows that f-g reproduces the movement of 6-c in raising or
lowering rack plate 26, and as f-g or arm 10, see Figure 3, is at the start
made parallel to b-c or the gun 1, see Figure 3, it also follows that they are always
parallel with each other. The operation is as follows: The transverse shaft 24
is turned by means of the worm and worm wheel to elevate or depress the gun,
as the case may be, through the medium of the rack plates and bar connected
therewith and with the gun. At the same time the sight support will be moved
in parallelism with the gun, by means of the pinion on the transverse shaft, the
cog wheel and end pinion on the stud shaft and the rack bar, inclined arm,
horizontal arm and vertical rod connected with the sight support. The gunner or
person who takes aim, stands on the platform as before stated, with his eye to
the sight, and when the object to be fired at comes within his vision, he signals
to the person elevating or depressing the gun to cease his work. The gun is then
raised into firing position and fired.
In Figure 7 the diagrammatic view shows still another modification. In this
case, the parts are the same as those just described, with the exception that I have
substituted a pivoted rack segment for the sliding rack bar connected with the
arm 12.
Many modifications in the means or mechanism connected with the bars which ele-
vate and depress the gun and the sight and sight support may be made without depart-
ing from the principle of the invention, the essential feature of which is the moving of
the sight support in the arc of a circle in unison with and proportional to the arc
described by the gun in aiming the same, whereby the sight support is always in
parallelism with the longitudinal axis of the gun in firing position.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim
is:--
1. In a disappearing gun mount provided with a sight support pivoted to said
mount, means for swinging the gun on its trunnions comprising a bar pivoted to
the gun breech and to elevating racks, in combination with means for swinging
the sight support on its pivot comprising a link pivotally connected to the rear
end of the sight support and to an elevating segment and the train of mechanism
imparting coincident movement to said racks and segment, whereby the pivotal
points of the rod move in the arc of a circle proportional to that described by the
gun when the latter is elevated and depressed for firing, so that the sight support
will always be parallel with the longitudinal axis of the gun.
2. The combination with a disappearing gun, its support and the training
gear, of the stationary standard, the sight support pivotally connected therewith,
the rod pivoted to said sight support, the arm at the lower end thereof pivoted to
said standard, the link pivoted to the lower end of said rod, and connections

page_text: between said link and training gear for moving said rod in the arc of a circle
when the gun is elevated or depressed for firing.
3. In a disappearing gun mount provided with a sight support pivoted to said
mount, means for swinging the gun on its trunnions comprising a bar pivoted to
the gun breech and to elevating racks, in combination with means for swinging the
sight support on its pivot comprising a link pivotally connected to the end of
an elevating segment, the rod pivoted to the rear end of said sight support and
to said link, the arm pivoted to the lower end of said rod and to the mount, and the
worm gears and shaft for imparting coincident movement to said racks and
segments, substantially as described.
Dated this Oth dar of LA
1000
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.