IMPROVEMENTS IN THE AND WORKING ORDNANCE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wightwick Rendel, of Newcastle-upon-
MODE OF MOUNTING
Tyne, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
AND WORKING ORDNANCE.”
Sealed the 20th June 1873, and dated the 19th April 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wightwick
Rendel at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 19th April 1873.
İ, GEORGE WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE
OF MOUNTING AND WORKING ORDNANCE," to be as follows :—
The Invention has reference to the case of guns mounted en
barbette or otherwise in such manner that they are under cover except
when raised for the purpose of being fired.
It consists in the application of hydraulic machinery for the purpose
of raising the gun from the loading to the firing positions; as well as for

page_text: training or turning it to bring it on to the line of fire, of giving it the
necessary elevation, and in the case of its being mounted on a slide of
running it in and out.
I derive the hydraulic power either from a natural head of water or
from a steam engine pumping water into a loaded cylinder, or an air
vessel to serve as an accumulator upon the system already in use for
cranes, hoists, and many other similar purposes. I place the engine and
accumulator in any protected position, and I lead the water under
pressure to the gun or guns by a pipe laid underground or otherwise
protected.
One method I employ is as follows:-I mount the gun on a carriage
and slide, on a platform, or a turntable, the recoil of the gun and
carriage being arrested by an hydraulic buffer, the buffer serving the
double purpose of checking recoil and running the gun in and out on the
slide when the water power is applied, and I place a central press under
the turntable or platform to which I apply the hydraulic power so as to
raise it with the gun sufficiently for the purpose of firing over the
parapet or other protection. The platform may be raised between guides
round its circumference, and revolved upon the central press by the
application of hydraulic turning cylinders. Or a turntable may be
placed on the platform and worked in the same manner.
To avoid unnecessary waste of power I may either counterweight the
turntable, or put one or more presses under the platform so arranged
that in descending the weight of the platform forces water out of them
back into the accumulator, the power of these presses being less than
that of the lifting press.
Another method I employ is to mount the gun upon a frame or a pair
of bars pivoted horizontally at or near the front end of a revolving
platform or turntable, which carries hydraulic cylinders for raising the gun
and turning the platform. I attach either to the frame or to a lever keyed
or bolted on to the pivoting axle another pivot with a connecting rod to
join it to the head of a piston rod or plunger working in an hydraulic
-press. In this manner by admitting the water to the press or allowing
it to escape I raise or lower the gun upon the frame or bars in the arc
of a circle, and I place the pivot for the connecting rod in such a position
relatively to the centre of the circular are in which the gun moves as to

page_text: compensate for the increasing power with which the weight of the gun
acts as it descends.
The recoil of the gun when fired is arrested by the action of a loaded
and regulated valve through which the water effects its escape from the
lifting cylinder or cylinders as the gun descends, the same arrangement
serving to lift and lower the gun at will as before described. Or in place
of or in conjunction with a weighted valve a throttle valve may be
employed in such manner that the gun in its descent throttles and
ultimately closes the passage by which the water escapes from the
cylinders.
I give elevation to the gun by means of a bar, one end of which is
attached to the gun at any convenient point before or behind the
trunnion, the other end being pivotted on a motion block capable of
being moved by screws or otherwise between guides in a frame or
bracket attached to the platform, or I clamp a bar by one end upon one
or both trunnions of the gun, the other end being made to run in a
guide of a form suitable for bringing the gun as it descends into a con-
venient position for loading. I bring the gun into position for loading
under cover in the same manner as previously mentioned.
Another method I employ is to pivot the lower end of the gun
elevating frame or bars in motion blocks between guides, and to take
the weight of the gun and frame upon similar motion blocks at some
point between the gun trunnion and the lower pivot. The central
motion blocks are arranged to travel on an inclined plane at or about at
right angles to the plane in which the lower motion blocks move. The
lifting presses are then arranged to act against the central motion blocks
so as to force them up the inclined plane, or allow them to descend by
the weight of the gun. In this manner the curve of motion of the gun
is an ellipse, and the force required to raise it at any point in its path
may be made to correspond sufficiently nearly with the power of the
lifting press. The turning, loading, and elevating of the gun may be
effected as in any of the other cases.
Another method I employ is to carry the elevating frame or bars on a
lower pivot as previously described, fixing the lifting presses at an
inclination as in the previous method to make them act in a line against
pivot motion blocks sliding in slots in the frame or bars. In this case
the path of the gun is the arc of a circle.

page_text: It will be obvious that upon any of the methods described there is
practically no limit to the height to which the gun may be raised for the
purpose of firing, and consequently that any desired height of cover may
be obtained, further, that one central source of power may be employed
for any number of guns, the power being easily transmitted to different
points at a considerable distance by pipes laid in positions or at depths in
the ground to make them perfectly secure from injury.
A pumping engine of very moderate-size will suffice for several heavy
guns because its action may be constant, and its power accumulated in a
loaded cylinder or air vessel, while the draught upon the power for the
various purposes described is only intermittent.
For land service I prefer to use the loaded cylinder as an accumulator,
but where the system is applied for naval service I prefer the air
vessel.
SPECIFICÀTION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 1
filed by the said George Wightwick Rendel in the Great Seal Patent.
Office on the 17th October 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WIGHTWICK RENDEL, of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 2
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Wightwick Rendel, Her
special license that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, my exe- 2
cutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Wightwick Rendel, 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 3
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF MOUNTING AND WORKING ORDNANCE,',
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Wightwick
Rendel, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing

page_text: 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 calender months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Wightwick Rendel, 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 thereof, that is to say :—
The Invention has more especially reference to the case of guns
mounted in such manner that they are kept under cover from an
enemy's fire, exceptwhen required to deliver their own fire, when they
are raised by the machinery described, so as to deliver their fire over
the parapet, bank, shield, or other protecting medium.
The Invention consists in means of applying hydraulic machinery for
the purpose of raising the gun, as well as for turning it, to bring it on
to the line of fire, of giving it the necessary elevation, and, in the case of
its being mounted on a slide, of running it in or out.
In general I derive the hydraulic power from a steam engine pumping
water into the pipes communicating with the gun machinery; and I
place in connection with the same pipes one or more cylinders fitted
with weighted plungers or pistons free to rise or fall in them, and
weighted to give the required pressure. These cylinders act as accumu-
lators and stores of power when the engine is giving out a power in
excess of the consumption due to the working of the gun machinery,
and such stores of power become available, and are drawn upon when
any of the gun machinery is worked so fast as to temporarily consume
more power than the steam engine supplies.
In the cases where a reservoir can be placed at a sufficient height I
may pump water into it instead of using accumulators; and where water
is available as a motive power I may use it instead of steam for the
purpose of pumping, or I may apply any other motive power for that
purpose.
.
I may also, if desired, dispense with the principle of accumulation,
and pump direct upon the gun machinery, a weighted valve or valves
being introduced at convenient points on the water pipes to allow the

page_text: water to escape, should it be forced into them when there is no outlet by
the working of the gun machinery, or should the pressure from any
cause rise to a dangerous extent.
One method I employ of mounting the gun is as follows:-I place it
on a carriage and slide on a platform or a turntable, the recoil of the gun
and carriage being arrested by an hydraulic buffer, the buffer serving the
double purpose of checking recoil and running the gun in and out on
the slide on the system of my Patent, dated the 27th day of March 1873,
No. 1149; and I place a press or presses under the turntable or plat-
form, to which I apply the hydraulic power, so as to raise it with the
gun sufficiently for the purpose of firing over the parapet or other
protection. The platform may be raised between guides around its
circumference, and revolved upon a central press by the application of
hydraulic turning cylinders, or a turntable may be placed on the platform
and worked in the same manner.
To avoid unnecessary waste of power I may either counterweight the
turntable or put one or more presses under the platform, so arranged
that in descending the weight of the platform forces water out of one or
more of them back into the accumulator.
.
Sheet No. 1 shews an arrangement of this nature, in which a plat-
form carrying a turntable with the gun and turning machinery on it is
raised between guides by thrce presses arranged in a row. A is the
hydraulic buffer; B is one of two turning cylinders (the other is removed
by the section), which in this case are fixed on the turntable, and turn
with it. They produce rotation by alternately drawing upon the
chain C which passes round a cupped chain drum (D) fixed on the
platform in the manner practised for turning hydraulic cranes. The
water is admitted to the hydraulic machinery in the turntable from the
platform by means of a pipe E entering at the centre of motion, and
having an annular water-tight joint ring over it to connect it to the
pipe F, which supplies the machinery in the turntable, see also Sheet 8 of
the Drawings. A similar arrangement of pipe around the pressure pipo
provides for the return of the waste water from the machinery, a flexible.
or jointed pipe from G delivering it to any convenient point. The con-
nection between the supply pipe from the pumps and the lifting
platform is effected through one of the lifting presses, the ram being
made tubular to carry up the water, or it may be made by a similar

page_text: arrangement of telescopic pipe specially designed to carry the water
through. In lifting and lowering a free passage back into the supply
pipe is allowed to the water under pressure on two out of the three.
presses, including the one that forms the pipe connection, and the lifting
and lowering is governed by admitting the pressure to the third press,
or allowing it to escape from that press, the areas of the presses being.
such that their united power is required to lift the weight; but if the
water be allowed to escape from one the resistance of the remainder. is
not sufficient to support the weight, which accordingly falls as the water
escapes from the third cylinder, driving back into the pressure pipes, and
so. upon the accumulator the water out of the other two presses. In
this way power is saved, and the action is equivalent to counterweighting
the platform to the extent of the lifting power of two out of the three
lifting presses. To control the admission of the water to and its escape
from the central press and the different cylinders of the hydraulic
machinery in this and the subsequently described arrangements pressure
and exhaust valves similar to those marked (A) and (B), Sheet 8, are
employed with a working lever (C). These valves may be placed on the
turntable in any convenient position.
Sheet No. 2 shows a similar arrangement of lifting platform, in which
the turntable is suppressed and the platform revolved upon the lifting
press, the turning drum rising and falling on guides, on the outside of
the press, which prevent its turning, and enable it to act as a fulcrum
for training in any position of the platform. While the turning cylinders
are attached to the socket which forms part of the platform guide frame
the water under pressure is admitted to the platform as before, either
through the lifting press or a telescopic pipe. The guides are not
made grooved but smooth, of a form to allow of the rotation of the
platform. Counterweights to balance the platform may be used in this
and in the previous case, if desired, and may be hung at any convenient
points by chains passed over conveyance sheaves.
The arrangement of turning may be varied by reversing the position
of the cylinders and cupped drum, i.e., making the drum turn instead of
the cylinder; and instead of a cupped drum to engage the turning chain
a plain drum may be used, and the chain attached at one point to the
drum; or a rack piston and pinion drum may be substituted for the
double cylinder and chain arrangement.

page_text: •
The frame connecting the platform and the turning cylinders is indi-
cated in the Drawings by two bars. In practice it will be a frame of
boiler plate, or bars adapted to resist the tortional and other strains to
which it will be exposed. In these arrangements for loading the gun
the muzzle is brought opposite to a chamber or opening formed in a
convenient position in the side of the gun pit.
The dotted outline of the gun on Sheet I. shews its position when
lowered. The inclined dotted line indicates that in cases where an all-
round fire is not required the gun pit may advantageously be more or
less incomplete on the rear side.
Another method I employ is to mount the gun upon a frame or a pair
of bars pivotted horizontally at or near the front end of a revolving platform
or turntable which carries hydraulic cylinders for raising the gun and
turning the platform. I attach either to the frame or to a lever keyed or
bolted on to the pivotting axle, another pivot with a connecting rod to
join it to the head of a piston rod or plunger working in an hydraulic press.
In this manner, by admitting the water to the press, or allowing it to
escape, I raise or lower the gun upon the frame or bars in the arc of a
circle, and I place the pivot for the connecting rod in such a position
relatively to the centre of the circular arc in which the gun moves as to
compensate for the increasing power with which the weight of the gun
acts as it descends. Or in cases where the gun is not required to turn
horizontally, as in a vessel, in which it may be brought on to the object
of aim laterally by steering the vessel itself, the frame or bars may be
pivotted on the floor or deck, and the mechanism be also so placed
without the intervention of a turntable. The recoil of the gun when
fired is controlled and regulated by the action of a loaded and adjustable
valve, through which the water effects its escape from the lifting
cylinder or cylinders as the gun descends, as described in the Specification
of my Patent No. 1149 in the present year. Or in place of or in con-
junction with a weighted valve a throttle valve may be employed in
such manner that the gun in its descent throttles and ultimately closes
the passage by which the water escapes from the cylinders. Power may
be economised by causing the recoil of the gun to force back the water
out of the lifting presses into the accumulator through a clack valve,
which prevents its return, but I prefer to have the advantage which the
regulating or throttle valve gives of enabling the resistance to recoil to
be varied and adjusted to any desired extent, notwithstanding the waste

page_text: of power which this method involves. I give elevation to the gun by
means of a bar, one end of which is attached to the gun at any convenient
point before or behind the trunnion, the other end being pivotted on a
motion block capable of being moved by screws or otherwise, between
guides in a frame or bracket attached to the platform. I bring the gun
into position for loading under cover in the same manner as previously
mentioned. Sheet 3, 4, and 5, illustrate arrangements of this nature,
in which the pressure of the lifting presses being constant or nearly so,
while the action of the gun's weight varies at every different point of its
movement. The two powers are made to correspond by the manner in
which the pressure of the lifting presses is applied to lift the gun.
In Drawing 3 the head of each press is joined to the elevating frame
carrying the gun by a connecting rod attached to the frame at such a
point that as the frame revolves, and the downward tendency of the gun
thereby increases or diminishes, the point of attachment also revolving
causes a corresponding increase or diminution in the value of the
constant pressure in the press to raise or lower the gun. The same effect
is obtained in arrangement shewn in Sheet No. 4, by attaching the head
of a piston rod in the lifting press to a jointed bar or chain connecting
it with a curved surface on the elevator frame of a form to increase or
diminish the action of the press in the required ratio to the movement of
the gun. In this case the lifting cylinders may be mounted on trun-
nions or otherwise, so as to rock or oscillate in the line of direct pull, or
they may be fixed and the connecting chain passed over a conveyance
sheave. When they rock the water may be introduced under pressure
to the cylinders in the manner already described for the lifting platform
and turntable arrangement. The gun frame and gun in these arrange-
ments is lifted and lowered at will by admitting water to the lifting
presses or allowing it to escape from them through valves of the nature
shewn in diagram, Sheet 8 (A) and (B), as before described. The same
diagram shews a form of self-acting valve for regulating the escape of
the water from the lifting presses on the recoil of the gun when fired.
This arrangement is also described in the Specifiction of my Patent
No. 1149 in the present year. The valve (D) is loaded to resist the
escape of the water from the lifting press (H) with any desired pressure
by means of an adjustable spiral spring (E) similar to that employed
with locomotive safety valves attached on the end of a lever (F), or an
adjustable weight may be used, and in case the pressure required to

page_text: arrest the recoil within a convenient space should fall short of the
working pressure applied by the pumps to raise the gun the valve gear
for working the pressure valve (A) is so planned that its first action,
prior to opening the valve, is to put an additional weight (G) on to the
recoil regulating valve, so as to keep it close against the full working
pressure of the water in the supply pipes. By means of this apparatus
the momentum of the gun resulting from the recoil and its weight is
effectually controlled.
Sheet 4* shews an arrangement of throttle valve which may be used
either in conjunction with the regulating valve or alone to regulate
recoil. (a) is a lever acting on the valve (d), and set in motion by
tappet bars (6 and 6¹) struck by the lifting press. One of the tappet
bars (6) serves through a connecting rod (c) to close the valve as the
gun descends, and the other (6¹) to open it ready for fresh action when
the gun ascends. By means of this valve the passage of the water may
be restricted as found necessary to arrest recoil, either in part at the end
of the stroke for bringing up the gun with exactness in loading position,
or entirely.
1
The arrangement may be varied by lengthening the lever (a), and
causing it to work directly or through other levers on a curved bar a
moving with the gun in its ascent and descent, and having any requisite
form, to close the throttle valve gradually and at a rate conveniently
proportioned to the rate of motion of the gun in recoil.
In Sheets 3, 4, and 5 (X) is a bar for giving elevation to the gun.
One end is pivotted on a bracket fixed on the breech of the gun, and the
other on a motion block (Y) which can be worked up and down between
guides by a screw (Z) or screws driven by gear and a hand wheel placed
in any convenient position, as at (W).
In arrangements, Sheets 3 and 4, I make the length of this bar to
exceed that of the elevating frame, and I place the lower end forward, &
as shewn, to cause the gun muzzle to rise on recoil and clear the
parapet. The dotted lines commencing under the muzzle of the gun
shew the path it follows in recoil..
In arrangements on Sheet 5 I effect the same object by allowing the
elevating frame with the gun when raised to pass beyond and forward 3
of the vertical position, so that in recoil the gun at first rises, and the
muzzle clears the parapet before it commences to descend much. This

page_text: arrangement necessitates the application of a small power in the opposite
direction to that in which the lifting presses act in raising the gun,
and I obtain this either by a small press acting in the line of the lifting
presses against the head of the lifting rams, as at (V) Sheet 5, or by a
press applied as at Figure 5ª, Sheet 5, or by making the lifting presses
with pistons, so as to have a certain contrary action throughout the
stroke, see Figure 5B.
In all three of these arrangements I prefer to make an open com-
munication between the water pressure supply pipe and the subsidiary
presses, or the back of the piston, as the case may be, so as to have a
constant pressure while the machinery is in action, and in the case of
the arangements, Figure 5ª, and (V), the presses are thus made to act
as buffers, against which the gun is brought up when raised, a weighted
escape valve serving, as before described, to prevent any undue pressure
of water in the presses.
.Where necessary I may use jointed rods pivotted top and bottom on
eyes attached to the gun trunnion or to the elevating frame, and to any
convenient part of the platform, respectively, with a spring or india-
rubber collar buffer upon them to serve as stops to the gun when up.
These rods (T) are shewn in arrangement Sheet No. 6. A spring
buffer S receives the gun when down
Another method I employ is to pivot the lower end of the gun
clevating frame or bars in motion blocks between guides, and to take
the weight of the gun and frame upon similar motion blocks at some
point between the gun trunnion and the lower pivot. The central
motion blocks are arranged to travel on an inclined plane at or about at
right angles to the plane in which the lower motion blocks move. The
lifting presses are then arranged to act against the central motion blocks
so as to force them up the incline plane or allow them to descend by
the weight of the gun. In this manner the curve of motion of the gun
is an ellipse, and the force required to raise it at any point in its path
may be made to correspond sufficiently nearly with the power of the
lifting presses. The turning and elevating of the gun may be effected
as in
any of the other cases.
Another method I employ is to carry the elevating frame or bars on
a lower pivot, as previously described, fixing the lifting presses at an
inclination as in the previous method to make them act in a line against

page_text: pivot motion blocks sliding in slots in the frame or bars. In this case
the path of the gun is the arc of a circle.
Sheet 6 illustrates the former of these two arrangements; (A, A,) are
the motion blocks in which the lower end of the elevating frame is
pivotted; (B, B,) the central motion blocks which are shewn in one with
or fixed to the head of the presses.
Sheet 7 illustrates the latter arrangement and needs no further
description.
Sheet (9) shews another arrangement, adapted for the case of a shallow
drafted gunboat or other vessel in which a turntable being dispensed
with the hydraulic gun mechanism is fixed upon the floor or deck. In
this arrangement I may employ a roof of semi-cylindrical or other
convenient form to cover the opening in the deck through which the the
gun rises and to protect the gun and the men laging and firing it; and
I make a port at the front end of such cover closed by a self-acting
door, which opens only to allow the gun muzzle to pass out when the
gun is raised to firing position and closes immediately it returns,
either by the action of a spring or a weight so as to exclude water. The
entrance may be conveniently made at the opposite end of the cover,
where the man in charge of laging and firing the gun may also be
placed with a look-out hole and sights fixed on the roof in a manner
similar to that employed on turrets.
It will be obvious that upon any of the methods described there is
practically no limit to the height to which the gun may be raised for
the purpose of firing, and consequently that any desired height of cover
may be obtained; further, that one central source of power may be
employed for any number of guns, the power being easily transmitted
to different points at a considerable distance by pipes laid in positions
or at depths in the ground to make them perfectly secure from
injury.
A pumping engine of very moderate size will suffice for several
guns because its action may be constant and its power accumulated by
the methods before described, while the draught upon the power for the
various purposes described is intermittent.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention of " Improve-
ments in the Mode of Mounting and Working Ordnance," and in what
manner the same may be carried out, I would observe that I do not

page_text: bind myself to the precise details shewn in the Drawings, or herein
described, as the same may be varied considerably without departing
from the nature and objects of the Invention, but what I claim is,―
1. The arrangements for mounting and working guns, substantially
as described in respect to Sheets 1 and 2 of the annexed Drawings.
2. The method of raising guns for firing and lowering them so that
they may be loaded under cover by mounting them on rocking levers
or frames connected with hydraulic presses in such manner that the
strain on the presses is equalized throughout the motion of the gun,
substantially as described.
3. The method of mounting guns on rocking levers or frames in such
manner that in the recoil of the gun the muzzle is inclined upward so
as the better to clear the parapet, substantially as described.
4. The methods of mounting and working guns, substantially as
described in respect to Sheets 3, 4, and 5, of the annexed Drawings.
5: Where the gun is mounted on rocking levers or frames, which
when the gun is raised carry its trunnions beyond a vertical line passing
through the fulcrum of the lever applying subsidiary presses, or by
making the lifting presses double acting to aid the return of the
gun, substantially as described in respect to Sheet 5 of the annexed
Drawings.
6. The arrangement of apparatus for mounting and working guns