Improvements in the Sighting of Ordnance.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1895
Complete Specification Left, 16th May, 1896-Accepted, 11th July, 1896
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Sighting of Ordnance.
1 LOTHIAN KERR SCOTT late of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers of Forest.
Lodge Farnborough in the County of Hampshire, England, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists in the invention of a certain automatic principle for
recording automatically the changes in elevation or direction to be given to a
gun when firing at a moving target, and in its mechanical application, to guns,
to their sights or to anything else I may select which will have the same end
in view, viz. that of improving the shooting of guns at moving targets.
When a gun, under the existing regime is fired at a stationary target (such as
a line of infantry for instance) at a range, say, of 2000 yards, the sight is set to
this range, the gun is laid on the target, and the shell will hit it.
Now, if the infantry advance, the range is shortened and the sight must be
lowered in proportion to the rate of advance of the infantry target during the
interval of time elapsing before the second shot can be fired. This reduction
of elevation in the sight has now to be estimated by the commanding. officer of
the battery and given to his men. Under fire these corrections would probably
be very inaccurate, and it is to obviate this defect that I have invented a method
of obtaining them automatically and quite independently of the brain of the
commanding officer.
The principle of my invention consists in making a gun or sight capable of
automatically changing its angles of elevation instead of by hand according to
the rate of movement of the target, being fired at. When this automatic principle
is mechanically applied to the gun elevating gear, I call the latter "elevating,
gear with automatic action."
When it is applied to the sight I call the sight "auto-gun sight for firing at a
moving target.
When it is applied to a watch for instance, I call it "an automatic" range
recorder for firing at a moving target.
may prefer.
The automatic movement may be created in any way
For instance in the case of the auto-gun sight, the sight may form the rod of
a piston head working up and down in a closed tube containing oil or other
liquid, the automatic movement referred to above being given to the piston head
and rod by means of a spiral, or other, spring which forces it through the liquid
at a rate regulated by an opening in the piston head. The piston rod is pulled.
up by hand, or worked up, against the spring in order to set it to the required
elevation, and the opening in the piston head is closed by means of a shutter.
If the target fired at begins to advance "at the walk," the shutter is immediately
opened sufficiently to allow the piston rod (i.e. sight) to descend through the liquid
at the rate of advance of the moving target.
In its movement downwards, the rate of motion of the sight for the difference in
elevation between each 100 yds. of range is allowed for, and corrected by making
the shutter to work in a groove which will turn the shutter and reduce the size of
the opening in the piston head automatically in its descent, and increase it in its
scent.
By making the sight to descend automatically at a uniform rate per minute,
and by graduating the minute spaces with the distances traversed by infantry,

page_text: cavalry, artillery, at the walk, trot, and galop in each minute an automatic range-
recorder will be formed from which the commander of a battery will be able to
gather the ranges at which he must fire his guns to hit a moving target at
different moments of its advance.
In the same manner as above described a dial may be graduated and attached
to, or move over the dial of a watch-in this case the minute hand represents
the movement of the target per minute, and the minute divisions the spaces
through which the different targets move at different rates.
In the same manner an automatic range-recorder may be made with a minute
glass filled with sand and graduated in divisions of one minute for the fall of
the sand through the orifice. Another manner of doing the same thing is by
filling a glass, or other, tube with a liquid and, by letting the liquid out at any
rate desired by a stopcock, and by also graduating the tube.
An automatic action can be given to the elevating gear of the gun by the
interposition between the gun and its elevating gear of an arrangement similar to
that described for giving the sight au automatic action.
Dated this Fifteenth day of July 1895.
L. K. SCOTT,
Lt.-Col.
Improvements in the Sighting of Ordnance.
I LOTHIAN KERR SCOTT of Forest Lodge, Farnborough in the County of
Hampshire late of Her Majesty's Royal Engineers 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 consists in the invention of a certain automatic principle for
recording automatically the changes in elevation or deflection to be given to a gun
when firing at a moving target, and in its mechanical application to guns, to their
sights or to anything else I may select which will have the same end in view, viz. :—
that of facilitating and improving the shooting of guns at moving targets.
When a gun under the existing regime is fired at a stationary target (such as a
line of infantry for instance) at a range say of 2000 yards the sight is set to this
range the gun is laid on the target and the shell will hit it.
Now if the infantry advance, the range from target to gun is shortened, and the
sight must be lowered in proportion to the rate of advance of the infantry target
during the interval of time elapsing before the second shot can be fired.
The changes in elevation to be given to the sight by the layers has hitherto
been estimated and given to them by the commanding officer of the battery.
Under fire these mentally adjudged corrections would probably be very
inaccurate and it is to obviate this defect that I have invented a method of
obtaining them automatically and quite independently of any thought on the part
of the commanding officer. The principle of my invention consists in making a
gun or sight capable of automatically changing its angles of elevation instead of
by hand according to the rate of movement of the target being fired at and also in
constructing a separate apparatus for recording these changes in elevation for use
with guns not fitted with the above automatic sight or automatic action in which
case the apparatus merely indicates the correction in the angles of elevation to be
given to the gun or sight by hand.
In the accompanying drawings Fig. 1 is a section and Fig. 2 a plan of an
automatic gun sight, B is a hollow cylinder preferably of larger internal diameter
at its upper half than its lower half and through the centre of this cylinder a
rod X passes which rod has a collar Y affixed around the centre.
Upon the
outside of this rod is a double piston F and J into one of which the collar of the
rod is recessed the upper piston F is attached to a tube fitting over the upper part

page_text: of the rod and the lower piston is attached to a tube fitting over the lower part of
the rod and is held in position by a nut on the bottom of the rod, the outside of
this tube also fits the small bore lower half of the cylinder, the tube carrying the
lower piston J has a groove K cut along its entire length the said groove being
cut obliquely and a pin L projects from the interior of the cylinder into this groove,
it will thus be seen that the movement of the central rod up or down carries the
two pistons and tubes to which they are attached with it, and causes the tube
carrying the lower piston to partially revolve according to the obliquity of the
groove. The upper piston F also revolves with its attached tube upon the rod and
upon the top part of the tube which projects through the cylinder cover a disc D
is fixed. This disc has cut upon its periphery four or other number of notches
into which a detent D¹ catches to hold it in position, so that by turning the disc
the piston is revolved and may be held in any of the positions in which the detent
falls. The two pistons are in contact with each other. The upper piston has a
corresponding number of holes to the number of notches upon the disc, cut straight
through it. These holes vary in size, the lower piston has one hole only cut
through it the size of the largest hole in the upper piston which is capable of being
diminished in size at will by turning the lower piston round.
The notches in the disc governing the upper piston are arranged so that any
hole through the upper piston may be brought into position over the hole in the
lower piston when the pistons are at the top of their stroke, and as the pistons
descend the lower piston as herein before described partly revolves and gradually
cuts off the passage through the two pistons. This double piston works up and
down in the large upper part of the cylinder and the space is preferably filled with
oil or glycerine but any fluid may be used. Above the pistons between the upper
piston and the cylinder cover a spiral spring I is fitted, this spring presses the
pistons to the bottom of their stroke. The sizes of the holes in the upper pistons
are gauged to allow the pistons to descend by the pressure of the spring above
them at certain speeds which speed can only be the rate the fluid passes through
the hole which is opposite the hole in the lower piston the fluid being thus trans-
ferred from below the pistons to above them. The various holes are gauged to
time the range of an advancing target the largest being for cavalry at the galop,
the next size for cavalry at the trot, next for infantry at the double, next for
infantry on the march, or any other time that may be necessary, but as the
elevation of the gun does not decrease at an uniform rate with the shortening of
the range it is necessary to vary the speed of the descending pistons in the same
proportion. This reduction of speed is effected by the partly revolving lower
piston which during its descent gradually closes the opening through the pistons
thereby causing a less flow of the fluid through them and graduating the speed
of descent as desired, the rate of motion for the difference in elevation between
each hundred yards of range being allowed for.
The tube attached to the upper piston, or preferably another loose tube G
upon the outside of it which passes through the cylinder cover, is graduated for
the different ranges and fuze as in the ordinary tangent sight, and at whatever
range the target is, the piston is drawn up to that mark and clamped and altered
by hand until the true range of the target has been ascertained by firing the
gun. When this is known the upper sleeve is turned round by the disc D to
the mark on its rim indicating the speed of the moving target whether it be
infantry or cavalry at the walk, trot or galop and it will then descend auto-
matically at the properly graduated speed. The pistons may be raised by hand
by first opening the valve to its full extent and secondly by simply pulling the
central rod up or it may be worked up mechanically. Z is a groove in lower
part of cylinder in which feather on nut screwed to central rod X works to keep
the sight A from turning, M is the bottom cover of cylinder. Instead of the
foregoing arrangement of cylinder and pistons working in a fluid, mechanism may
be employed to gain the same end, in that case I should preferably use a train of
lock work working upon a rack and to graduate the speed I use oval gear wheels

page_text: or other suitable mechanical contrivance, as shown in Fig. 3, N being the sight
O the sight support carrying a rack P. Q is an oval gear wheel driven by
another gear wheel R, R being driven by its pinion S, from a train of suitable
clockwork, thus communicating a graduated movement to rack P by pinion T
of oval gear wheel Q.
It will be seen that this apparatus may be used in several ways for the purpose,
for instance the V back sight may simply be attached to the top of the piston rod
as in Fig. 1 and the apparatus fitted to a convenient part to the breech of the gun,
in this case the sight only descends and the elevation of the gun is diminished
according to the fall of the sight by the ordinary hand screw. If it is required to
actuate the gun itself it is made larger and more powerful and slightly different in
construction as follows. The spring is fitted below the pistons so as to force them
up instead of down and the lower piston is made so that its part revolution causes
the hole opposite which one of the holes in the upper piston is over to be fully
open when the pistons are at the bottom of their stroke and gradually close as the
pistons are raised by the spring underneath. This apparatus would preferably be
fitted between the elevating nut and the gun carriage so that the ordinary screw
would be used to put the gun into position the pistons would then be held down at
the range indicated and when released would gradually elevate the breech thus
depressing the gun automatically the required amount as the range shortened. It
will be obvious that a reverse operation in either instance will serve equally well
for a retiring target. Another use for the apparatus is as a time range indicator in
this case the piston rod or sleeve upon it which comes through the cylinder cover
is graduated equally and the graduating arrangement of double pistons is omitted
so that the pistons descend at an uniform rate at a speed according to the sized
hole in the upper piston is over the hole in the lower piston the spaces graduated
upon the piston are to minutes or other measure of time and each space is marked
with the distance traversed by infantry, cavalry or artillery at the walk trot and
galop and the range for same in degrees and minutes. In this case the instrument
is used by the commander of a battery by which he will have automatically worked
out the ranges at which he must fire his guns to hit a noving target at different
moments of its advance. In the same manner as above described a dial may be
graduated and attached to or move over the dial of a watch or other suitable
mechanical contrivance as shown at Fig. 4. In this case the minute hands
represents the movement of advance of the target per minute and the minute
divisions the distance through which the different targets move at the different
rates per minute and to carry this part of my invention into effect I preferably fit
a watch movement entire into a special case the said case being fitted with a
revolving dial V open in the centre to see the watch dial U and hands through.
This revolving dial is moved by the milled key W carrying a pinion gearing into
teeth cut under the dial so that any part can be brought in line with the minute
hand. A portion of this revolving dial V is divided off for each of the rates
required and the divisions marked with the range and elevation and the setting of
fuze corresponding to each range of 100 yards and all that is necessary in using it
is to revolve the dial until that graduation representing first range at which the
gun is fired is brought in line with the minute hand, the minute hand will indicate
the rate of advance and necessary alteration and the angle of elevation to be given
by hand to the gun, in the same manner by graduating the dial in the reverse way
the increments in elevation required to be given to a gun firing at a retiring target
can also be automatically registered. Instead of a revolving dial a fixed ring
divided in the same manner may be used and the minute hand moved to the
required position instead of moving the dial to the minute hand. I prefer the
watch form of range recorder but may make it in the form of an hour glass
working with sand the side of the glass being graduated or another method would
be by constructing a transparent container graduated on its side and filling the
same with fluid and letting it out at any desired speed by means of a stop cock.
Various modifications may be made and any suitable materials used.

page_text: 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 :-
1st. The combination in connection with apparatus for the sighting of ordnance.
of mechanism for automatically indicating the changes in elevation or deflection to
be given to the gun when firing at moving targets.
2nd. The use in combination with guns and gun carriages and their elevating or
depressing mechanism, of mechanism for automatically elevating or depressing the
gun as required by the variation of range due to moving targets.
3rd. The special arrangement of double pistons working in a fluid and valves.
for altering the rate of ascent or descent and graduating the same substantially as
herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4th. The range recorder substantially as herein described.
5th. The automatic ordnance sighting and range indicating apparatus sub-
stantially as herein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 16th day of May 1896.
H. T. TALLACK,
10 Great Turnstile, Holborn, London, W.C., Agent for Applicant.