A NEW OR IMPROVED BATTERY FOR PURPOSES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES TO BE FIRED THEREFROM OR FROM OTHER SITUATIONS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Taylor Shipley Hunter, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED BATTERY
FOR PURPOSES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES
TO BE FIRED THEREFROM OR FROM OTHER SITUATIONS."
Sealed the 19th January 1877, and dated the 1st August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Taylor Shipley Hunter at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st August 1876.
TAYLOR SHIPLEY HUNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"A NEW OR IMPROVED BATTERY FOR PURPOSES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE, AND
IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES TO VE FIRED THEREFROM OR FROM OTHER
SITUATIONS."
This Invention, which relates to a new or improved battery for purposes of
attack and defence, and to improvements in projectiles to be fired therefrom or fron
other situations, consist, as regards the battery, of a large hollow sphere constructed
of thick blocks of malleable iron or steel dowelled or otherwise jointed together.
The hollow sphere may be employed so as to constitute an integral part of a
mole, breakwater, or other analogous marine structure, or it may constitute a
fortress or battery at harbours of refuge, at the entrance of ordinary harbours, or
be a complete structure in itself. The hollow sphere is divided horizontally by
several floors arranged above one another, the central floor and that below it
constituting chambers, each of which contains one, two, or more guns of the largest
dimensions. The guns are mounted on carriages and travelling platforms, and are
provided with training and sighting gear. The floors above and below the gun
chambers are fitted up as barracks, store, and ammunition rooms or chambers.
The new or improved battery is provided with tubes and ventilating shafts, with
apparatus for hoisting or lifting articles to and from the several floors, and with
sight holes and instruments for making observations at a distance and close at
hand. Port holes are also formed in the gun chambers, and which are provided
with shutters or doors for opening and closing the same.
The new or improved battery may form one of a series connected by telegraph,
or it may be connected by telegraph with the main land, the telegraph lines, as
well as the lines of ventilating pipes, being preferably protected by torpedoes.

page_text: For purposes of land attack and defence, besides the large spherical batteries
herein-before described, other smaller spherical batteries mounted upon carriages or
trucks running on railways aro or may be provided, the fire-arms of which may
either be ordinary field guns, mitrailleuses, or hand arms or muskets. Beneath the
rails shot-proof passages are or may be formed to the magazine of the larger battery,
which passages are at intervals provided with ports or doors, through which
ammunition and other stores are carried into the smaller batteries.
As regards improvements in projectiles to be fired from the battery herein-before
described, or from other situations of attack or defence, the Invention consists of a
hollow cast iron or other metal casing open at one end, through which gunpowder,
dynamite, nitro-glycerine, or other explosive material is introduced to its interior.
A chamber provided with lateral openings is made at the interior of the closed end
of the casing, and into the said chamber the cap or detonating powder employed to
explode the charge is inserted. A rod or striker passing through a hole in a soft
metal gland screwed into the open end of the casing also enters the chamber
wherein the cap is situated, the outer end of the rod or striker being enclosed
within a hollow cap or cover which is screwed into the soft metal gland, and
constitutes the point of the projectile. By means of this arrangement, when the
projectile is fired from the battery and the point thereof comes in contact with a
resisting body, the rod or striker, acting on the cap at the interior of the projectile,
fires the charge of explosives therein, and the metal casing is thereby burst up and
the pieces scattered in all directions.
Under another arrangement a ring or disc is provided at the forward end of the
projectile, and in conjunction with the hollow cap or cover of the rod or striker,
which ring or disc in the event of the projectile missing its mark and striking the
water affords sufficient impact to cause the charge to be exploded, as herein-before
set forth. With this arrangement an additional chamber containing a cap is
situated towards the forward end of the projectile. The projectile is preferably
slightly heavier towards its forward end.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Taylor Shipley Hunter in the Great Scal Patent Office the 31st
January 1877.
TAYLOR SHIPLEY HUNTER, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain. "A NEW OR IMPROVED BATTERY FOR PURPOSES OF ATTACK AND DEFENCE,
AND IMPROVEMENTS IN PROJECTILES TO BE FIRED THEREFROM OR FROM OTHER
SITUATIONS."
My said Invention, which relates to a new or improved battery for purposes of
attack and defence, and to improvements in projectiles to be fired from such batteries
or from other situations, consists, as regards the battery, of a large hollow sphere
constructed of thick blocks of malleable iron or steel dowelled or otherwise jointed
together.
The hollow sphere may be employed so as to constitute an integral part of a
mole, breakwater, or other analogous marine structure, or it may constitute a
fortress or battery at harbours of refuge, at the entrance of ordinary harbours, or be
a complete structure in itself.
As regards improvements in projectiles to be fired from the battery herein-before
described, or from other situations of attack or defence, the Invention consists of a
hollow cast iron or other metal casing, into which gunpowder, dynamite, nitro-
glycerine, or other explosive material is introduced. The projectile is provided
with apparatus, by which, when its point comes in contact with a resisting body,
the explosive material is ignited, and after the impact of the projectile is expended
its casing is burst up and the piece scattered in all directions.

page_text: And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood, I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had to the
annexed Sheets of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say :-
The Figure on Sheet 1 of the Drawings hereunto appended is an elevation of the
new or improved spherical battery constructed in accordance with my said Inven-
tion, the same being illustrated as situated at one extremity of a breakwater or
other analogous marine structure.
The Figure on Sheet 2 is a vertical section of the battery drawn to an enlarged
scale relatively with Figure 1, and the Figures on Sheet 3 are respectively horizontal
sections thereof at the lines a, b; c, d ; c, f; g, h; i, k; and l, m, Sheet 2; the interior
of the hollow sphere being partitioned or divided off into floor or flats, as shown by
the latter Sheet.
The central floor A and the one B below it are built much stronger than the
others in order to support the guns C of the battery which are of the largest
dimensions. These guns are, as seen on Sheet 2 and at Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 4,
mounted on carriages D and travelling platforms E, by which they are rendered
capable of being moved opposite to any desired port, and they are also provided
with all the requisite training and sighting gear to enable them to be fired with
accuracy at the required elevation or depression. The floors above and below the
gun chambers A and B are fitted up as observing rooms, barracks, stores, and
ammunition chambers either in the order marked on Sheets 2 and 3 of the Drawings
or in other suitable order. In the observing rooms H sight holes I are made, these
being provided with instruments for taking observations at a distance and close at
hand, which instruments may be of usual or special construction.
A telegraph apparatus is provided in conjunction with the observing instruments,
by operating which the observer informs the gunners in the chambers beneath of
the presence of an enemy's ship or force. The telegraph apparatus is so adjusted
relatively with the observing instruments that it indicates on a dial or its equivalent
fixed on the gun carriage or in the gun chamber the direction in which to fire, and
the requisite amount of clevation or depression required to be given to the gun.
The port holes L of the gun chambers are provided with shutters or doors, which
are illustrated in detail at Figures 1, 2, and 3, Sheet 5 of the Drawings. As shewn
by these Figures each door consists of an oblong block M, of malleable iron or
steel, which turns on an axis N supported in the side of the hollow sphere. On the
inner end of the axis of each block or door a worm wheel O is fixed and geared
with a tangent screw P, which is operated by a steam winch or other equivalent
motive power when it is desired to open or close the door over the port hole. A
screw R is furnished for the purpose of easing the door when opening, and of
drawing it close to the side of the battery after it has been shut over the
port holo.
In lieu of the arrangement above described any other equivalent mechanism
may be employed to actuate the port doors M, or they may be operated by hand.
A door or cover J, Figure 4, Sheet 4, which moves in opening and closing in guides
K, is provided in each gun chamber for the purpose of allowing the guns to be
taken into and removed from the battery, the said door being operated by a windlass
or hauling drum attached to it by chains.
The new or improved battery is also formed with a central space or shaft S,
Sheets 2 and 3, which is divided at its interior into an uptake and downtake for
purposes of ventilation, and also into a vertical space wherein a hoist, Figures 4
and 5, Sheet 5, is situated for lifting articles to and from the several floors.
The uptake and downtake ventilating shafts in the space S communicate at their
lower ends with tubes T, Sheets 2 and 3, which are preferably conducted through
the breakwater, mole, or other marine structure to the mainland at a suitable
situation on which they are connected to forcing and exhausting fans, as seen at
Figure 1, Sheet 6; or- instead of this arrangement the downtake or vitiated air

page_text: passage only in the space S may be so connected, pure air being conducted into the
separate compartments of the battery by pipes communicating directly with the
atmosphere either at the mainland or at the point whereat the battery is situated.
Besides admitting air to the battery through the intake pipes atmospheric air may
be admitted by easing the port doors from close contact with the sides of the battery,
and by the revolving ventilating cover X, which rotates on an inclined disk Ÿ,
Sheet 2.
The ammunition for the battery may be stored within the sphere itself, or
chambers or stores to contain it may be made in the structure whereon the battery
is supported, as indicated in dotted lines at U, Sheet 2, a passage or passages being
made into the said stores from the lower or other compartment of the battery.
A passage effecting communication between the mainland and the battery may
also be made in the marine structure at U, or at other parts thereof, for the purpose
of transmitting stores or reinforcements to the battery, or such may enter the
battery through a special doorway provided at the said level or at the level of the
top of the breakwater.
The new or improved battery may form one of a series connected by telegraph,
or it may be connected by telegraph with the mainland, the telegraph lines, as well
as the lines of ventilating pipes, being preferably protected by torpedoes, which are
capable of being fired from the battery or froin the land.
Figure 3, Sheet 6, indicates in plan a breakwater or station having a battery at
each end.
For purposes of land attack and defence, besides the large spherical batteries
herein-before described, other smaller spherical or partly spherical batteries mounted
on wheels or on carriages or trucks running on railways are or may be
provided.
The fire-arms of these smaller batteries may either be ordinary field guns,
mitrailleuses, hand arms, or muskets. Figure 1, Sheet 7, of the Drawings is a
diagram plan of such an arrangement, the large sphorical batteries being marked A,
and the movable batteries B. The inner circle C may be supposed to represent a
city or district.
Figure 2, Sheet 7, is a vertical section, and Figures 3 and 4 horizontal sections
respectively on the lines a, b, and c, d, Figure 2, of one of the movable batteries
running upon rails, as seen at Figure 2. Beneath the railway passages D are made
communicating between the larger spherical batteries A and the extreme limits of
the railway. In cach of the passages D, which are provided for the purpose of
supplying the smaller batteries with ammunition from the larger ones, and for
otherwise effecting communication between them, doors or traps F, Figures 2 and 3,
Sheet 7, are made at intervals through which the ammunition is raised into the
smaller batteries, and other doors Gare also provided at intervals for cutting off
communication between the several parts of each passage D. Chambers H are
also made in the passages D, wherein ammunition or explosives are stored.
In the event of the smaller movable batteries B being forced to retire on the
larger spherical batteries A. the doors G are successively closed, so as to prevent an
entrance being effected by the enemy's forces into the batteries from the passages D
beneath.
The improved projectile constructed in accordance with my said Invention, and
which may be fired from the batteries herein-before mentioned or from other
situations, is illustrated under three modifications at Figures 5, 6, and 7, Sheet 6, of
the Drawings. As seen at Figure 5, the projectile consists of a hollow casing A of
cast iron or other metal, into which gunpowder, dynamite, nitro-glycerine, or other
explosive material is introduced before the front portion B of the projectile is
inserted in its place, the said portion being either screwed into the casing A or
secured thereto by screw bolts, or equivalent means. A chamber C formed with
lateral openings a is made at the interior of the casing A, and into the said
chamber a cap or detonating powder is placed, the same being employed to ignite
the charge. A rod or striker D, passing through the front part B of the projectile

page_text: also enters the chamber C, flanches b and c being formed on the said rod to confine
its movement. Between the inner end of the rod and the detonating powder a
packing disc d of metal or other material is or may be placed, as shewn. The
front end of the rod D passes through a shield E, which covers the forward
extremity of the projectile, being secured to other rods or strikers F, which are
situate in cavities or recesses k made in the front part B of the projectile, caps or
detonating powder being also placed in the said cavities. Passages h communicate
between the inner ends of the cavities and the hollow part of the casing, as seen at
Figure 5.
By means of this arrangement when the projectile is fired, and the point of the
rod D comes in contact with a resisting body, the rod is driven inwards with
sufficient force to break away the sides of the chamber C, and to ignite the cap
contained therein, whereby the gunpowder, dynamite, or other explosive situate in
the hollow casing A is also ignited, which has the effect of, in the first place, giving
additional penetrating force to the projectile and in the second place of bursting it,
and scattering the pieces.
In the event of the projectile falling short of or beyond its mark, it being made
heavier at its forward end, causes the strikers or rods F to be forced inwards by
the impact of the shield against the water or ground, whereby the projectile is
exploded upwards.
Under another arrangement illustrated at Figure 7, Sheet 6 of the Drawings, the
shield and the strikers or rods F are dispensed with.
Figure 7, Sheet 6, illustrates the adaptation of my said Invention to spherical
shells.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may
be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I
consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The new or improved spherical battery, constructed and arranged sub-
stantially as hercin-before described and shewn on Sheets 1, 2, and 3 of the
appended Drawings, and the employment thereof for purposes of attack and
defence at the situations herein-before referred to, or at others analogous thereto.
Second. The new or improved movable battery, constructed substantially as
herein-before described with reference to Shect 7 of the appended Drawings.
Third. The combination of a series of the fixed spherical batteries with a series
of the movable batteries and the employment of the same for purposes of land
defence, substantially as herein-before described with reference to Figures 1, 2, 3,
and 4, Sheet 7 of the Drawings.
Fourth. The improved explosive projectiles, herein-before described and shewn
at Figures 5, 6, and 7, Sheet 6 of the Drawings, or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said Taylor Shipley Hunter, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of January, One thousand eight hundred
TAYLOR SHIPLEY HUNTER. (L.S.)