Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN LINTORN ARABIN SIMMONS, of No. 67, Oxford Terrace, Hyde
Park, in the County of Middlesex, Captain in the Royal Engineers,
and THOMAS WALKER, of the Brunswick Iron Works, Wednesbury,
in the County of Stafford, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth
day of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
fifty-two, and in the fifteenth year of Her reign, did give and grant
unto us, the said John Lintorn Arabin Simmons and Thomas Walker,
our exors, admiors, and assigns, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said John Linton Arabin Sim-
mons and Thonias Walker, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such
others as we, the said John Lintorn Arabin Simmons and Thomas
Walker, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use,

page_text: exercise, and vend, within that part of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland called England, the Dominion of Wales, and
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, Sark, and Man, and also in all the Colonies and Plantations
abroad, our Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORD-
NANCE, AND IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND MANUFACTURE OF CARRIAGES, AND
in which said
TRAVERSING APPARATUS FOR MANEUVERING THE SAME;"
Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, that we, the said John Lin-
torn Arabin Simmons and Thomas Walker, shall particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, to be enrolled
in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited
Letters Patent, as, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the
said John Lintorn Arabin Simmons, and Thomas Walker, do hereby
declare the nature of our Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following instrument in writing (reference being had to the letters
and figures therein contained, and to the Drawings thereunto annexed):
Our Invention consists of improvements in the manufacture of
ordnance, and in the construction and manufacture of carriages and
traversing apparatus for manoeuvring the same. The piece of ordnance
is to be made of wrought iron, forged solid, and afterwards bored out
to the required calibre. It may either have a smooth boro or be rifled;
the trunnions are to be forged on or added afterwards. The mass of
the piece of ordnance is formed by placing a number of segmental bars
of rolled or hammered iron together round a cylindrical core, the seg
mental bars being twisted in the length of the faggot, round or partly
round the core, in the manner exemplified in Figure 1. of the Drawings,
in which the core is shewn colored blue and the bars red. The faggot
is then welded together into a cylinder, which forms the core of a
second cylinder, segmental bars of rolled or hammered iron, as shewn
in Figure 1, colored brown, being placed round the first cylinder to

page_text: form the faggot, from which a second cylinder is made, the bars in the
second being twisted in an opposite direction to those in the preceding
faggot, as shewn in Figure 2, in which the blue lines represent the
original core, and the red and black lines the first and second cylinders
and bars respectively. This process of faggotting may be repeated, if
necessary, until the mass arrives at the dimensions required for com-
pleting the piece of ordnance and affording strength adequate to resist
the charges employed to propel the shot under any given condition,
each set of bars being twisted round the core formed of the preceding
faggot, in the opposite direction to that in which the bars were twisted
in that faggot, in the same way as is herein-before described with regard
to the first and second faggots, and illustrated by reference to Figures
1, and 2. The core of the internal faggot, which is afterwards com-
pletely turned out in boring. may be made of soft iron, and the seg-
mental bars, which together make up the thickness of the metal in the
piece of ordnance, must be made of a hard steely iron. The trunnions
may be forged either upon the piece of ordnance or separate from it;
and if the latter, they may be forged either upon a ring or solid, and
connected together by a solid mass, the centre of which is afterwards
bored out, so that in either way the trunnions remain on each side of a
ring which is fitted over the piece of ordnance in a heated state, and
being allowed to cool shrinks so as to seat itself firmly upon a bed or
seat on the gun which has been turned to receive it. The trunnions
may be placed with their centres in the same plane as the axis of the
gun, or in any other desired position. A ring of wrought iron is after-
wards shrunk on in front of the trunnions, and compressed into a groove
turned to receive it. Sights of any description may be affixed to the
gun, and the muzzle may be furnished with mouldings, and the eascable
may be made of any desired form. The carriage which is represented
in Figures 4, and 5, is formed of wrought iron, and consists of two
checks or sides placed in vertical planes parallel to the axis of the bore
of the piece of orduance, to be mounted one under each trunnion.
Each cheek of the carriage consists of a triangular arrangement of bars
of wrought iron, either separate or united together by welding. One
side of the triangle slopes downwards to the rear, another to the front,

page_text: but nearly vertical, while the base is nearly norizontal, connecting ne
two sides of their lower extremities as a tie-bar. Trunnion boxes, or
seats for the trunnions, as shewn in Figure 4, are formed at the apex
of each triangle, each box being semi-circular, the diameter of the semi-
circle being inclined downwards towards the front of the gun; cap
squares are fitted on over the trunnions, and fixed on the joints or
sides, completing with the trunnion boxes a circle round the trunnions
themselves.
The two cheeks of the carriage are connected by a transverse bolt,
with nuts and screws near their apices, and placed under the trunion
boxes, so as not to interfere with the vertical movement of the piece of
ordnance in elevating; they are also connected by the front and rear
axles which pass through both cheeks; there is also a system of diagonal
bracing between the bolt above mentioned and the front axle. The
carriage thus constructed is placed upon two pair of trucks, of either
cast or wrought iron, and grooved, flanched, or plain, as the case may
be, one pair of trucks on the front axle and the other upon the rear
axle; those upon front axle can be keyed at pleasure to their axle so
as to prevent them from revolving. A bar is placed between the cheeks
of the carriage, under the breech of the piece of ordnance, to carry an
elevating apparatus, which may be either a screw or a graduated are,
by means of which the piece of ordnance can be elevated at pleasure.
The dimensions of the parts of the carriage will vary with the calibre
and description of the piece of ordnance to be carried by it, and the
nature of the projectile to be fired, and the force necessary for its pro-
pulsion. The principle of the carriage may be applied to field and
garrison carriages by lengthening the bolt A, Figures 4 and 5, which
connects the cheeks under the trunions so as to form the axle of a large
pair of wheels. By omitting the bases or the tie bars (B, Fig. 4,) of
the triangular cheeks, and so much of the vertical bars C, Fig. 4, as
may not be necessary by lengthening the bars D, Fig. 4, so as to form
a trail, and then by attaching a chain to the trail, with drags to be
applied under each of the front wheels, the same principle can be
applied for the purpose of checking recoil, if from the circumstances
under which the piece of ordnance is fired it should be deemed advisable

page_text: to check the recoil. In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 10, shews
a carriage for a field gun, with the alteration just described.
The traversing platform shewn in Figures 6, 7, 8, 9, is for the purpose
of carrying a carriage with its piece of ordnance mounted upon it ready
for firing, with a view to its being traversed freely upon a fixed centre;
it consists of two longitudinal sides, parallel to the axis of the gun, for
the purpose of carrying the trucks of a carriage. These sides are con-
nected by a system of transverse tythes and struts, with diagonal bracing
of timber or iron, and may be formed of timber shod or faced with
wrought or cast iron. Each side has two parallel inclined plains, one
to carry the fore trucks of the carriage, the other the rear trucks, so
arranged that the way for the one pair of trucks shall not interfere with
that for the other. The whole is supported on four trucks placed under
the sides of the platform near their extremities, and of such a height that
the under side of the platform is just clear of the level of the ground
or curbs which carry the trucks of the platform. The inclination of
the planes upon which the trucks of the carriage move is such that the
carriage, when mounted upon the platform with its piece of ordnance,
and having its fore trucks fixed upon their axle so that they cannot
revolve, shall remain at rest and not have a tendency to run forward
down the incline without assistance. The platform is connected to the
centre pin upon which it traverses by means of wrought iron connecting
bars or links, perforated at each end with holes, through which pins
pass. The bars or links are connected to the platform by pins which
are passed upwards into the sides and there secured. The links meet
in a centre pin which passes through both, and forms the apex of a
triangle upon which, as a centre, the whole platform is traversed at will.
This centre may be either under the centre of the muzzle or at any
other point that may be more convenient with reference to the nature
of the parapet behind or battery from which the piece is to be fired.
The parts of the platforms vary in dimensions to suit the various
descriptions of ordnance and different natures of carriages that may be
employed upon them, which vary the conditions upon which alone the
necessary strength and consequent dimensions can be determined.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that
we claim as the Invention intended to be secured by the said Letters
Patent,
First, the manufacture of ordnance by a series of segmental bars of
wrought iron, faggotted and arranged about a core and cylinder, as
above described.
Secondly, we clain the gun carriage, constructed and arranged as
above described in reference to Figures 4, 5, and 10.
Lastly, we claim the traversing and manoeuvring apparatus, con-
structed and arranged as above described in reference to Figures 6, 7,
8, and 9.
In witness whereof we, the said John Lintorn Arabin Simmons
and Thomas Walker, have hereunto set our hands and seals this
day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two.
Enrolled the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two.