Improvements in and relating to Shields or Screens for Gunners.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 27th June, 1892-Accepted, 30th July, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION,
Improvements in and relating to Shields or Screens for Gunners.
We JAMES EZEKIEL EMERSON and THOMAS MIDGLEY both of Beaver Falls,
County of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania in the United States of America,
Manufacturers, 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 :-
Our invention relates to shields or screens for gunners and is designed to be
suspended upon suitable supports around guns on the decks of vessels or in forti-
fications to protect gunners and others engaged in operating guns against injury
from fragmentary shells and small missiles from an enemy.
The invention will be fully disclosed in the following Specification and claims.
In the accompanying drawings which form part of this Specification
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of our improved shield applied to the deck
of a vessel, and
Figure 2 a section showing the end of a helix and its covering.
In
Reference being had to the drawings and the letters thereon A indicates the
deck of a vessel or the floor of a fortification, B the bulwark, C a gun, (shown in
dotted lines) D. D. stanchions, E a cable secured to the stanchions and upon which
a flexible shield or screen F is suspended. The shield or screen F consists of a
sheet formed of sections a of intertwined coiled wire helices composed of several
strands of wire twisted together in the form of a cable to secure great strength and
resistance after having been coiled into a helix. The ends of the sections a are
covered in a flexible casing of leather, canvas, rubber or other soft and pliable
material which will not interfere with the flexibility of the shield but will effectually
cover the ends of the sections and prevent injury to men by coming in contact
with the edges of the shield. The casing is secured to the shield by a strand c
which may be soft wire of any kind which is interlaced with the helices and the
edges of the casing. This form of casing can be readily applied or repaired on board
ship or any where the shield is used, as it requires no skilled labour to apply it.
coiling the helices the pitch of the spiral is such as to produce a fabric with large
interstices so that it will be sufficiently open to enable the men protected by the
shield or screen to see through it and observe the movements of the enemy, and yet
be fine enough to intercept and arrest any fragments of shells capable of doing
them injury, and small missiles from muskets, rifles and side arms such as are used
by sharpshooters and a body of men attempting to board a vessel or storm a forti-
fication. While the shield or screen admits of seeing through by persons close to
it and sheltered and protected by it, an enemy cannot discern the men behind it
until they get into close quarters. The shield may be secured to the cable E in
any approved manner so that it may be adjusted thereon longitudinally and it will
swing laterally, the latter movement being designed for the two fold purpose of
yielding to the force of large pieces of shell that may strike it and thereby arrest
their momentum or velocity more readily and effectually than it could do if fixed;
and to be pushed aside to enable the men to pass through the enclosure formed
by several sections of the shield and have it resume its normal position auto-
matically. For the purpose of illustration we have shown the cable passed through
the upper section of the shield, but it is obvious that it may be secured by rings
or hooks.
The shield may be arranged to surround a gun on all sides by leaving a port
hole for the muzzle of the gun to pass through or in use upon vessels a section of
the shield may be suspended above the bulwark of the ship and over the gun-port.
The shield thus constructed is very flexible, and comparatively light, while it

page_text: possesses great power to resist penetration of missiles, and is readily and conveniently
handled in placing it in position and taking it down and can be stored in a small
.space..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
First. An improved article of manufacture, a shield for gunners consisting of a
sheet of intertwined coiled wire helices having their ends encased..
Second. An improved article of manufacture, a shield for gunners consisting of
a sheet of intertwined coiled wire helices having their ends encased in. flexible
material.
Third. An improved article of manufacture, a shield for gunners consisting of a
sheet of intertwined coiled wire helices composed of a plurality of twisted strands
of wire having their ends encased.
Dated this 07th dow of Tune 1202
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.