An Improvement in Mountings for Heavy Guns.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Oct., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 8th July, 1893-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Mountings for Heavy Guns.
I, THOMAS ENGLISH, of Palmer's Shipbuilding and Iron Company Limited, of
Jarrow, in the County of Durham, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows :-
My invention relates to a construction and arrangement of the mounting of a
heavy gun in such a manner that the recoil at its commencement is in a nearly
horizontal direction, and that, during recoil, the axis of the gun remains parallel
to the line which it occupied before recoiling.
For this purpose, I fit the trunnions of the gun in a pair of blocks which can
slide along curved guides formed on the upper edges of the two sides of the
carriage, each of these guides being formed as a circular arc struck from a centre
vertically or nearly so above the axis of the trunnion when the gun is in firing
position, with a radius of a length somewhat less than the height of the trunnion
above the platform.
At the rear end of each of the curved guides I provide a pivot for a radial lever
which hangs nearly vertically downwards and which, measured from the centre of
its pivot to the centre of a pin at its lower end, is equal to the radius of the curved
guide. The pins at the lower ends of the two radial levers are the ends of a
transverse spindle which extends across the carriage, and these ends are linked to
the trunnions by inclined side rods which maintain a constant distance between the
axis of the trunnions and the axis of the transverse spindle. The spindle, which
can be caused to rotate by gearing connecting it to a hand wheel mounted on one
of the radial levers, has on it a pinion gearing with a segmental rack concentric
with the trunnion and projecting down from the lower side of the gun. By turning
the hand wheel in the one direction or the other, the breech of the gun can be
elevated or depressed, inclining the axis of the gun as may be desired. The curved
guide for the trunnion blocks and the radial levers linked to the trunnions
constitute together a species of parallel motion, so that, as the gun recoils, its axis
always remains parallel to itself."
The recoil is controlled by a pair of hydraulic buffers, the cylinders of which
are mounted in trunnions on the sides of the carriage in front of the curved
guides, their pistons being linked to the blocks which carry the trunnions of
the gun.
Dated this 10th day of October 1892.
ABEL & IMKAI,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Mountings for Heavy Guns.
I, THOMAS ENGlish, of Palmer's Shipbuilding aud Iron Company Limited, of
Jarrow, in the County of Durham, Engineer, 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 relates to a construction and arrangement of the mounting of a
heavy gun in such a manner that the recoil at its commencement is in a nearly
horizontal direction, and that during recoil the axis of the gun remains parallel to
D.
037

page_text: the line which it occupied before recoiling. For this purpose I mount a gun as I
shall describe referring to the accompanying drawings.
Fig. 1 is a side view and Fig. 2 is an end view of a gun mounted according to
my invention.
Fig. 3 is a side view Fig. 4 is an end view shewing a modification.
I fit the trunnions A of the gun in a pair of blocks B which can slide along
curved guides C formed on the upper edges of the two sides of the carriage, each
of these guides being formed as a circular arc struck from a centre vertically or
nearly so above the axis of the trunnion when the gun is in firing position with a
radius c A (Fig. 3) measured to the axis of the trunnion of a length somewhat
less than the height of the trunnion above the platform.
At the rear end of each of the curved guides C I provide a pivot D for a radial
lever E which hangs nearly vertically downwards and which measured from the
centre of its pivot to the centre of a pin e at its lower end is equal to the radius c A.
In Figs. 3 and 4 only oue radial lever E is shewn, in Figs. 1 and 2 there are two,
one on each side, the lower ends of which are jointed to the ends of a transverse
spindle F which extends across the carriage. The pin e (Figs. 3 and 4) is on
a bracket el projecting down from the gun.
The ends e of the spindle F (Figs. 1 and 2) are linked to the trunnions A by
inclined side rods G which maintain a constant distance between the axis of the
trunnions and the axis of the transverse spindle F. This spindle F, which can be
caused to rotate by gearing connecting it to a hand wheel, has on it a pinion f
gearing with a segmental rack H concentric with the trunnion A and projecting
down from the lower side of the gun. By turning the hand wheel in the one
direction or the other, the breech of the gun can be elevated or depressed,
inclining the axis of the gun as may be desired.
The gearing for working the spindle F as shewn in Figs. 1 and 2 consists of a
worm L turned by a handle working a worm wheel on the axis D to which is fixed
a bevil wheel working a bevil pinion on a vertical spindle k extending down the
lever E and having on its lower end a bevil pinion gearing with a bevil wheel on
the spindle F.
By arranging the bevil pinions on the vertical spindle k so that they gear with
the wheels on D and F with their opposite sides, the swinging of the lever E round
the axes of D and F does not cause any rotation of F.
According to the arrangement shewn in Figs. 3 and 4, the pivot D is on a slide d
curved concentrically with C; the handle and worm L work a worm wheel on the
axis of which is a pinion gearing with a toothed segment projecting from the
underside of the slide d.
l
By turning the handle and worm L in the one direction or the other the slide d
is raised or lowered raising or lowering the pin e and the breech end of the gun to
which e is rigidly connected.
The curved guide c¹ for the trunnion blocks B and the radial levers E linked to
the trunnions constitute together a species of parallel motion, so that, as the gun
recoils, its axis always remains parallel to the direction which it had before firing.
The recoil is controlled by a pair of hydraulic buffers M, the cylinders of which
are mounted in trunnions on the sides of the carriage in front of the curved guides,
their pistons being linked to the blocks B which carry the trunnions of the gun.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. Mounting a gun by its trunnions in blocks fitted to slide along circularly
curved guides and connecting the under part of the rear of the gun to a radial lever
pivotted to the guides so as to determine movement of the gun in recoiling such
that its axis remains parallel to the direction which it had before firing, substantially
as described.
2. In combination with the trunnion blocks sliding on circularly curved guide

page_text: and the radial lever having a fixed pivot a hand wheel and gearing whereby a pinion
at the lower end of the lever is made to act on a segmental rack projecting down
from the gun thereby determining the elevation, substantially as described.
3. In combination with the trunnion blocks sliding on circularly curved guides
and a radial lever having its lower end jointed to the gun, a hand wheel and gearing
whereby a pinion is made to act on a segmental rack on a curved slide carrying the
pivot of the radial lever, thereby determining the elevation of the gun, substantially
as herein described.
1000
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.