US1191445A - Armor for vessels, forts, and the like. - Google Patents

Description

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IORBIS LOW'Y, 0? NEW YORK. H. Y.

ARMOB FOE VIBSBLS, PORTS. AND THE LIKE Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18. 1916.

Application filed October 11, 1915. Serial Io. 57.113.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, Momus Lowr, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Armors for Vessels, Forts, and the like, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to an armor for war vessels or other defensive works, and is based upon the well known princi le that a projectile will not penetrate a yiel ing obstruction as readily as it will a rigid and stationary one.

Various ways have been proposed heretofore for mounting the armor or protecting plates upon war vessels or other defensive works in order to permit of their yielding to arrest or absorb the force of the projectiles thrown against the same. In all cases, however, as far as known, springs were interposed between the armor and the hull of the vesel, or between the protecting plates and the wall or frame of the defensive work. The springs employed were open-springs, that is to say springs which were comprewed as the armor or protecting plates were forced toward the hull of the vessel, or the wall or frame of the defensive work. These springs abut against the armor or protecting plates and against the hull, wall or frame, as the case may be, and thereby transmit the force of the projectiles, or in other words the shock to the hull, wall or frame, which shock, although materially dec'reased, results often in damage or injury to the elements to be protected.

The main object of the present invention is to obviate the defects of the protectin devices heretofore in use, and with this 0 ject in view, it consists, broadly, in slidably mounting an armor or protecting plates upon the elements to be protected, and connectin the plates with the latter by means 0 springs, which are normally closed, that is to say which are expanded when said armor or plates receive a. sudden blow, for instance by a projectile thrown against the same.

Another object of the invention is to furnish the hull of a vessel, or the wall or frannf of other defensive works with an armor or protecting plates which can be easily in stalled, and which are capable of withstandmfi the forces of nature to which they unsu ected, particularly in a high sea. if up plied to vemels.

A further object of the invention is in provide an armor or protecting plates, which are simple in construction and of such titsign as not to retard the speed of the \'0S.-'ll.

\Vith these and ther obje ts in view. which will more fully appear as tho nntnrr of the invention is better understood. thisame consists in the combination. arrangiment and construction of parts hereinafter fully described. pointed out in the appended claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, it being understood that many changes may be made in the size or propor tion of the several parts and details of con- 1 struction within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of tin: invention.

A few of the many possible embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the ncconr panying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a vessel with an armor constructed in accordance with tinprcscnt invention thereon Fig. 2 is a portinn ing one of t e armor or protecting plates in 2- its position when struck by a projectile; Fig. 7 is a vertical section taken through a vessi-l with an armor thereon constructed in ac cordance with a modification of the invon' tion; Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken I through a fortification wall and an armor plate mounted thereon; Fig. 9 is a plan \'l( of the device shown in Fig. 8: Fig. 10 is :1

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horizontal section taken through a portion of a gun-turret with protecting plates in position thereon; and Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a gun-shield made in accordance with this invention.

Referring now more particularly to Figs. 1 to (3. inclusive. the numeral indicates lhe hull of a war \OHMl or the like, to which lhe improved armor is designed to be upplicd. The armor comprises a plurality of lates 21, which may he made of any suitable material. These plates may be interconnected by links 22, thereby forming a row of plates that embrace, as it were, the said ball. Each plate is connected with the adjoining one by two links, of which one is located near the upper edges of said plates, and the other one near the lower edges thereof. as appears from Fig. 1 of the drawings, said links being each provided with two, preferably, arc-shaped slots 23. Into one of these slots reaches a pin 24, that is mounted upon one of a set of plates and into the other one a pin 25, that is carried by the other one of the set of plates. The purpose of connecting these plates will be hereinafter described. The plates may be of any suitable size, their height being such that they reach partly below the waterline, indicated in Fig. 1 by the numeral 20', and as much above the waterline as may be desired for the purpose at hand. To each of these armor plates is attached in any suitable manner a plurality of plungers 26, which extend in horizontal directions through apertures 27 in the hull. Stufiing boxes 28 are provided to prevent ingress of water into the hull.

To the inner ends of the plungers 26 of each plate is attached a vertically extending frame 29, that is connected to the hull of the vessel by a plurality of heavy, normally closed springs 30. These springs are interposed between the inner face of the hull and the said frame, their inner ends 31 being attached in any suitable manner to a framework 32, in the form of plates, which are fixed to the inner face of the hull, while their other ends, denoted by the numeral 33, are engaged with the frame 29. One way of attaching the ends 33 of the springs to the frames 29 is illustrated in Fig. 4: of the drawings, the connecting means consisting of screw bolts 34, upon the heads 35 of which are wound a few turns of the ends 33 of the springs, said bolts extending through the said frames and being held thereon by nuts 36, which may be prevented from becoming loose'by cotter pins 37. It is, of course, obvious that other suitable connecting means may be used just as well. The springs 30 are of such dimensions that when they are inv their normally closed or compressed state, they will hold the armor plates 31 a suitable distance from the outer face of the hull (Fig. 2).

The operation of this device is as follows: A projectile striking an armor plate 21 meets with a yielding resistance, and causes the armor plate to move toward the hull. thereby.expanding the springs 3 lnasmuch as these springs are not interposed be.- tween the armor and the hull, they will not serve as shock transmitting means between the said two elements. The yielding of the armor plate by the expansion of the heavy springs prevents penetration of said armor plate, and the projectile is brought to rest before it could reach the hull of the vessel. The armor plates are interconnected in order to distribute the force. with which one of the same is struck, over a plurality of the same, that is to say. if one of these armor plates is forced toward the hull of the vessel by a projectile 39 (Fig. (3). it will cause the adjoining plates to move therewith to some extent, so that the shock is taken up not only by the springs which are connected with the armor plate that has been struck, but also by the springs associated with the adjoining armor plates.

A modification of the invention is illustrated in Fig. 7 of the drawings. which differs from the one above described in that the plungcrs 26, attached to the armor plates 21, do not penetrate the hull, but extend into casing-like frame-works 39, which are attached in any suitable manner to the outer face of the hull. The springs 30 are connected at their ends 31 with these casinglike frame-works, and at their ends 33 with the frames 29. These frames 2!) are disposed at a distance from the outer face of the hull, which is greater than the length to which these springs 30 would be expanded upon being struck by the heaviest projectile. The operation of this device is in all respects similar to that of the one described in connection with Figs. 1 to (3, inclusive.

In Figs. 8 and E) the invention is shown applied to a fortification wall. The fortification wall is denoted by the. numeral 40, and is protected by plates 41, corresponding to the armor plates 21, above described, said plates being mounted upon plungers 42, which extend through sleeves 43, the latter being inserted into apertures 44 in the wall 40. The plungers extend also through frame-works 45, which are mounted in close vicinity to the inner face of the wall, and serve as the means in which the inner ends of the heavy helical springs 46 are anchored, the outer ends of these springs being attached to frames 47, which are secured to the plungcrs in the same manner as the frames 29 described in connection with the devices shown in Figs. 1 to 7, inclusive, are mounted upon the plun- BESTAVAILABLE coex gers 21. The operation of this device is also in all respects similar to that of the one described in connection with Figs. 1 to 6, inclusive.

The protecting plates may be used upon gun-turrets just as well. A ortion of such turret is shown in Fig. 10 o the drawin s, and is indicated by the numeral 48. 'lhe protecting plates 41 are each mounted upon a plurality of plungers 42, which extend through the wall of the turret and through a frame-work 48', that is attached to the inner face of said turret. The inner ends of the plan ers extend into bearings 49, that are formed upon stationary elements 50 within the turret. Frames 51 upon the plangers are connected with the frame-works 48 by heavy helical springs 5'2.

The operation of this device is obvious from the foregoing.

The invention may be used in connection with ordnance to shield the gun crew from projectiles while operating the piece. The gun-shield comprises a frame-work 53, consisting, for instance, of two sets of standards 54 and said standards being mounted upon base plates 56, and connected by transverse tie-bars 57. In these standards are slidably mounted plungers 58, to which is attached the shield proper in the form of a plate 59, the said shield being provided with gun-port openings 60 and sight-holes 61. Each pair of plungers is connected in front and in rear of each standard 55 by frames 62 and 63, respectively, the frame 62 being connected with the standard 54 by heavy helical springs 64, and the frame 63 with the standard 55 by heavy helical springs 65. Upon the plungers may be coiled springs 66, which bear against the standards 55 and the frames 63. The purpose of these last named springs is to absorb the shock when the shield is being returned to its normal position after it has been struck by a projectile. It is to be observed that in this case the springs 64 and 65 have been disposed in parallel relation to the vertical edges only of the shield 59. This is done in order to leave the space between the members constituting a set of standards free for the guns and the crew.

What I claim is:-

1. In an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor plate disposed in parallel relation to the outer face thereof and spaced therefrom, plungers carried by said plate and slidably supported by said body, and normally closed springs connecting said plungers and said body.

2. In an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor plate disposed in parallel relation to the outer face thereof and spaced therefrom, plungers carried by said plate and slidably supported by said body, a frame mounted upon the inner ends of said plungers, and normally closed sprin s connecting said frame and said body.

3. n an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be )rotected, of an armor comprising a plurality of plates disposed in parallel relation to the outer face of said body and spaced therefrom, links connecting adjoining plates, plungers carried by each plate and slidably supported by said body, and normally closed iprlmgs connecting said plungers and said 4. In an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be )rotectcd, of an armor comprising a plurality of plates disposed in parallel relation to the outer face of said body and spaced therefrom, links connecting adjoining plates, plungers carried by each plate and slidably supported by said body, a frame mounted upon the inner ends of the plungers of each plate, and normally closed springs connecting said frames and said body.

5. In an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor plate disposed in parallel relation to the outer face thereof and spaced therefrom, plungers carried by said plate and slidably extending through said body, and normally closed springs within said body connecting the latter and said plungers.

6. In an armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor plate disposed in parallel relation to the outer face thereof and spaced therefrom, plungers carried by said plate and slidably extending through said body, a. frame disposed within sald body and mounted upon said plungers, and normally closed springs connecting said frame and said body.

7. An armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor comprising a plurality of plates disposed in parallel relation to the outer face of said body and spaced therefrom, links connecting adjoining plates, plungers carried by each plate and extending slidably through said body, and normally closed springs within said body connecting the latter and said plungers.

8. An armor for vessels, forts and the like, the combination with the body to be protected, of an armor comprising a plurality of plates disposed in parallel relation to the outer face of said body and spaced therefrom, links connecting adjoining plates, plungers carried by each plate and extending slidably through said body, a frame mounted upon the plungers of each plate,

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said frames being disposed within said body, and normally closed springs connecting said frames and said body.

5). The combination with a frame-work, of an armor plate disposed in parallel relation to its front face and spaced therefrom, plunge-rs carried by said plate and slidably extending through said frame-work, and normally closed springs connecting said plungers and frame-work.

10. The combination with a framework,

of Oct, A. D. 1915.

MORRIS LO\VY.

Copies of this patent. may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0.

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