USRE1641E - Improvement in operating ordnance - Google Patents

Description

CALLENDER 8n N ORTHRUP.

Operating Ordnance.

ventorvh wltnesses. In

NPETERS. PHOTO-LITHUGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D4 (1.

4 Sheets- Sheet 1 Re issued Mar. 29, 1864.

' 4 Shetn--Sheet 2. CALLENDER & NORTHRUP.

Operating Ordnance.

No. 1,641. Reissued Mar. 29, 1864.

Witnesses. lnv enfors.

, Mm WWNMM N-PETERS, PHOTO-LITIOGRAPHER. WASNINGYON, D c.

GALLENDER 8n N ORTHRUP. Operating Ordnance.

witnesses.

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4 Sheets-Sheet. 3.

Reissued Mar. 29, 1864.

4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

' CALLENDER & NORTHRUP.

Operating Ordnanbe.

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Witnesses. Inventor Nwmwwm ILFETERS. PHOTO-UTHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON, D. c.

plate to admit the ordnance.

U NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES B. EADS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNEE, BY MEsNE ASSIGN- MENTS, or MILLS L. CALLENDER AND N. w. NORTHRUP.

IMPROVEMENT IN' O PERA I'iNG ORDNANCE.

Specification forming yurt of Letters Patent No. 37,955, dated March 17, 1863; Reissue No. l,61l, dated Mar 11 29, 1861.

DIVISION A.

To all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that MI Ls L. GALLENDER, of

- the city, county, and State of New York, and

NELsoN XV. NORTHRUP, of the town of Greene, in the county of Ohenango and State aforesaid, did invent certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Mounting and Operating Heavy Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, makinga part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a vertical central section through a steam-cylinder, hollow pistonrod, steam pipes, and showing the cannon platform and shield as elevated. Fig. 2 represents a top plan of the platform and piece of ordnance mounted, the top or cover of the shield being removed. Fig. 8 represents a vertical cross-section through a gun-boat or other vessel, with the cylinder and gun depressed for loading in black lines, and as ele vated for being discharged in red lines. Fig. 4 represents a modification of the general plan of operating the guns, showing the steam-cylinder and the outer case, which latter answers to confine the steam between the. heads for the purpose of elevating the shield and the gun. Fig. 5 represents another modification of the mode of elevating and depressing ordnance by steam, two guns being mounted on a balance-frame. Fig. Srepresents a top view of an oblong opening through the rotating sents an end view of a cannon raised up through the oblong opening shown in Fig. 6.

Similar letters of reference, wherethey occur in the several separate figures, denote like parts in all cases.

The object of this invention is to readily operate heavy ordnance in a shield or tower, which not only protects the gun, but also the gunners; and the nature of the invention consists in combining a revolving tower and gun with a revolving steam cylinder or piston, so

that they may be raised and lowered vertically by steam, and at the same time be made capable of being turned horizontally together.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use the invention, I will proceed to de- Fig. 7 repre-' scribe the same in connection with theaccompanying drawings.

0 D is a bedplate placed in the bottom of a boat or vessel, Q, of which there may be one or more in such central positions as to balance or trim the vessel, each bed-plate sustaining a gun and shield or tower, with the necessary appliances for operating them, as will be described.

To the bed-plate C D is secured a vertical steam-cylinder, A,'as seen in Figs. 1 and 3, having a head and hollow piston-rod, b, with two steam-pipes, a a, branching off at the top and extending out at right angles on both sides far enough to pass up through the gun-platform D, and to connect with the two steamboxes S S, into which the sliding bars I I are fitted steam-tight at both of their ends, leaving a" space in their middle portions, between the steam-boXes, open and free The sliding bars I I are square and faced off at both ends to form piston-heads for the steam to operate against, so that they can be moved either way or held in any position by the action of the steam passing up through the piston b b and ing the throttle-valves h h and z z in the connecting steampipes a a and f f, Figs. 1 and 2. The throttle-valves h h are operated by rock-shafts j j, extending down through the platform D. The valves 92 i are also controlled from underneath. Y

The gun or piece of ordnance B is hung in the boxes T by means of its trunnions X, said boxes being connected to the sliding bars II, and the bars being cushioned at both ends by the steam in the cylinders and controlled by the valves h and i, it can be run forward and held with nearly the whole force of the steam in the boiler, (if necessary,) which steam is to resist the recoil of the gun when fired; or, the steam being pressed equally on both ends of the bars I, the recoil. will simply be a vibration when the piece is discharged.

The platform D is firmly secured upon the head of the piston b, so that everything connected therewith is elevated and depressed by the direct action of the steam in the cylinder underneath. The platform is made round and a somewhat larger in diameter than the opening 0 in the deck or top of the vessel Q, and is surrounded by a shield, G, on both sides, with the exception of the passage or opening \V, in which the gun. is placed, and through which opening it is discharged.

The trunnion-boxes, steam-cylinders, and pipes are protected behind the partitions l? and within the plating of the shield or tower G, so that they are safe from being injured. The sides of the shield are vertical and high enough to allow of getting the range and distapce of the piece, andin diameter it snugly fits the opening a in the vessel, and its top is protected by a plate, L, which exactly fitsinto and closes the opening a when the gun is depressed, leaving the top of the covering of the vessel level and smooth.

When steam is let into the bottom of the cylinder, the whole armament will be raised and rest upon the steam, and in this condition the gun and tower or shield can be turned to cause the gun to bear upon any object with the greatest ease by means of the lever M, and

- when the ordnance is elevated by steam to its highest point the platform D will effectually close the opening 0, through which the tower projects, so that none of the gas and smoke can enter below decks, and the noise and concussion of the report will be very much diminshed in its effect upon those on board of the vessel.

By the abovedescribed construction and arrangement guns of the largest caliber can be operated by a very few efficient hands, and with the greatest facility and ease. The gunners are not exposed, and while loading are entirely protected by turning the opening in the shield or tower away from the enemys fire; but the loading may be done entirely below decks, for

which purpose the gun and its platform is let down, and the top of the shield being closed, there is no point of access for a shot. The shield and gun need only be exposed just as the gun is about to be fired, for at other times they may be lowered within the hull of the vessel.

When the gun, in being raised up from the hold of the vessel by the steam in the vertical cylinder, reaches'the top of the gun deck 'or cover of the vessel, steam may be admitted be-- hind the pistons I, and at the same time that it is being raised it may be run out to be fired, and likewise turned around to be aimed. There is nothing to prevent all three of these movements going on at once.

Fig. 4 shows a modified construction of a steam-cylinder for operating heavy ordnance in the manner above described.' A substantial base and as large a bearing-surface as possible are necessary to support the platform D, and for this purpose is used an inverted cup as a steam-cylinder, the inside being bored out perfectly smooth, so that the rim or sides 0 0 will slide on a steam-tight packing, a at, around and over another inverted cup or cylinder, m m, the induction of the steam being through the pipe 1) in the center, so that the heads of the two cylinders form the pressure-surface for the steam to act upon to elevate and operate the gun, the steam being conveyed to run the gunout and in and to take the recoil of the gun when discharged through the pipes a aor passages through the head of the outside cylinder, m, and through the platform D.

Figs. 6 and 7 show a modified construction of the opening in the top of the vessel to elevate the ordnance, and saves the lifting of a great amount of the weight, as described in the foregoing plan. oblong through a circular plate, F, of sufficient diameter to admit the gun box or shield K, which fills the opening in the plate, when elevated, the same as the shield G does in the above-described plan shown in Fig. 1. The shield K and its gun and fixtures are balanced upon and secured to the piston-rod J, and may be operated in precisely the same manner as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the plateF turning with the armament to bring the gun in range, and can be brought to bear upon any object the same as the round shieldG can; and

when the gun-carriage K is elevated the base or platform H comes in close proximity with the plate F, so as to close all of the opening while the gun is discharged, and when the gun is depressed the top V is closed level with the surface of the plate and boat. The breech of the cannon B rests upon a movable plate of metal, is, under which is placed the jack-screw Z, so that when the gun recoils the plate It may relieve the screw from any strain by sliding.

The opening E is made

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