US378314A - Recoil-cushion for gun-carriages - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

B. HILL.

REGOIL CUSHION FOR GUN OARRIAGES. No. 378,814. Patented Feb. 21, 1888.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EBENEZER HILL, OF SOUTH NORVVALK, CONNECTICUT.

RECOlL-CUSHION FOR GUN-CARRIAGES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 378,314, dated February 21, 1888.

Application filed August 1, 1887.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EBENEZER HILL, of South Norwalk, in the county of Fairfield and State of Connecticut, have invented a newlmprovement in the Method of Forming Recoil- Cushions for Gun-Carriages; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with accompanying drawing, and the letters of reference marked thereon, to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawing constitutes part of this specifica tion, and represents a longitudinal sectional side view of a gun-carriage, the section being centrally through the air-cylinder.

This invention relates to an improvement in the cushions which are arranged to resist the recoil of guns in the larger class.

Under the usual arrangement of this class of carriages a portion of the ,carriage is hung upon a pivot at one end and supported upon concentric tracks. This first part of the carriage forms guides upon which the second or upper part of the carriage is arranged, so that the said second part may move toward and from the center of motion of the firstpart, the gun being supported on the said second or upper part of the carriage. This is a common construction of carriage represented in the drawing.

A is the lower portion of a carriage, which is hung upon a pivot, a, at one end'and supported on tracks B B, so that it may oscillate in a horizontal plane, with the said pivot a as its center of motion.

Upon the part B of the carriage the upper or gun supporting part, C, is arranged, so as to slide on the carriage toward and from its pivot. The second or upper part, C, of the carriage carries the gun D, supported thereon by trunnions E, in the usual manner.

To resist the recoil in this class of carriages a cylinder, F, has been arranged on the part A of the carriage, with a piston, G, therein, from which a rod, H, extends forward and is secured to the upper part, C, of the carriage, the piston and rod being in a plane parallel with the plane of movement of the said second part 0. The cylinder F, being supplied with compressed air, forms a cushion to aid in resisting the recoil upon the discharge of the gun.

The object of my invention is to increase the power of the cushion; and it consists in producing an explosionwithin the cushion cylinder at the time of the discharge of the gun, which explosion acts through the piston in the opposite direction to the recoil of the gun, thereby greatly increasing the power of resistance of the cushion. To produce such an explosion, the cylinder F is constructed with a cartridge-chamber, I, opening into the cylinder, the rear or breech end of the chamber being closed by a plug, J. Any suitable breech-closing mechanism will answer the pur pose. The breech of the chamber I being open, a cartridge, K, is introduced therein and the breech closed. The cylinder is then charged with compressed air in the usual manner. As a means for exploding the cartridge K, electrical wires 1) d communicate with the cartridge-chamber, so that an electric spark may be communicated to the cartridge in the chamber. At the instant of vdischarging the gun the cartridge K is exploded, delivering its force into the cylinder and against the piston simultaneously with the discharge of the gun. By this explosion the pressurein the cylinder becomes instantlyincreased to a very great extent, and to that extent the resistingpower of the cushion is increased.

The cartridge may be prepared with varying grades of powder, in a common and wellknown manner, so as to make the complete explosion of the cartridge K instantaneous or prolonged.

The recoil-resisting explosion may be otherwise producedsay as by applying to the cylinder a chamber, L, with which the tube M, through which air is forced into the cylinder, communicates, so that air supplied to the cylinder will pass through the said chamber.

The chamber L may be charged with suitable hydrocarbon, which the air passing into the cylinder will take up, so that the cylinder will be charged with a highly-infiammable gas. The spark for explosion maybe communicated directly to the cylinder, as indicated by broken lines, to cause the gas to explode, and such explosion of the gas will greatly increase the resisting-power of the cushion.

piston, is a well known expedient to resist re-' coil, and I make no claim, broadly, thereto, the essential feature of my invention being to produce an explosion in the recoil-cushion cylinder at the time the gun is discharged.

I make no claim in this application for irnprovement in the gun-carriage itself, as that:2o will cormtitute the subject of an independent; application. 1

I claim 5 In a gun-carriage having as a part of it a chamber adapted to act as a cushion to resist 2 5 recoil, the method of increasing the resisting force of said cnshiomwhich consists in producing an explosi'on in said chamber concurrent with the discharge of the gun, substantially as he described.

EBENEZER l'dILL.

Witnesses: S. D. VVILDMAN,

E. WILDMAN.

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