US547507A - Apparatus foe mounting guns - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.) 2 SheetsSheej; 1.

J. STRAUSS.- APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING GUNS.

o. 547,507. Patented O0L8, 1895.

2 Sheets, Sheet 2.

(No Model.)

APPARATUS STRAUSS.

FOR MOUNTING GUNS.

No. 547,507. Patented 0015.8,1895.

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NITED ST a res- PATENT Fi ms, 7

APPARATUS FOR MOUNTING GUNS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 547,507, dated October a, 1895.

Application filed January 4, 18 95.

T0 on whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH STRAUSS, an ensign in the Unitcd States Navy, and attached to the Bureau of Ordnance,'at Washington, inthe District of Columbia, have invented cen tain new and usefullmprovements in Methods of and Apparatus for Mounting Guns; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and'e'xact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. I

My invention relates-to improvements in methods of and apparatus for mounting guns. on their carriages or other supports, so that with a small expenditure of energy theymay be readily elevated or depressed. In the mountings now generally in use the gun is suspended on trnnnjions, which may be either on the gun itself or on the oscillating slide in which the gun recoils, and the weight of the gun is generally supported by the circular bearing-plate or trunnion-seat placedbeneath the'trunniou. and forming part of the-gu'n carriage. The pressure on this hearing is ordi narily exerted by the lower element'of the cylindrical trunnion upon which the weight of the gun is supported, and since the support,- ingelement of the trunnionie n'otusu'ally in the line of recoil there is a tendency of the trunnion to roll backward when the gun is fired, causing the muzzle of the gun to tilt u-pward, and thus causing a heavy strain on the elevating-gear. Moreover, since the weight of the gun supported bythetrunnionsis supported on a line of bearings eccentric to the center of gravity of the gun and below the same it will be seen that the larger the trunnious the lower 'willbe the points of support of the gun, and hence the greater energywill be required under existing conditions to elevate and depress the gun. Moreover, sincein order to secure the necessary strength large guns requirelarge trunnions this difficulty becomes greater in operatinglarge guns th n in operating small ones. It the trunnions kf the gun could be made very small, the mornent-arm of the friction caused by elevating and depressing would be much reduced. In this method the arm-at which the friction acts is practically reduced to zero, thereby reducing the work of elevating and depressing to sum no. 583,830. (No model.)

merely that of overcoming the inertia of the mass. g

Reference is had to the accom panying drawings, in which the'same parts are indicated by the same letters throughout the several views.

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of -a.

gun fitted with my improved device. Fig. 2

slide in the oscillating slide B, which slide is provided with the trunnions G, which are.

journaled between the circular plates or truni which is provided with a bandA, adapted to nion'seats d and the cap-squares (Z' of the carriage D.

The particular character of the carriage is immaterial, as the hereinafter-described invention may be readily applied'to any of the mounts ,for heavy guns. The trunnions C are tapped with screwthreads c to receive the screw e, rigidly at,-

tached to or integral with the plate E, which plate is provided with a knife-edge a, so adjusted as to be: at approximately the exact center of the face of the trunnion. The said plate E is held against turning by the setscrew e,- screwed into the face of the trunnion. The knife-edge e rests upon the hardened plate f,-.let into the block F,'which block-i s recessed on its bottom and near its ends, as at f, to receive the heads hot the liftingscrews' Hand 1-1. These screws are provided with screw-threadsh', which engage in the screw-threaded sleeves or nuts K and K, fast to the gun-carriage. The said screws H and II are provided with angular heads h 'to be turned by a wrench; but capstan-bars or other equivalent devices may be provided, it desired, and are also provided with lock-nutsh to lock the said screws at the desired position. In practice these two screws are so adjusted that a thin sheetof paper or'other gage can be passed between the base of tlietrunnion'and the base-ring d, when the weight-of the gun will be supported by means .of the knife-edge i on e on the hardened plate f. It-will readily be seen that when solifted clear of the trunnionknifeedge e will readily yield to the said? '10 pressure and thus prevent am y permanent disarran ement of or any injury to the said 'knifedgeortotheplatefi Affertheconnterrecoil the gun will once more be supported upon the knife-edge and may be elevated or depressedas before. The herein-described trunnion attachment renders it possible to work the elevating-gear of very heavy guns by hand with sufficient rapidity, which is a great desideratum. While any form of ele-' vating-ge'ar may be used, I preferthat shown in Fig.1, in which L is a segmental rack, struckwith' the same center asthe trunnion 0. M represents a pinion gearing in the said rack and mounted on the shaft N, which-is journaled in the bracket S at the side of-thef gun-carriage. The worm+wheel P is fast on the said shaft M and is turned by the worm Q,"fast on the shaft R, which is also jourualed in the said bracket S and is revolved by'the o hand-wheel R. While the elevating-gear need only be inadefligh't for purposes. ofoperation by hand-power, it must be made strong enough tostand-the shifting of the weight of the gun on recoil and also the shock of recoil.

' guu'pn the approximate mathematical axis of the trunnions the gun may be elevated or depressed with great facilityyand that the error known as jump, allowed for in most rangetables',,is largely obviatedi It will be seen that'I practically provide two sets of trunnions, the smaller trunuions projecting from thelarger and, supporting the weight of the gun when'the gun is run out or 'in the ini tial position, and the larger trunnions-taking up the shock of recoil.

In orderto make the bearing-surface ot'the smaller trunnions as small as possible and at the same time have the requisite strength, I prefer instead'of making the smaller trunuions' concentric with the larger to 7 mak'e only the point of support of the smaller trunnions concentric with the larger and to place the mass of metalneces'sa'ry to give the -req-' to any such guns now inusewithout; necessi- It will be seen that-by thus suspending the I uisite strength above this point of support. .55 The effect of this is to practically have the gun pivoted for elevating or depressing upon a'trunnio'n of inappreciable diameter, while for resisting the shock of discharge the ordinary trunnions are provided. It wilLbe obvi-' one that the hereindesoribed auxiliary tru-n nion's may be applied either to guns having trunniens or to the trunnions of oscillating slides, and that they may be readily applied 6 tating expensive changes in their mounts: s

Theseand the other advantages of the hereii -described apparatus will readily suggest themselves' to any one skilledin the art.

It will be obvious that various modifications of-the herein-described apparatus-might be'made which could be used without departing from, the spirit of my invention. Having thus described my invention, What I claim, and-desire to secure by Letters'Patent of the United States, is-

1. In a gun mounting, thecombination with a gun, and trunnions to stand the shock of recoil, of knife edges secured to said trunnions to sustain the weight of the gun, and supports for said knife edges, substantially as described. I r

2. In a gun mounting, the combinatiouwith a gun, and trunnions adapted to stand the shock orrecoil, or knife edges secured to said trunnions, to sustain the weight of the gun,- and vertically-adjustable supports forsaid knife edges, substantially as described.

3. In agun mounting, the combination with a gun, and trunnions to stand the shock of recoil, of knife edges secured to said'trunnions, blocks supporting said knife edges, and screws connected .tothe gun carriage and adjustably' supporting-said block, substantially asdescribed: t v 4 4;In agun mounting, the combination with a gun, ofknife edges which support the same at approximately the point about which the gug is turned for elevating and depressing, an

bearings onthe recoil of the gun. In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOSEPH STRAUSS. Witnesses: t 7 B. A. FIsKE,

- CHAs. L. HUGHES.

meanswhich limit the longitudinal movetoo I -ment ofsaid knife edges relative to-their

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