US71592A - peters - Google Patents

Description

, 2 sheets-sheen. J. B. EADS. Loading Ordnance.

Patented Dec-'3. 1867.

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JAMES BJEADS, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI. Letters Patent No. 71,592, dated Decemher 3, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN LOADING ORDNANGE.

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To ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:

Be it known that I, JAMES B. EADS, of the city and county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Loading and Operating Ordnance; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and clear description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon. i

The object of this invention is to raise and place in the bore of the gun heavy shot by mechanical means, without the assistance of much manual labor. The invention relates to certain devices for producing the result,

which said devices consist of a platform, on which a bed is fitted for the shot, the platform being so arranged and combined with a. steam-cylinder or cylinders as to be elevated or depressed by the simple application to or withdrawal of steam therefrom. There may be two cylinders used, one placed on either side of the carriage, and directly below the trunnions, with thepiston-rods extending forward in a horizontal plane, and attached to the lower ends of the vertical arms of two'bent levers, one of which is placed on either side of the piece, with its fulcrum bearing about in the same horizontal plane as the trunnions, and its horizontal arm extending forward as far as the muzzle, where it is attached to the aforesaid shot-platform. Then,'as the said vertical arms are worked forward or backward by means of the steam applied to pistons within the cylinders, it follows that the forward ends of the horizontal arms of the said levers, and with them the shot-platform and the shot itself, will be with ease elevated to such a plane that it may easily be rolled into the muzzleof the piece. Of course, one cylinder might be placed beneath the piece, and made to'subserve the purpose of two, by coupling its pistonrod with both levers.

Another device, and the one which will be hereinafter more fully described, consists of a series of telescopic cylinders, with their axes in a. vertical or nearly vertical plane,oand" placed directly beneath the shot-platform. As steam is introduced into these cylinders they are raised up, one out. of another, until the shot-platform is of the proper height to roll the ball into the piece. By having the shot-platform hinged at its back end or side to the top of the upper .cylinder of the series, and a guardconnected therewith, so as to extend under the gun, then, when the platform shall have been raised so as to cause the said guard to come in contact with the gun, and a little more steam is applied, the front end of the platform will be raised up, while the said guard and hinge hold the back end ofit down on a level with the bore of the gun, thus tipping the platform, so as to allow the shot to roll oif into the piece as soon as a spring-catch (which has hitherto retained it on the platform) is released.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my improved carriage and shot lifter, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation. I

Figure 1, of the drawings, is a side elevation of a piece of'heavy ordnance, its carriage, and shot=lifte1h Figure 2 is a plan of the same.

Figure 3 is a front end elevation.

Figure 4 is a vertical central sectional elevation of the shot lifter.

Figure 5 is a sectional elevation of a part of the shot-lifter, showing the shot-platform in its inclined posi= tion, as it appears the moment before the shot is rolled into the gun.

Figure 6 is a plan of the shot-platform, showing the spring-catch used for retaining the shot on the plat= form, and the device for operating thesame. p

The carriage A, that supports the gun B and the slides or chases C, may be of any of the most approved patterns now in use, or hereafter made applicable to the operating of heavy ordnance, and hence these parts need no minute description. The shot-lifter consists of a series of telescopic cylinders, D D D 1), arranged to slide one within the other, and a shoteplatform, E, afiixed to the top of the inner or smaller cylinder. The cylinders D D D D are fitted together steam-tight, and otherwise arranged, so that when steam is admitted into the interior of them, they will rise up, one out of the ether, telescope-wise, and thus lift the shot to the required position. The lower cylinder D is to be open at the top and closed at the bottom, and all of the others, of which there may be two or three, (more or less,) will be open at the bottom and closed-at the top. Steam is to be admitted to the cylinders from the valve-chest d, through the pipe 01 by simply moving the lever 01 to one side, and shut 01? by the reverse operation. The same result might easily be arrived at by the use of one .cylinder, closed at both ends, and having three or four piston rods working through as many stuffing-boxes in the cylinder-head, the said piston-rods carrying on their upper ends the shot-platform E. The shot-platform E consists of a lower or bed-piece, e, securely afiixed to the top of the cylinder D and a movable piece, E, hinged to the bed-piece at m. A curved guard-piecefe is securely aflixed to the movable piece e in such a position as to catch under the muzzle of the gun when the platform is raised up, as is clearly shown in figs. 1 and 5. As soon as the said guard-piece becomes caught against the gun, it will cause the piece a to tip up around the point at, as is clearly shown in 5, thus inclining the top surface of the platform toward the piece,

and thereby facilitating the rolling of the ball into the bore of the piece. A spring-catch, c, in the interior of the platform-piece 6, may be withdrawn by means of the hand-ring e and rod e, from the stop or chock-piece e, at the proper moment to let the said chock-piece fall or slide down, and the ball to roll over it. The red lines in fig. 4; show the shotlifter raised up, while the full-line drawings represent it in its contracted position. The cylinder D may be connected with the chassis part of the gun-carriage by means of the stay-rods F.

The description hereinbcfore given of a shot-lifter, as combined with a gun-carriage, relates to certain means for accomplishing the desired result. Of course the same object may be accomplished by various other arrangements of machinery, either operated by hand or by steam-power. For instance, a vertical rack, supporting the shot-platform, may be raised or lowered by a cogged pinion placed on a shaft actuated by hand or by steam-power, applied at any convenient part of the carriage.

Having described my invention, what I claim is-- I 1. Che combination of a gun-carriage, A C, with a shot-lifter, composed of one or more steam-cylinders and a shot-platform, E, the whole to be operated and employed in the manner shown and described.

2. I also claim the shot-platform when composed of a fixed bed-piece, E, and a hinged or tipping piece, E, for the purpose of disengaging the shot from the platform inthe manner shown and described.

JAS. B. EADS.

Witnesses:

BARRETT WILLIAMS, Tnoms J. BURRIDGE.

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