USX8372I1 - Improvement in percussion-locks for firing cannon - Google Patents

Description

E. HIDDEN.

Gun-Look.

Patented Aug 20, 183-3.

III- P nto-mamma lmiol. a O.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

'ENOOH HIDDEN, OF NE\V Y K, N. Y.

Spccilication Forming part of Letters Patent datud g 1.834-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ENooII HIDDEN, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain Improvements in the Percussion-Lock for Firing Gannon, by which this instrument is under its various modifications rendered more simple, eliicient, and durable than it has heretofore been and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the drawings which accompany and make a part of this specification.

The principal object in view in this lock is to cause the hammer to rise with such rapidity after its stroke upon the percussion-cap that it shall be removed out of the way of the blast from the vent before it can be acted upon by the blast. The principle upon which I proceed in attaining this end will be manifest from the exeinplilications which are herewith given.

Figure 1 represents the look without the inaiiispring, the blow of the hammer being produced by the sudden jerking of the line or cord which acts upon it.

A is the hammer, working upon ajoint-pin, and having on it a tail-piece, B, the end of which is lengthened out so as to form a spring, which bears upon the end of the lock-plate at c, where, by its friction, it will hold the hammer in its place when it is elevated or cocked. This spring is doubled back or recurved in the manner shown in the drawings.

D is a piece of steel to which the cord E is attached, by which the hammer is to be drawn down. This piece of steel has a mortise or hole through it to admit a pin or catch, F, on the tail-piece B to pass through it. This pin or catch stands'in such a position as to retain the piece D until it is drawn forward so far by the cord E as to cause the hammer to strike the cap, when it slips otf and leaves the ham iner at liberty to rise.

G is a reacting-spring, which lifts the haminer instantaneously after the stroke. H is a guard-plate to prevent the cord from being affected by the fire. The plate I is to be attached to the cannon by screws or in any other convenient mode.

Figs. 2, '3, and 4 represent another modification of this look, in which the hammer is forced down by a maiuspring, the mainspring,

h it is cocked, being held up by a catch, hi h i liberated by the 'erking of a cord, as i th t, first described. The niainspring and th hig-spring are in this look inclosed in a box or M A i a movable plate which may be taken oil" b wing the screw B, which is thejointi f th hammer c. l) is a spring having a t h 0" its upper end, which catches upon a i on the hammer and holds it in the positi h n when it is thrown up by the reactiiig-springI- Fi 3 is the opposite side of the lock, on whi h i shown the outer end of the catch or l t 19, which holds up the inaiiispriiig, and t hi h the cord F is attached. (Jr is a plate ()1 j ti ig piece on the ca seto receive a pin o th ring D and retain it in its place.

Fi .1 xhibits thearraiigonieiit oi the main d ting springs within the case. His the main riiig bearing on the tail of the hammer d f hig it down. 1 is the catch or latch hi h h lds it up when cocked, and K is the th ipring which throws it up after the stroke. her id of the plate A, Fig. 2.

Th inspring is made of such strength as t i the hammer suiiicient impulse to throw it; t or three inches beyond the immediate a ti f the spring, and, being acted upon b th actingspring at the moment of striki th ercussion-cap, is thrown up aga nst the niainsp ng, where it is held by the spring t h, 33 before mentioned, the pin or promo fl n Oh the hammer being caught in the notch on th id of the spring-catch at the instant f i i and thus preventing any rebounding ti f the hammer over the vent. This 1 uires but one movement to cook it, hi h i performed by the hammer itself witht, th gssistance of a lever and second movet, as in the lock described in the third difi tion or French percussion-lock following.

Fi 5 and 6 show another modification of this l k, in which my mode of applying the r a ti ppring is applied to the [french peri hick and thelcver by which it is cooked i impmv ed. A is the lever, which, when the lock i ot cocked, lies close down upon the b or se. In the position in which it is This spring I usually attach to the in" shown it has lifted the mainspriiig so as to 5 rest upon the latch orcaitch c, upon which the cord 1) acts, as in the loelc last described.

Fig. 6 shows the interior of the movable plate with the reaetingspring E, which is also I placed and operates in the same way with that in the last-described modification.

Figs. 7 and 8 exhibit the manner in which I? apply the reacting-spring to a poirtahle percussion cannon-leek. This lock I need not describe, as I do not claim it as my invention, but claim the mode onlyof applying the spring to produce the same efi'ect as in the llxed lock.

The same letters in each figure represent like parts. I

The plate A serves to attach the apparatus to the top of the portable instrument, and it has a slot on its projecting end, through which the latch or catch B passes and holds up the spring 0, whiclnwhen the cannon is to be fired, rests upon it. When, by pulling the trigger I), the hammer E falls a projecting pin, F, disengages the catch B, and the: reactingspring C throws up the lock out of the way of the vent.

What I. claim as my ii'ivention, and for which 1 ask a Patent, is

l. The manner in which I employ the reacting spring, as described, under the various modifications thereof, as herein shown, by which the hammer is "llstttllittllCOllSl) thrown up after striking the percussion-cap directly upon the ent of a cannon.

2. The manner of applying,- the cocking-lever under an arrangement by which it is made to lie close to the ease or box of the lock.

The springeatch and the manner of working the trigger, and particularly the arrangement of the parts deseribedin, the second modification, by which the operation and effect therein mentioned are produced.

1-. The imitating-spring as applied to the handloch, by which the lock is entirely removed from the rent at theinstantot' igniting the powder in any manner whatever.

ENOUH HIDDEN.

Witnesses:

Rom. ULARKE, ltioin). HENDLEY.

Images