330 THE SCIENTIFIC PAPERS OF 



In the discussion of the Paper 



" ON GUN-CARRIAGES AND MECHANICAL APPLIANCES 

 FOR WORKING HEAVY ORDNANCE," 



By GEOBGE WIGHTWICK RENDEL, M. Inst. C.E., 



ME. SIEMENS* said it might have occurred to the minds of 

 many that too much attention had been directed to the mechanical 

 arrangements for gun carriages, and that the tendency ought 

 rather to be towards introducing fewer elements in the working of 

 a large gun, and more particularly in the working of ordinary 

 guns. No doubt some mechanical appliances were required for 

 moving shot from the hold of the ship, loading, and using the 

 ramrod, in the case of very large guns ; but for ordinary gun 

 practice he thought the machinery now proposed was of too 

 complex a nature. In 1865 the laminar compressor, which had 

 been perfected at Elswick, was coming into general use. It 

 certainly was a most ingenious contrivance for multiplying the 

 friction due to a moderate pressure, and for spreading it over a 

 large surface, so as to produce a considerable aggregate amount of 

 retardation without cutting action upon any portion of the surface, 

 and without its being necessary to lubricate those surfaces. In 

 1867 he was invited by the Gun Carriage Department at Wool- 

 wich to advise them with respect to a project for improving that 

 compressor. The contemplated improvement had in view to 

 obtain the pressure between the laminae of the Elswick compressor 

 in a different way. It was suggested that perhaps, by setting 

 up a powerful magnetic action, friction might be produced to any 

 desired extent. He told the authorities that such a plan was 

 feasible, but that he knew too much about the disappointments 

 in the use of electricity to recommend such a plan for practical 

 application ; and after consideration, he proposed the hydraulic 

 reaction apparatus. His plan consisted simply of a cylinder with 

 a piston and piston-rod connected with the gun, and a passage 



* Excerpt Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Vol. 

 XXXVIII. Session 1873-74, pp. 114-116. 



