115 
METHOD OF ARMING CLIFF END BATTERY, 
ISLE OF WIGHT, 
BY HAULING THE GUNS UP AN INCLINED TRAMWAY, 
BY 
CAPT. W. R. RUDGE, R.A. 
A new method of arming elevated batteries was proposed by the 
Heavy Gun Committee, of which the following is a short description, 
with an account of the experiments carried out under my superin¬ 
tendence. 
Cliff End Battery stands 120 feet above mean sea level, on the 
West Coast of the Isle of Wight, nearly opposite to Hurst Castle. 
The cliffs are principally clay, and slope down to the sea in broken 
inclines. A tramway of rails laid on longitudinal and transverse 
sleepers has been constructed from the top of the cliff to the bottom, 
the gradients varying from 1 in 6 to 1 in 3. The steepest inclines 
being close to the top of the cliff. A pier runs out about 30 yards 
from the shore line, so that a barge drawing about 4 ft. 3 in. of water 
may be brought alongside at high tide. The pier has a staging for 
men to work on. The rails are laid at 4 ft. 2 in. track. 
The barge takes the ground as the tide recedes, and the rails on the 
pier are then about 1 ft. above the level of the deck of barge. 
The incline of the tramway commences on the pier, about five yards 
from the sea wall. 
A special carriage has been constructed by the Royal Carriage De¬ 
partment for the service, and it consists of two cradles of iron, having 
a pair of wheels each, adapted to travel either by road or rail. These 
two cradles are connected together by rectangular iron bars, which 
pass through the upper portion of the cradles, and can be adjusted at 
different lengths by means of bolts and shackles. The hind cradle is 
hollowed in the upper surface so as to fit the breech coil of a 38-ton 
gun, and blocks are supplied to adapt this hollow for the breech of an 
18-ton gun. The front cradle is hollowed to take the first coil. 
The brake gear is fitted on the hind cradle below, and consists of 
jaws, made to act on 9 in. hawsers, laid between the rails from the top 
to the bottom of the tramway. The inner jaws are connected to a 
right and left-handed screw, worked by a sprocket wheel. The outer 
jaws are fixed. 
The gear is set in action by the sprocket wheel, resting on a central 
baulk laid between the rails, and should there be any backward move¬ 
ment of the carriage, the teeth on the sprocket wheel biting into the 
baulk move the screws and cause the jaws to nip the hawsers. When 
the carriage moves upwards, the jaws are released by the sprocket 
15 
