E. GOMEZ.
Gun- Lock.
Patented Jan. 7, 1862.
my said invention,
( annexed drawings,making ilNr'rEn I EDWIN GOMEZ, on NEW 'Yoax. 1v. Y.
IMPROVEMENT tN FIRING CANNON BY ATTACHED FUSES.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, EDWIN GOMEZ, of the city and State of New York, have'invented, made, and applied to use a certain new and Improved Means for Firing Cannon, Mortars, &c.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of reference being bad to the part of this specification, wherein- Figure 1 is a section of the cannon or other piece of ordnance at the touch hole, showing my improvement. Fig.2 is a plan of my tapefuse at the touch-hole; mode in which several simultaneously.
Similar marks of reference denote the same and Fig. 3 shows the cannon are to be fired parts.
My invention relates to a mode of applying a fuse to the touch hole of a cannon, mortar, or other gun, whereby to fire one or several cannon at exactly the desired time. For this purpose I employ a tape-fuse, and the explosive powder set forth in Letters Patent, September 15, 1857, to Edwin Gomez and Wm. Mills, is preferable for this purpose; and the fiat or tape fuse may be formed of folded pa-' per containing the powder, as set forth in my patent of August 9,; 1859. 4
The ordinary touch-holes of ordnance are too small for the introduction of tape-fuse, and besides which, if introduced partlyinto the touchhole, the fuse could not be extended to other cannon for simultaneous discharge. The nature of my said invention consistsin perforating the fuse at the touch hole and pressing the same to the gun at this point by means of a suitable clamp. By this means I am enabled to force the fire into the touch-hole as it emerges from said perforation, and where several guns are to be fired simultaneously the fuse can be passed on from one to the other,
the perforation in no instance cutting off the travel of the fire,
In the drawings, a or represent cannon, mortars, or other ordnance, and b is the touchhole, Fig. 1. (l is the fuse, perforated as at r, Fig. 2, over the touch-hole, and c is any suitable clamp to press the fuse to the gun. I have shown the clamp o as provided with a screw passing through the arm 0; but the said clamp may be attached in any other convenient manner, and when the fuseis exploded or fired the gun is discharged with unerrin g certainty, the fire passing to the touch-hole from the perforation 2'.
In firing upon vessels orupon fortifications a large number of heavy balls simultaneously fired at one point will make a breach. To effect-this I can take any desired number of cannon, aim them accurately at a given point, and fire them almost simultaneously by the aforesaid fuse. I havefound,practically, that the fuse formed under the aforesaid patent will explode at the rate of one mile in about four seconds, hence, by placing the second cannon slightly in advance of the first and so on, as indicated in Fig. 3, the slight loss of time in communicating from one cannon to the next will 'be compensated for in the second, being nearer to the object fired at. This perforated fuse may be employed with a gun or cannon having two or more touch holes for firing several balls in succession, or for firing gutlzlcessive charges of powder to accelerate the What I claim, ters Patent, is-
The perforated fuse clamped to the cannon, mortar, or similar article at the touch-hole, for th'e'purposes and substantially as set forth.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my signature this 16th day of October, 1861.
ED WIN GOMEZ.
and desire to secure by Let- Witnesses g LEMUEL W. SERRELL, THOS. Geo. HAROLD.