14-CENTIMETRE GUN.
185
the recoil has ceased, the gun returns automatically into
position by its own weight,
14 - Centimetre (5.511-In.) Gun on Circular Slide
(Figs. 603 to 605).
This dass of gun has been supplied by Messrs.
Schneider and Co. to the French Navy. The following
are some particulars :
firing acts by percussion, all the necessary means being
taken against prématuré firing.
The mounting consists of the following main parts :
A bolster whicli resta on a fixed platform, the top of
which serves as a roller path for the training of the
gun. A fixed slide, consisting of two vertical brackets
stayed together, rests on the series of rollers on the
Fig. 603.
Figs. 603 and 604.
14-Centimetre (5.511-in.) Gun and Circular Slide.
Weight of gun
,, mounting
,, projectile
,, charge (black powder)
Muzzle Velocity ...
Pressure ...
3200 kg.
3700 kg.
30 kg.
13.7 kg.
500 m.
2100 kg.
7040 Ib.
8140 Ib.
66 Ib.
30.14 Ib.
1640 ft.
13.33 tons
per sq. in.
The breech mechanism consists of a cylindrical breech-
block sliding in a bracket which turns horizontally on
a vertical hinge, and worked by a lever. A plastic
obturator, specially shaped, is placée! between the front
end of the screw and the movable head. The boit for
roller path ; the top part being shaped into two circular
slide paths, the centres of which coïncide with the gun
trunnions. An oscillating slide, also consisting of two
vertical stayed brackets, the bottom part of which forms
slide-blocks of the same shape as the slide-paths ; the
two latter brackets serve also as slides for the gun-
carriage proper. The object of this special type of
mounting is to maintain, with ail angles of elevation,
an exact coincidence of the axis of the recoil cylinders
with the line of recoil.
For elevating the gun, the slide is provided with a