The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

206 MESSRS. SCHNEIDER gun should, while keeping his eye on the sights, himself fire at the précisé moment. This special apparatus consista of two bars fitted end to end to the side of the gun, and sliding in bearings joined to the fixed slide in which the gun recoils, and to the jacket that holds the recoil checks. The front bar can be brought back by means of a lever, and can resume its normal position by a spring, when the action of the lever is removed ; it carries in the rear a transverse piston with counteracting spring that can be made to disappear, or to engage in a notch on the side of the jacket above referred to, and it works the rear bar which acts direct on the butt of the firing lever. By manipulating the working lever, tlie gun is fii’ed and the breech safety piston enters its socket in the breech-block ; at the same time the transverse piston of the front bar is driven by its spring into the notch préparée! for it in the jacket. When the charge is fired in the ordinary manner, the gun recoils and libérâtes the transverse piston from the front bar, the varions springs restoring ail the parts to their first positions, so that when the gun is relaid the firing device is again ready for action, and the breech can be opened freely. When the gun hangs fire no recoil takes place, and the front bar, held firm by its lateral piston, remains in an extreme rear position, as well as the rear bar ; the safety piston stops in its socket in the breech-block, and keeps it from moving. Under these conditions the breech cannot be opened; and if the gunners have not been able to ascertain whether the gun lias been fired (which may be difficult in action, owing to the report of several guns firing simultaneously), they are warned, by the résistance encountered in trying to open the breech, that something unusual has happened, and that it may be dangerous to proceed. When in such a case it is desired to open the breech after a few minutes’ delay, it is sufficient to disengage the transverse piston from the front bar, by drawing it sideways by means of its stud; the varions parts then take up their first position automatically, and the breech mechanism is set free. The gun can be fired electrically by operating the firing switch ; the circuit is completed by the receiving line, the terminal on the breech-block support and its abutment, the jacket-rod, the striker proper, the fuse, the body of the gun, the mounting, and the return line. A Schneider-Canet double latch, of the same type as those already described for the two- and three-motion breech-blocks, joins the breech-block to its support, and latter to the gun, alternately and at the right moment. The arm working the catch bears, as above mentioned, on a piston fitted with a counteracting spring which, when the catch is set for striking, is driven forwards, and engages in a groove of suitable section eut in the breech-block, when complété closing is effected. This, of course, is only possible when the piston is exactly opposite its housing in the block ; therefore, if the breech is not completely closed and locked, the catch is masked by the AND CO.’S WORKS. safety piston, and has not a sufficient travel for cocking the striker and firing the fuse, thus doing away with ail risk of prématuré fire. This device works automatically, and is quite reliable. To prevent accidentai opening of the breech-block, the working lever is locked to the rear of the gun in such a manner that it cannot be set free witliout the intervention of the gunner, the general manœuvres not being delayed nor complicated thereby. In the rear face of the gun is screwed a stud made with an incline and a notch in which fits the end of an oscil- latiiig lever, worked direct by the handle of this main lever. This additional lever is recessed into the thickness of the working lever, and oscillâtes in the vertical plane oE the latter round a fixed centre. It is provided with a counteracting spring, which insures locking as soon as the gunner releases the handle after having closed the breech. To open the breech, it is necessary, therefore, to disengage the end of this supplementary lever from its socket, by bearing vei’tically on the working handle before with- drawing it. This is practically tin instinctive action, as the gunners have a natural tendency to press on the handle when they take hold of it to open the breech. The gun is secure against hanging fire, owing to the device described above. It may happen that the cartridge-case becomes set in the chamber. In such a case the opening of the breech is rendered difficult, and the clutches of the extractor are liable to damage. It is then necessary to resort to the rod provided for lifting the extractor. This is a thin round rod, which is introduced in a passage made flush with the rear end of the gun, and which leads above the small arm of the lever that carries the extractor clutch; the clutch can thus be freed from tlie flange of the case, and the breech opened. A specially-shaped wrench, which forms part of the accessory gear, is then used to pull out the case, the rammer not being resorted to at all. There is thus no risk of striking the fuse, and of causing accidentai explosions. To open the breech, the gunner presses on the handle, and turns the working lever in one motion from right to left, until the breech is completely opened, and the block swung to the side. During tli6 first part of this action the end of the clutch lever is freed from its notch, and the conical pinion mounted on the spindle of the lever causes the breech-screw to turn in the seating ; then the vertical roller fitted to the end of the small arm of the working lever, engages the circular groove cut in the lower surface on the left side of the bracket. The breech-block is then completely unscrewed, and the roller, bearing in the end of the groove, effeets the withdrawal of the breech-block from the seating. The whole of the mechanism then swings to the side by turning on its hinge. As soon as the block begins to leave its seat, the extractor clutches withdraw the cartridge-case ; when the block is completely with- drawn, the double latch fixes it to the support. To close tlie breech, the working lever is brought back in one action. When the breech-block arrives in contact with