The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

27G MESSRS. SCHNEIDER AND CO.’S WORKS. the main vertical hydraulic cylinder and the accumulator opens automatically, allows the flowing out of the liquid, and the gun runs down. It is then reloaded, and reset in position. This effected, and the communication with the accumulator remaining cut off, the ring that forms an additional counterweight is raised, by means of the forcing pump and the three-plunger pistons, to a height that varies according to the angle of elevation under which firing is to be effected. Communication between the hydraulic cylinder and the accuinulator is then re-established, and the gun runs up in battery under the action of the accumu- lator alone. The system is then fixed, and the hydraulic cylinders being turned on the exhaust, the additional counterweight descends, and rests afresh on the caisson The gun is on the Schneider-Canet system, 28 calibres Tig. 899. 27-Centimetre Schneider-Canet Gun and Disappearing Carriage. collar. A valve placée! on the conduit in the thickness of the valve-chest then re-establishes communication from the recoil cylinders to the recuperator, which, in relaxing, place the gun in a firing position. A circular track, formed of I-bars, is placed below the shield, and allows the working of tackle, the chain of which carries the box for raising the projectile to the breech. This type of ordnance is simple in design ; it contains safety devices that insure a regulär succession in the varions manœuvres, and it is most suitable for open coast- defence batteries that are so exposed they cannot be pro- teeted by artificial means, In the course of firing, a single set of motors is required for manœuvring the additional counterweight, the fiecuinulators being chargée! before firing commences. The motors are preferably electric motors, and can be supplied with current by underground cables. This type of mounting can be used in conjmic- tion with the lare'est-calibre guns. 27-Centimetre (10.630-In.) 28-Calibre Gun and Disap- pearing Carriage (Fig. 899, and Figs. 900 and 901, Plate CLIII.).-—This type of gun and mounting has been supplied to the Japan War Department for Tokio Bay, and to other Governments. Weight of gun „ mounting ,, projectile Muzzle velocity Elevation Training, through .. 21,720 kg. 61,300 kg. 216 kg. 580 m. — 5 deg. to + 15 deg. .360 deg. 47,870 Ib. 135,105 Ib. 476 Ib. 1,903 it. - 5 deg. to +15 deg. 360 deg. in length, strengthened by a rear jacket and a set of coils. The breech-block seating is eut in the tube itself. The breech-block is the same as that for 27-centimetre coast- defence guns ; it can be fitted with two metallic cup obtu- rators of different diameters, the second acting as a spare one for the first in case of need. The mounting consists of the beam, the slide, platform, and the bed- plate. The beam is built up of plates, and consists of two cheeks joined by stay bars, and one of these is fitted at its top end with a gun-metal butt to limit the vertical eleva- tion of the gun ; the other is provided with a square which, when the gun has run completely down, can connect with the platform and hold the gun, during the necesssry opera- tions for laying and loading it. The beam is fitted : (a) At its lower part, with an axis formed of two