The Works Of Messrs. Schneider And Co.

334 MESSRS. SCHNEIDER AND CO.’S WORKS. transmitted to the mechanism by a handwheel held by the gunner. The movable system for lateral training is guidée! ai top by a series of cylindrical rollers and rests on a ring of balls, the lower racer being fixée! in the bedplate. With this arrangement, one man, by acting on the crank, can follow a target moving at a 35-knot speed, ai a distance of 500 metres. When the handwheel is released, after having been turned rapidly, the movable system tends to continue its motion, but is quickly held fast by a special friction-device. A small hydraulic brake and a spring buffer allow the firing of one gun only, the mounting deviating but little. The gun and men are protected by a shield fixed to the slide by elastic couplings, the shape of the shield 20-Centimetres (7.874-In.) 45-Calibre, Schneider- Canet Quick-Firing Gun, on Central-Pivoting Mount- ing with Closed Shield Weight of gun Length in calibres ,, metres Weight of projectile ... „ smokeless powder charge Muzzle velocity Vis vim at muzzle Thickness of wrought - iron plate p erforated at muzzle Weight of mounting complété with- out shield ... 14,000 kg. 45 9 111. 90 kg. 35 kg. 840 m. 3240 t.-m. 30,856 1b. 45 2!) ft. 6 in. 198 1b. 77 lb. 2756 fc. 10,789 foot-tons .750 m. 10.500 kg. CM 23,142 lb. The breech is opened in one action of the breech- block ; the gun is fired by electricity or percussion ; the breech-block is provided with ail the safety devices Fig. 1071. 15-Centimetre Schneider-Canet Guns on Double Mounting. varying at will. The principal advantages of this materiel are the following :— The placing of two guns in one jacket-mounting, which reduces to a minimum the distance betvveen the axes of the guns, and reduces also, to a large degree (comparée! with the guns joined together in the usual way), the couple of forces which act on the lateral training mechanism, when only one gun is tired. The mountings and shield are, besides, lighter in weight also. Complété solidarity of the two guns, as regards training, which can be effected by one man, who bas within easy reach ail the mechanism enabling him to follow with both guns the displacements of a movable target. Firing is rapidly regulated, and ail manœuvres are most easily carried out, owing to the special measures taken to reduce ail résistances. A lesser nuinber of attendants is required for serving the two guns. Con- centrated firing is easy, resulting in double the effects, at least, to be obtained with a single gun, owing to the greater concussion due to the simultaneous delivery of two shots on the target. I already mentioned ; obturation is insured by a plastic ring, or by movable brass dises. The mounting contains two hydraulic recoil cylinders, diametrically opposite each other, and an independent compressée! air recuperator underneath. The hydraulic recoil cylinders are arrangée! in such a way that the gun can be run out and in, with the help of a pump ; this enables the continuation of firing under all angles, should the recuperator accidentally get out of order. Elevation is faeilitated by placing a ring of cylindrical rollers between the carriage trunnions and the trunnion- plates of the slide. The handwheel which drives the elevating mechanism is held by the gunner ; it Works a curved rack fitted to the mounting through an irre- versible device of special design, and which allows one single man to cause the gun to pass through 1 deg. 32 minutes per second. The gun and mounting rest, for lateral training, on a set of balls carried on the bedplate. The mechanism for this training is driven by a handwheel held by the gunner ; it Works a pinion which gears in a fixed curved