BATTERY OR FIRING POSITION
IN-BATTERY OR FIRING POSITION
HYDRO-SPRING RECOIL SYSTEM
HYDRO-PNEUMATIC RECOIL SYSTEM WITH FLUID IN DIRECT CONTACT WITH THE AIR
In either system, the recoil is taken up by means of oil or glycerine and water passing through an orifice created by a slotted piston passing over ribs of varying height, or through a valve on the pressure side of the piston, or by a solid or perforated piston passing through a perforated intermediate cylinder.
The latter type is particularly adapted to variable recoil guns as the intermediate cylinder can be rotated, thus throwing varying orifices into position for the flow of oil.
Counter recoil is accomplished by the springs or by the air pressure in the hydro-pneumatic system, in which the air pressure is sufficient to hold the gun in battery at all elevations and is built up at recoil.
In all counter recoil systems, it is necessary to insert a buffer to take up the remaining energy of the springs or air pressure so as to bring the gun into battery without appreciable jar. Numerous types have been developed and perfected.
The counter recoil brake or buffer in our 3”-gun is a slightly tapered bronze rod, tightly fitting in the cylindrical bore of the piston rod. The retardation caused by forcing the oil in the piston rod out through the small clearance between the buffer and bore of the piston rod eases the return to battery without jar to the gun, which has been forced back by the counter recoil springs.
The physical law that action and reaction are equal has a peculiar emphasis when applied to the firing of a piece of high powered artillery. The force exerted to throw a heavy projectile 7 miles or more from the muzzle of the gun is toward the breech of the weapon in its recoil. How some of these forces are handled safely and easily by mechanical means are almost beyond the mind’s grasp. Not long ago a touring car, weighing two tons, traveled at the rate of 210 miles an hour along a Florida beach. Conceive of such a car going 337 miles an hour—which is much faster than any man ever traveled; then conceive of a mechanism which would stop this car, going nearly six miles a minute, stop it in 45 inches of space and one-half a second of time without the slightest damage to the car. This is precisely the equivalent of the feat performed by the recuperator of a heavy howitzer after a shot.