As applied to loading twelve-inch turret guns. The space occupied by this rammer in the rear of the gun is less than one foot, with a possible ramming stroke of fifteen feet. The rammer being attached to the gun’s cradle or slide, moves with the gun in elevation and depression. The ammunition car also moves with the gun. Loading can be performed while the gun is kept in motion following a moving target. This rammer is stiff in all directions when extended.
Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co.
In the make-up of modern guns the breech-loading mechanism is of essential importance, it being necessary that the breech should be capable of rapid opening for the insertion of the charge into the loading chamber, as rapidly closed and firmly secured to prevent it being forced open by the reaction of the discharge. It also must fit with such tightness as to prevent any escape of the gas in that direction, and force it to exert all its impelling power upon the ball. Various methods are used for this purpose, with the result that loading and firing can be very quickly and effectively performed. In the case of guns in fortifications, the disappearing carriage is a highly important invention of recent date. By its aid the gun is quickly lifted to fire over the walls of the fort and is driven backward by the force of its discharge, sinking to a place of safety behind the walls. This saves the gun and its crew from injury by return fire.
We may say in conclusion that the great European war was notable for the use of artillery to an extent far surpassing its employment in any previous war. This great conflict, indeed, was very largely a contest of gun fire, in which the opposing fields of the battling armies were so swept with shells and other explosives as to render life impossible on the open land, trench digging being one of the main employments of the embattled hosts. Never before had the supreme value of gunnery in warfare been so fully demonstrated.
Gear Wheel and Drum for Coal Hoisting Plane
Diameter of wheel, 20 feet 91⁄2 inches; face, 431⁄2 inches; diameter of hub, 26 inches; number of teeth, 128; pitch, 61⁄8 inches; pitch diameter, 249.554 inches; shipping weight, 108,873 pounds.
Courtesy of the Bethlehem Steel Co.
