The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-12-02
" Defence PROBLEM soLrED.
Good Disappearing Carriages Are Now
Available for s.inch and IO.inch Guns.

WASHINGTON. Dec. lone OF the most use
full items Of appropriation for coast defence
that can be supplied by Congress AZ the coming
session concerns disappearing gun carriages for
heavy seacoast rifles.
This matter has long been under considera-
ton, and tests of various devices for the pur-
pose have been made. One OF them Is the Cor
don 10-inch carriage. the invention of Capt. w.
b. Gordon of the Ordnance Department. In
this the principle employed is that OF the coun-
~terpoise, a weight being used to Offset the gun,
&C.. in moving up and down. During recoil the
gun. top carriage. and counterweight rotate. the
two former through an arc of about 1900. to
reach the loading position. and the counter
weight. through an equal opposite arc, rising
while the gun falls. The gun. carriage, and
weight remain parallel to their original position
throughout the motion. Two hydraulic cylinders
are connected with an air hambe and during
recoil liquid is forced from them by piston rods
into the chamber, COMPRISING the air so that
sufficient energy Is stored for elevating the gun
into the loading position. The carriage origi-
nally tried was heavy and costly, the top carriage
alone weighing over 20 tons, and the total
weight being over ZOO tons.
In the official test of the Gordon carriage the
time required to raise 1t from the firing to the
traversing position was 30 seconds, with eight
men at the pumps, and for raising the gun from
the loading position II was = minutes and : Sec
onds. II took minutes to charge the air cham
Der for half n charge. or 1875 pounds OF powder.
and Al minutes and Is seconds with a full
charge, ten men working at the pumps. Ten
rounds for rapidity were fired, and i was found
that the whole time required Tor them was 81
minutes and * seconds, The Board that tested
the carriage thought that II mounted on a more
properly constructed platform IL could over.
come some defects noted during the trial, and
might prove suitable ior, issue 10 the service, lt
1O-inch Gordon carriage, to be worked entirely
by hand. without a steam engine; the Bui1n2-
tun-Crozier is thus manuuNred, by hand power.
\ second disappearing carriage which has
given much promise is the pneumatic lO-inch.
The tests of this invention were made some
time ago, and with such results that Congress
at the last session appropriated $4,000 to pro.
cure an improved specimen OF II. The BOARD OF
the necessary contract for this purpose.
Meanwhile a third system, the Burlington
Gro1ier; has SO th@ronghly TstIsiIed ire Exam,
Ordnance Department to make appropriations
for its manufacture. As its name indicates. 1t IS
Capt. Crozier. both of the Ordnance Depart
ment. This also employs tho counterweight.
The gun rests by its trunnions on the upper ends
suspended from n shaft joining the lower ends
ward and to the rear in the arc OF an ellipse. the
recoil being taken up partly by raising the coun-
terweight and partly by the resistance OF the
In the s-inch carriage the time Of traversing
through an angle OF 81 degrees with the gun in
the firing position was l minute l3ls seconds,
two men being at the cranks, The same travers-
ing In the loading position, with four men, took
] second more. The time of passing from an
elevation of minus 5 degrees TO plus II degrees,
with the gun in the firing position, was l3%4
seconds, and with the gun IN TIE loading H TS.
position and IL in the loading. Ten rounds
seconds. The Ordnance Hoard which conducted
the tests reported upon II as follows:
The ties. o: p sEaTriase as Smons'rstsd that + Pos;
pnT,ain e. a miSSpP p an S rnrr,sSe q ,0 tha hiih P@Msr
and their purposes are easily understood. Losdins
and nana,nyLn Ting are Snes'sd by oIera,ionS wh.Sh
gEca1 %ra,pidl,y; and these ,, OPERATION simulate very
already adopted 10y the department.
However. some possible improvements were
suggested, and in fact the size, weight. and cost
OF the S-inCh carriage have since been reduced
and its efficiency Increased. The Ordnance
Board has found the results Of this carriage
exceeding for rapidity and smOOthness OF Op-
Grafton the most s~anguine expectations
The l0;inch carriage ON the same system has
for traversiag through nearly 40 degrees. with
four men ~ work, WAS a, little less than 2 min
utes with the FUN up, and ~ seconds with the
lion OF about minus 4 degrees 70 plus III degrees
was 81 seconds with the gun up and 20 seconds
20 seconds, four men being used The time for
raising the gun from the loading 10 the
Tor airing ten rounds only Ia minutes
and - Seconds were required. The ofi-
Cial report on this carriage was that ION ac-
count OF thc, simplicity of its construction, in;
vOlving no valves, pumps, or other complicated
appliances, and the fact that by methods easily
understood by the average artillery soldier the
operations OF loading and mpnHuyTing are eff
feCted with remarkable ease, certainty, and
rapidity, IL i worthy OF adoption Tor use in the
service uf all sites, except those where an ALL
round traverse Is absolutely necessary ltmay
he added that the lO-inCh modified Gordon car
rage can he trRversed through an entire circle
by four men IN less than three minutes, so that
that system Is believed u solve the problem
where an all-round traverse and unusual cover
are required.
such being the facts. there is no reason why
Congress should not promptly make the appTo-
p~riations needed for the Manufacture OF a GER
tain number OF the S-inch aud lO-inch Buhing-
tOn-Crozier carriages. The mormon advantage
given by the disappearing system, which ex-
poses tho gun only for a very brief period. has
caused a delay in mounting guns already manu-
featured until satisfactory carriages could be
tested. But with such carriages at last found
the work of supplying them should be pushed
forward rapidly, and meanwhile experiments
with other systems which may also have their
special advantages can 90 on.
The Best Of WOnsn Make Mistakes.