Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1919-08-25
MONDAY EVENING,

worth of war materials within re-
markably short space of time, the
Philadelphia Press to-day gives con-
siderable space to the work of the
Harrisburg Manufacturing and
Boiler Company. The Press says in
part:
The Harrisburg Manufacturing &
Boiler Co., of Harrisburg, was Sc
lected to build twenty-five eight-inch
railway mounts for overseas service
and six for seacoast use in this
country. This company. with addi-
ton of some necessary facilities, was
equipped and capable of handling
this class of work. They had been
in the boiler and heavy pipe business
for q long time, and had u plate and
fabricating shop that would meet the
requirements. Their machine shop
had handled such type work, as they
were accustomed to building Francis
turbines and the well-known Pelton
water wheels. One of their interest
ing contracts was the construction
of several Pelton water wheels,
seventy-seven inches in diameter, to-
gether with equipment, for the Pan
anna Canal. These were used at sew
eral points along the canal to gen.
crate power by utilization of the eX-
cess water. AS to finer and closer
work, the Harrisburg Manufacturing
g. Boiler Co., had been building a
number of large four-wheel drive
trucks and tractors for agricultural
and road use. These tractors had
taken second place in the noted
Rock Island tests, which were con-
Quoted for the purpose of deter
mining the best tractors for hauling
heavy artillery. They had received
an excellent recommendation from
the judges present, yielding first
place, however, to the craWler or
tank type machine, which proved
superior under muddy conditions,
and whose performance in France
was later justified.
S-Inch Barbctte Railway Mount
Returning to the discussion of the
eight-inch railway mount, the Ord
nance Department contracted IN
october, 1917, with the Harrisburg
Manufacturing e. Boiler Co., to con-
struct these mounts.
The company Immediately took
steps to obtain necessary special
equipment, and started to design the
iigs and fixtures required to make
the work interchangeable, especially
as the close tolerances of artillery
mount work require eXactness.
The eight-inch railway mounts
fire a projectile weighing about 275
pounds and have range of from
eight to ten miles. In service each
two eight-inch railway mounts have
four ammunition cars, one fire con-
troll car and four supply cars, MAX
ing up a complete battery train. the
Harrisburg Manufacturing IL Boiler
completed twenty (20) of these
units, and are now going to finish the
remainder for use in seacoast de-
fense. The French couplers on the
cars are being changed to the stand
ard NJ. c. B. couplers in use in this
country.
The 3O5 NM Railway Mount
In addition to the eight-inch rail-
way mount program the Ordnance
Department determined to build a
numb Der of 305 NM railway mounts
similar to those manufactured by
Schneider & Company, of France.
The Harrisburg company were in
structed to build thirty-siX of these
mounts, and the plans for them
were loaned by Schneider & Com
pany to the Ordnance Department
of the Army.
These railway mounts were uni
que in that no traversing mechan-
ism is used. In order to fire the gun
in a given direction the gun car is
run on a curved track until the
axis of the gun points in the proper
direction.
The Harrisburg company fabri-
Gated and machined thirtysix of
these mounts.
Difficulty was experienced in OBJ
tanning the huge side plates, and 1t
was necessary to cut them in half,
wv ri
tons together.
Immense Railway Cars
These gun cars are ninety feet in
length and ride on two twelve
wheeled standard gauge trucks. The
front trucks are provided with
translating mechanism for use in
moving the car a short distance up
on the track. The rear trucks are
equipped with a pair of oak shoes
which can be raised or lowered by
means of screw jacks. The total
dead load on each truck is approx
mately 10000 pounds.
The maximum angle of elevation
is thirty eight degrees, the loaded
projectile fired weighs about 1000
pounds and the mount has a range
of fourteen to eighteen miles.
The engineering division of the
army ordnance department car
ried on number of experiences on
the 3.3-inch mobile gun mounted on
wheels. Under the supervision of
the Ordnance Department the Har-
risburg company built four of these
mounts, with various types of split
trail and traversing mechanism.
The Ordnance Department, after
experiencing trouble in the move
ment of heavy mobile artillery over
the bad roads and miry fields at the
front in France, decided to mount
some of the larger guns, the 155-
nm. and S-inch upon tractors. This
decision was made in the fall of
1918, and the Harrisburg Manufac-
turing and Boiler Company was
called upon to build fifty of these
caterpillar mounts. Several expert
mental mounts had been complet-
ed and had proved very efficient over
ragged roads and miry and muddy
fields. An interesting incident oc-
CURED at Aberdeen, Md, when one
of these mounts, carrying an 8-inch
howitzer, was steered accidentally
into an 11-inch tree, knocking it
down and running over it,
The Harrisburg company did not
complete this order, as after the
signing of the armistice, the Ordn-
ance Depa rtment decided TO Assem- =