Handbook for Light ArtilleryDyer, A. B. (Alexander Brydie)
History
Handbook for Light Artillery
Dyer, A. B. (Alexander Brydie)
Artillery, Field and mountain
The forward face is reinforced at the firing-point by a steel
face-plate countersunk in it, through which the firing-pin hole is
pierced. The seat for the pin-wheel is in the rear face of the solid
part. This pin-wheel can only be mounted on the main shaft after the
end of the latter has been inserted in its journal; and in order to
put the locking-pin of the pin-wheel in place it is necessary to
have a hole pierced radially from the outside of the breech-piece.
This hole is kept constantly closed by a tap-screw. The rear end of
the breech-piece is closed by a bronze door, hinged at the bottom,
and secured by a screw-bolt at the top. On the outer sides of the
breech-piece shoulders are cast to form seats for the shafts of the
frame.
As the worm-shaft does not extend completely across the chamber of the
breech-piece, a small journal-seat is cast just to the left of the
centre of the chamber. In the right lower corner of the chamber is a
guideway for the firing-bolt; on the left side is a slotway for the
extractor; a small journal is pierced through the side for a cog-wheel,
which is held in place by a keep-pin. In the left upper corner is a
guideway for the loading-piston.
THE MECHANISM.
The work of the mechanism consists in revolving the barrels, loading,
firing, and extracting.
The revolution of the barrels is a simple gear movement. The loading
and extracting are reciprocal movements; that is, while a cartridge
is being pushed into one barrel an empty cartridge-case is being
drawn from another. The firing is accomplished by the firing-bolt,
which is drawn backward by its cocking-arm pressing on the cam of the
worm-wheel, and then thrown violently forward by the mainspring, when
the arm drops from the end of the cam. The piece has the ordinary
trigger arrangement.
In order to keep the cartridges from crowding down upon the
loading-piston a small feed-gate is hung loosely in the feeding-hole.
In the forward movement of the piston a small nib at its forward end
catches behind the gate and lifts it up, thus cutting off the feed.
THE FRAME AND ATTACHMENTS.
The group of barrels and the breech-piece are bound together by the
frame, and the whole system is supported by the trunnions in a forked
pivot. The frame is a light bronze casting, consisting of two hollow
side-bars connected by two hollow cross-bars. The forward one is
journalled for the forward end of the main shaft, and the rear one
is in line with the trunnions. A half-ring spans the shaft over the
forward assembling-disk to form a seat for the front sight. The rear
ends of the shafts are bolted in seats in the side of the breech-piece.
The trunnions form part of the casting of the frame. The right forward
cap-square bolt has a lever for clamping the piece at any desired
elevation.
The pivot rests in a socket, in the side of which is a clamp for fixing
the gun in any desired direction.
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