...Railway artillery - Personal Page of GENE SLOVER

483
19.-GERMAN 24O-MlLLlMETER HOWITZER ON RAILWAY MOUNT.(32)
351. 'qiis mount is of the cradle recoil type, firing either from the
wheels with limited traverse or from a structural steel or reenforced
concrete platform with all round fire. It is of the same general type as
the 210-millimeter mount just described and only the differences between
the two mounts will be described in detail. The mount examined
bears the date '·Essen 1918." It is illustrated on plates 377 to
383. Apparently, the mount was designed for a 240-millimeter gun,
since the counterweight provided on the top of the cradle gives evidence
of being a recent improvisation placed there to compensate for
the difference in weight forward of the trunnions, between the gun
and howitzer now mounted on it.
352. GUN.-The howitzer is a naval piece of 30 calibers over-all
length and uses semi-fixed ammunition. The tube is rifled. with 52
grooves twisting to the right at a uniform pitch of 1 centimeter in 10
centimeters. The breech block is of the Krupp sliding wedge type
and is provided with a high-pitch screw for closing and a low-pitch
screw for locking. The breech block is fitted with a mechanical
firing mechanism.
353. RECOIL MECHANISM.-The recoil mechanism is of the hydropneumatic
type and comprises two hydraulic recoil cylinders set into
the cradle in the upper comers, and a pneumatic recuperator attached
to the cradle in the center at the bottom. The pistons of the recoil
cylinderS are attached to the recoil band as shown on plate 379 and
the forward end of the recuperator piston is connected with the
bottom of the recoil band by means of a cross head and two tension
rods, plate 380. The length of recoil is about 1 meter. The striking
feature of this mechanism is the recuperator. The piston is a hollow
plunger of uniform diameter facing the air directly and the packing
which holds the air in, consists of four U-shaped leathers only. When
the recuperator was disassembled, it had been standing for months
without recharging but it still contain('d a very high prl:'SSure of air·
The indicator was brokt'n and it is not known exactly what the
pr('Ssure was. The f('coil band of this howitz('r is made in halves
and is bolted on, as shown in plates 379 and 380.
354. ELEVATING lIECHANIRM.-This mechanism is similar in general
design to that on the 210-millimt'tt'r mount. The differences
are that the main racks, plate 380, have outside instead of inside
t('('th and are of much wider fact'. An antifriction devict' of the
rolling wedge typ(', plate 382, is employ('d. Th(' double-spe('d transmission
on t.he ('levating g('ar, plate 381, is identical in dl'Sign with
that used on the 210-milJimeter mount.
355. TRAVERSING MECHANISM.-Two systems of a design almost
identical with those used on the 210-millimeter mount are pro,-ided:
Digitized by Coogle