...Railway artillery - Personal Page of GENE SLOVER

476
front and rear ends of the girder for use in jacking the mount off the
trucks and letting it down on the foundation. The girder rests on
these beams through roller bearings; adjusting screws are provided
to laciJitatc exact adjustment of the bolt holes in the pivot flange
with those in the foundation.
:344. ANCHORAGE. -This mount must be operated on a curved
track to secure wide travel'fte when it is fired from the wheels. Special
wedges made in identical halves are bolted to the rails behind each
wheel by one bolt each. These wedges are about 12 inches long by
6 inches high at the rear and are curved to fit the circumference of
the wheel. ThE' ground platform employed to secure ah-round fire
is identical in design with that shown on plated 397, 55, and 56.
The mount is run into place on the platfonn and the small section of
track over the. center, as shown in the upper view, plate 397. is removed
in order that the pivot base may be lowered on to the structural
base by means of the lowering screw, plate 394. It is bolted
fast by 21 bolts. Four special jacks of a design shown on plate 398,
and attached to the jacking beams located under the front and real'
of the mount and described in the preceding paragraph, are then let
down and the mount is raised by means of them sufficiently to permit
the trucks to be removed as weJl as the two sections of track connecting
the center with the outside. The entire mount is then lowered
until the rear rests on the circular track by means of the rollers and
the forward end rests on the 16 steel balls in the central pivot.
345. TRucK8.-The trucks are of structural steel construction
throughout with four axles each, outside journals, semi-elliptical
springs and equalizers between outside axles only, plate 372. A
capstan headed screw is provided over each journal bearing and is
so arranged that it can be screwed down on to the spring clip and
relieve the springs of undue strains when the mount is fired from the
wheels. Hand brakes only are provided.
346. AM.MUNITION SUPPLY SYSTEM.-An overhead trolley runs on
an I-beam track secured along the top of the cab. An extension
beam is so hinged to the fixed beam that it can swing in a vertical
plane, can be lowered for traveling or raised and braced in place
to allow picking up a shell from a car or from the track some distance
behind the mount. The extensible trolley arrangement of the 240millimeter
mount, plate 378, is identical in design. The shot tray is
provided with two two-man handles, a yoke above with an eye, and
four wheels below, so that it can be carried by the trolley hoist, by
hand, or rolled on the floor. It can be hooked in place on the breech
as with the 17-centimeter mount, plate 373.
347. MAINTENANcE.-There are no apparent difficulties in the
maintenance of this design of railway mount, which, as mentioned
Digitized by Coogle