272 
MEPPEN EXPERIMENTS. 
respects. The brackets were made of wrought-iron, the gun being 
elevated by multiple gear, N, acting on elevating arcs, 0, fixed on the 
gun. Beneath the carriage were two hydraulic buffers. A modified 
form of Cunningham 5 s chain-gear, RR } was used for traversing the 
platform, which ran on trucks on three concentric racers, the pivot 
being about 6 ft. in front of the carriage when run up. A lifting 
crane, J, was attached to the platform, fixed on a sort of axle, K, with 
a counter-lever with powerful spring, L, which required considerable 
force to compress it by bending down the crane, and which decreased 
the work of lifting the projectiles by the same amount, thus dividing 
the labour of lifting the projectiles into two operations. 
15-75-in. (40cm.) Chilled Shell. Common Shell. 
Weight of shell, empty. 1,690-0 lb. 1,338 lb. 
Weight of bursting charge . 221b. 731b. 
Weight of shell, filled . 1,712-6 lb. 1,4111b. 
The gun was easily worked by a detachment of 15 men. Ten 
rounds, with chilled projectiles, were first fired: the time occupied by 
the last five rounds was 24 minutes. The breech-piece moved easily. 
A good deal of oil was used on it. The breech-loading certainly saved 
the men much labour, not only in the actual ramming home, but also 
in bringing up the projectiles, since it was not necessary for them to 
cross any of the racers or the Cunningham chain. The charge was 
made up in four cartridges, each containing 110 lbs. of prismatic 
powder, The least satisfactory part of the service of the gun was the 
