NEW FIELD CARRIAGE (IRON) FOR LONG-RANGE GUNS. 307 
latter, of which it forms part of the wall. One can, then, with the 
handle press this piece of steel against the outside screw of the ele¬ 
vating gear and prevent it from turning. The elevating screw has a 
ratchet head and collar revolving freely. The handle has a tooth 
which gears in the teeth of the ratchet. 
The head of the inner screw is fastened by a bolt to a movable fork, 
of which the arms are, at their other end, each hinged. 
These latter are fixed to the front transom. 
The handspike folds back on to the trail. It is composed of a wooden 
lever, held between the jaws of an iron shoe which takes the form of an 
arc near its point of attachment. In action, the handspike is placed 
between two projections, vv, fixed above the trail-piece, and in which 
it is held by the pawl with which it is furnished. When not in use, the 
handspike folds back on the lid of the trail-box, in a support furnished 
with a hinged flap. 
The trail has two handles, to enable it to be raised and lowered, and 
In order to diminish the recoil as much as possible, it terminates in a 
steel cross-plate, solidly fastened, which by cutting a hole in the ground 
reduces the recoil to about 7 ins. on firm ground. 
The carriage also has the usual fittings for drag-shoes, spade, gun- 
bucket, and case shot.^ 
The above is the first part of the carriage. 
The second part of the carriage is composed of the axletree, its seats, 
the tie-bars, movable collar-bolt, and the buffer. 
The axletree rests in iron straps, each fixed to a strengthening band 
underneath the brackets by two bolts. The straps, with the strength¬ 
ening bands, form rectangular seats in which the axletree can slide 
backwards or forwards, as their breadth is greater than its greatest 
thickness. 
The axletree is of iron, and at the shoulder is about 2*5 ins. square, 
while the body, properly so called, is of the same breadth, but 3’5 ins. 
deep. 
From the shoulder of each axletree-arm goes a tie-bar, b , which 
reaches the middle of the trail, where it ends by an eye, which receives 
one of the ends of the movable collar-bolt. This latter passes through 
two slots cut for it in the brackets, and furnished on the outside with 
parallel guide-cheeks. This arrangement is made to maintain constant, 
in every position of the system, the distance between the interior faces 
of the ends of the tie-bars. The play allowed between the guide straps 
and body of the axletree is exactly the same as between the movable 
collar-bolt and the ends of the slots cut for it in the brackets. 
The axletree, tie-bars, and movable collar-bolt thus form a trapezoidal 
frame capable of receiving a certain amount of motion backwards and 
forwards with reference to the trail. Between the ends of the tie-bars 
and the guide-cheeks on the trail there are placed on the collar-bolt 
alternate rings of copper and iron, to lessen the lateral blows which in 
firing may be accidentally caused. 
The movable collar-bolt passes through the holes in the heads of the 
The underside of the carriage is arranged to carry 1 case shot for the 9-pr, and 2 for the 4-pr. 
