SHORT NOTES ON PROFESSIONAL SUBJECTS. 
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88. Method adopted for hoisting in the 9-in. M.L.R. Gun at Fort 
Picklecombe, Plymouth. Communicated by Lieut. W. L. Hutchinson, K.A. 
1. The spar is a 60 ft. spar, mean diameter 16 ins. This spar is considerably 
weather-worn, and has frequently been used in erecting sheers. It is shown in the 
plan as only 50 ft. in length, on account of the size of the paper. 
« 
2. The right guy (chain) is secured to the spar by three half-hitches, three or 
four links at the end of the chain being allowed to hang down as a precautionary 
measure, so that a gyn tackle could be hooked in and made fast to a strap at the 
muzzle of the gun on its being hauled into the casemate (if found necessary.) 
N.B.—Six guns have already been hoisted into the work without employing this 
preventor tackle. 
A thin rope is passed three times round the spar, immediately under the chain, 
so as to jam it, should it slip down. The other extremity of the chain is secured 
to two Lewes’s, fixed in the stonework on the right flank of the fort. 
3. The plan of securing the back guy is distinctly shown in the drawing. 
It is laid on skidding on the top of the work, to prevent damage being done to 
the asphalte, with which the roof is covered. 
4. As soon as the gun is raised a few feet off the ground, sand bags are placed 
underneath it, and also on the stonework in front of the lower tier of casemates, 
to receive the gun in case of anything giving way. 
5. Before being hauled into the casemates, the guns are received on a wooden 
staging erected by the Koyal Engineers for this purpose, the top being level with 
the flooring on upper tier of casemates. 
6. The winch in the lower casemate is secured to one of the ring bolts let into 
the flooring, and the running end of the fall, after passing round the barrel, is 
drawn through a leading block, as there is not sufficient room for the men to hold 
on directly in rear in consequence of the partition wall. 
7. The winch in the upper casemate is secured to skidding, laid across the 
doorway leading into the casemate from the verandah in rear. 
8. The gyn tackle secured to the sling and one of the bolts in the roof, is used 
as a preventor tackle when the main fall is being eased off. (Vide Sectional 
Elevation). 
N.B.—The actual time it takes to raise a gun from the foot of the derrick to the 
upper tier of casemates (exclusive of stoppering the fall, &c.) is a little over an 
hour. 
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