178 
SHOUT NOTES ON PROFESSIONAL SUBJECTS. 
boxes the brackets are riveted—the former projecting 8Jins, below the latter—and 
beneath them the bottom plate, completing the well of the carriage. 
The rear rollers of the carriage are quite hidden in their recesses in the brackets. 
They run, in the usual manner, upon an “ eccentric shaft,” secured in the brackets 
by “ drop-plates ” and thrown into action by iron-pointed levers applied in 
movable sockets with pawls. The front rollers are sufficiently uncovered to admit 
of their being “ scotched,” if necessary, in running the carriage up. 
The elevating arrangement is the “ self-clamping ” worm-wheel gear, fitted on 
the inside of each bracket but worked on one side only at a time, the worm-shaft 
of the side not in use being retained out of gear by means of a clutch. 
A bracket for the attachment of the piston-rod of the hydraulic buffer is bolted 
beneath the front of the bottom plate and holding-down clips to the front transom. 
In the rear of the rear transom there is a hole to receive the T (shank) of the block 
(double) of the running-back tackle, in which it is secured by giving it a quarter turn. 
The carriage is fitted with capsquares, and has upon the front transom a buffer-block. 
When the gun is run-up, the axis of the trunnions is 4 ft. 2 J ins. from the ground. 
Platform. 
(Weight 106cwt., tonnage 6‘037tons). 
The striking difference between this platform and that hitherto used for the 
10-in. gun, when mounted in a casemate, is its greater height, which has the 
advantage of admitting of the use of large trucks whereby the movement of the 
platform on the racers is facilitated, and also of giving space beneath for the gear 
by which the motion is imparted. 
The sides of the platform are constructed in the same manner as all platforms 
for very heavy guns—namely, “ fish-bellied ” in form, built up of plate and T 
iron, the latter forming the under and upper surfaces and united by the plates 
which are riveted to them. 
The sides stand 4 ft. lj-ins. apart, connected by four transoms bolted to them, 
two in front and two in rear, also by a top plate in front and a bottom plate in 
rear. The transoms are each formed of plate, riveted to an angle-iron frame. 
Beneath the sides, with packing-pieces between, at the proper distance apart, 
the truck plates are bolted, to which in the usual manner the flanges for the trucks 
are attached. The front truck plate is slotted to give access to the nuts and keys 
between the two front transoms. 
The trucks are of wrought-iron and run upon steel axles; they are 18 ins. in dia¬ 
meter, hollow soled (the rear trucks having but one flange) and coned to suit the “A” 
pivot—that is, 6 ins. to the front of the muzzle of the gun when the latter is run-up. 
For traversing, toothed gear is applied, as in all platforms for the “ A ” pivot, to 
the rear trucks. It is worked by a winch-handle F at each side, the same handles 
serving to work the running-back tackle by the provision of a clutch H to disconnect 
that portion of the gear which acts immediately upon the trucks, and by the addition 
of a bollard G for the running end of the fall. The rear block of the tackle is, for use, 
attached to the rear transom of the platform in the same manner as the front block 
is to the carriage, while a leading block on the platform guides the fall to the bollard. 
The hydraulic buffer D, for checking the recoil, lies very low in the platform, on 
account of the well of the carriage. It is supported in rear by a bearing formed of 
plate and angle-iron bolted to the rear bottom plate and strengthened by stays, and 
in front upon one of angle-iron, to which latter it is secured by a holding-down band. 
The cap of the buffer abuts against the plate of the rear bearing, and is secured from 
moving forward by two small pieces of angle-iron. The bolts retaining these pieces 
pass through the bearing-plate, and must be taken out before the buffer can be 
removed. To admit of filling the buffer, a hole is made in the bottom plate of the 
platform over the filling hole. The latter is closed by a special plug sufficiently 
long to project through the bottom plate. 
The platform is fitted with india-rubber stops, on the top plate for the carriage 
when run up, and in the third transom for it on recoil, with eye-bolts, side-arm 
brackets, sponge tank, pointer, snatch-blocks for loading tackle, movable stage for 
Ho. 1, and with a cover over the exposed parts of the traversing gear. 
