Vavasseur slide

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17.72 inch gun on Vavasseur slide
Schematic representation

The Vavasseur-slide is part of a gun carriage for guns , which took up the forces of the recoil of the gun. For this purpose, a carriage, on which the gun was mounted, was placed on a mostly rotating lower mount . Due to the force of the recoil, the car moved backwards on an inclined path and thus braked the gun.

history

The guns of that time did not yet have any facilities for the return of the barrel . The combination of barrel brakes and barrel haulers used today was not developed until the end of the 19th century; the first cannon with such systems was introduced to the French army in 1897.

The force of the recoil acted directly on the gun mount of the guns constructed up to that point. Due to the recoil force occurring during the shot, the cannon ran back a few meters, so that it had to be brought into position again and realigned. Especially with large-caliber guns, the forces involved were enormous and required massive constructions. With the transition to guns of ever larger caliber and the associated increase in projectile mass, the recoil energy also increased. The movement of the gun reduced the rate of fire considerably and allowed shooting only from level gun positions that allowed reverse travel. This was not acceptable for use in fixed firing positions. In particular, mechanical loading devices, which were absolutely necessary for projectile weights of 50 kg to 1000 kg, could not be used in this way.

The first pipe brakes were developed to remedy the problem. The prerequisite was the separation of the carriage into the upper and lower carriage. The lower carriage was rotatably placed on a pivot pin or a barbette and thus enabled lateral alignment. The upper mount was connected to the gun and made it possible to adjust the height. The upper mount was movably mounted on the lower mount and converted the energy of the recoil into motion. The pipe brake was used to limit the path and the forces involved. Armstrong designed a multi-disc brake that worked purely mechanically. As the caliber and bullet speed increased, these brakes were no longer sufficient. Vickers , Vavasseur and Krupp built hydraulic brakes that worked on the principle of hydraulic shock absorbers. However, these brakes were initially ineffective. In the original designs, the brake was applied at the height of the trunnion, the trunnion and pivot point were on a vertical line. This construction caused strong tilting moments of the upper carriage and required massive carriage constructions. In addition, the returned pipe had to be brought back into the firing position.

construction

Vavasseur arranged the hydraulic brakes in pairs and provided the lower carriage with an inclined slide on which the carriage of the upper carriage ran. The hydraulic dampers no longer had to absorb the full force of the recoil. Due to the inclination of the slideway, the pipes automatically returned to the firing position. The advantage was the lack of tilting moments and the absorption of very large recoil forces. That is why the Vavasseur slideway found widespread use, particularly for coastal artillery guns. For example, the RML 17.72 inch gun , which fired grenades with a weight of approx. 1 ton, was used. The disadvantage was that the advance of the gun had to be limited by advance dampers. Due to the design of this mount, the barrel return does not run in the gun's firing line. This is why enormous forces are transferred to the lower mount and the base, especially with a large tube elevation, which must therefore be made massive. With an incline of the sliding track of 10 degrees and a pipe elevation of 45 degrees, for example, the resulting angle is 55 degrees. This carriage construction was therefore only partially suitable for installation on ships. Carriages with Vavasseur slideways have been replaced by cradle carriages because of the disadvantages described.

literature

  • Lueger, Otto (editor): Lexicon of the whole technology , Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart and Leipzig, 2nd edition 1904-1920