Re: [MV] Cleaning 37mm AT gun, grease, and little boys

From: Henry Fackovec (Fackovec@radiotech.com)
Date: Wed Nov 15 2000 - 14:46:04 PST


Hey all:

Jon's response reminds me of a plan we came up with during the bicentennial
when I was involved with an artillery unit that needed a second 6 pounder
tube:

1- Obtain a white panel van (It would qualify for antique plates now LOL)
and mark it "ACME CANNON CLEANING COMPANY"

2- Three husky guys with white coveralls with same fictitious company name
embroidered on left chest. (Note to Florida residents: do not emboss your
*REAL* name on right chest .

3- One skinny guy with short sleeve white polyester shirt and tie with a
clipboard.

4- Drive to West Point, pull up to the desired Cannon barrel on the
artillery walk and make an elaborate show of measuring and examining it.

5- When the local powers that be show up and ask what you are doing,
scold them for letting this one "go so long between cleaning", and "Oh,
Geeze! This one has to go back to the shop for a proper maintenance", thank
god you bought the extended maintenance plan." <G>

6- After loading the barrel in the truck, drive across the bridge to
Garrison and have dinner at the "Bird and Bottle" Inn. (The pheasant there
is out of this world)

Important notes:
1- This is a joke, we never did it. But it could have worked.

2- If you are a military historian, or interested in muzzle loading
artillery, make a trip to West Point, and walk the grounds,
there are some amazing tubes laying about. and the museum is great.

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----- Original Message -----
From: Jon Shoop <shoop19@brick.net>
To: Military Vehicles Mailing List <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 1:28 PM
Subject: Re: [MV] Cleaning 37mm AT gun, grease, and little boys

> Dean....
>
> Don't bother cleaning it...You just need to give me directions to your
> place and I will come over and get rid of that old, politically incorrect
> rust bucket........from you. I have several of them and they are looking
> for a new friend...........
>
> Jon
>
>
> At 09:23 AM 11/15/00 -0600, you wrote:
> >Learned listees,
> >
> >HELP! HELP! I have created a HUGE MESS.....actually huge messes!
> >
> >The school my 3 little boys attend has a late 1930's 37mmAT gun that they
> >use as a saluting battery for their drill and parades. It had been
sitting
> >out in the Texas sun for a long time and was pretty weathered. One wheel
> >was rusted out. I decided it needed attention before some mother started
> >pressing for th"eye-sore" to be junked. Over the summer, I brought it
home
> >and with the help of my 3 guys, removed little rocks and seeds that had
> >been lovingly placed in every hole and crevice on the gun by schoolboys,
> >got a new wheel, removed the old paint, re-primed it, painted it a WW2
OD,
> >put the school crest on the blast shield, fixed the traverse mechanism,
and
> >finally GREASED IT! The only problem that I could not solve easliy was a
> >bushing on the traversing mechanism that would be driven out of place as
> >the gears turn in the traversing mechanism. The school had their first
> >parade of the year coming up and wanted the gun, so this problem was left
> >unresolved. We returned the gun on 11/3/00. AND IT LOOKED GREAT!
> >
> >It turns out that the grease may have been an error...especially in
> >combination with the bushing..I had overlooked the the dangerous
> >combination of little fingers and grease. The little fellows naturally
> >traversed the gun in their play and thus pushed the bushing out. With
the
> >bushing out, the grease that we packed in the traversing gears oozed out
> >when the guyscontinued to traverse the gun.....little fingers go to the
> >grease.....little fingers then are cleaned by smearing the grease all
over
> >the blast shield, the barrel, EVERYWHERE!
> >
> >I WAS AMAZED AT HOW LITTLE FINGERS HAD PAINTED THE GUN WITH GREASE!
> >
> >Can anyone suggest a good way to get the grease off? I thought of
> >something like GUNK....but it takes the paint off.....
> >
> >boys and their toys....live and learn,
> >dean
> >
>
>***************************************************************************
**
> >Dean L. Kellogg, Jr., MD, PhD
> >Department of Medicine
> >The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
> >7703 Floyd Curl Drive
> >San Antonio, Texas 78229-3900
> >(210) 617-5311 FAX (210) 617-5312 e-mail:kelloggd@uthscsa.edu
>
>***************************************************************************
> ***
> >d
> >
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
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