Military

M59 Long Tom 155mm Cannon

after World War II the M1 / M2 155mm "Long Tom" Towed Gun was redesignated the M59. The 155mm heavy gun, nicknamed "Long Tom" could fire a 95lb projectile upwards of 15 miles with high accuracy. The gun is so long that if the trunion, which effects the raising and lowering of the rifle, were put at the center of balance, the breech of the gun would go into the ground whenever the muzzle was raised high. The solution is to put the trunion farther back, and to make the gun easy to raise and lower by hand by substituting mechanical balance for natural balance. The equilibrator does the mechanical balancing.