Charlie, the 96 n. A. had a breech typical for German guns. The breech family was called Keilverschluß (or - today's spelling - Keilverschluss).
There were several subtypes, the Erhardt system as on the 96 n. A. called Schubkurbelverschluß, and the Krupp system called Leitwellenverschluß.
Please see this comparison image: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datei:Keilverschluss.jpg
This http://www.zeno.org/Lueger-1904/A/Verschl%C3%BCsse+der+Gesch%C3%BCtze+%5B1%5D is the related, very detailed text (in German). See also http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keilverschluss
If you do a search for Schubkurbelverschluß or Keilverschluß, you might find more.
PS: If one character won't show in this post it is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9F and might be replaced by a double s.
-- Edited by Pat on Friday 24th of September 2010 01:22:47 PM
Thank you for that - the links point to just about every Krupp breech design except for the FK 96/lFH 16. The FK 96 breech seems to have used a spiral cog on top of the breech to drive the breech - this was driven in turn by a cog on a shaft underneath the breech lever. There are lots of details I don't understand such as how the cartridge extractor worked and the safety interlock so the breech was fully closed before the gun could be fired.
I figure this must have been patented but finding the patent is not easy (for me - steep learning curve on searching patent literature).
Hi Charlie try Otto Lauber, Norbert Koch, Adolph Resow, Otto Behnke all designers who seem to have been involved with recoil mechanisms for Krupp Guns bettween 1890-1910, I often find searching by designer names works well limit your seach to a time frame... "Fried krupp breech" 1895-1905 expanding the date will turn up loads more on Google patents....
The old 7,7cm lFK 1896 had the spiral cog breech locking system. These were replaced and changed to the lever slide system when the guns were re-built as the 7,7cm lFK 1896 n/A.
The other types in common service that had this sort of spiral cog sysytem are the 10,5cm lFH 98/09, the 10,5cm l.F.H. Kp. 1916 and the 15cm sFH 1902.
Although I do not have the best images of the breeches on this page, this maybe of some help:
The old 7,7cm lFK 1896 had the spiral cog breech locking system. These were replaced and changed to the lever slide system when the guns were re-built as the 7,7cm lFK 1896 n/A.
The other types in common service that had this sort of spiral cog sysytem are the 10,5cm lFH 98/09, the 10,5cm l.F.H. Kp. 1916 and the 15cm sFH 1902.
Although I do not have the best images of the breeches on this page, this maybe of some help: