In an attempt to resolve the recoil system problems, St . Chamond " recuperator ( touching off a flap in France over the US " stealing " military secrets ), but only 60 of these were delivered by the end of 1919 . Field trials in France showed that there was excessive play in the elevation and traverse mechanisms, making the gun very inaccurate, along with poor durability in cross-country movement.
42.
The redesigned system operates the same, but modifies and simplifies some components, including a new buffer and recuperator with a majority of the components removed, and adds the Suspension Lockout System ( SLOS ) that fixes recoil length at, which removes variable-recoil hardware, reduces stress on the carriage, and lowers buffer rod forces; the new system reduces cost, number of parts by 40 percent to 75, and overall weight by.
43.
Adams opines that the designers of ML-1 made several incorrect decisions, including adding an unnecessary recuperator to enhance efficiency, using a calandria-based water-tube fission heat source unproven in the " real world ", using nine atmospheres of pressure at the compressor inlet that saved space but required a custom-built turbine rather than one designed for atmospheric pressures, placing insulating foil within the gas piping to improve efficiency ( the foil later broke off and contaminated the closed loop with its flecks, causing deflecking problems for engineers ), and using custom-built, first-of-a-kind components instead of using commercially proven aircraft or power generation derived turbines.
