holder. The breech holder was hinged on one side, normally the left, so when the breech block was slid all the way to the rear it could be rotated out of the way for loading. The de Bange system was widely adopted, including by the United States Navy and the British Royal Navy. The technique developed by de Bange is still in use today. The only major advance on the original de Bange system was the introduction of the stepped screw in the Welin breech block of 1889, which greatly increased the load-bearing surface of the breech, allowing them to be made shorter, simpler, more secure and faster to operate. Other block mechanisms are also used, but the de Bange obturator remains widespread even on these. Manufacture of cannons In 1873, de Bange became Director of the "Atelier-de-précision" in the Central Depot in Paris (Paris arsenal's precision workshop), in order to redesign French light and heavy artillery. Between 1877 and 1881, de Bange developed several artillery pieces, such as the De Bange 90 mm cannon (field artillery, 1877), the De Bange 80 mm cannon (mountain artillery, 1878), the De Bange 120 mm L cannon (siege artillery, 1878), De Bange 155 mm L cannon (siege artillery, 1877), De Bange 155 mm C howitzer (siege artillery, 1881), as well as mortars for siege warfare, such as the 1880 De Bange 220 mm mortar, 1885 De Bange 270 mm and coastal batteries such as the De Bange 240 mm and De Bange 270 mm. Several of these weapons were used during the colonial wars of the end of the 19th century, during the First World War and also sometimes during the Second World War. As with other cannons, the de Bange cannons had the disadvantage of being slow to fire, as they were affected by recoil, and thus had to be re-aimed after every shot. This inconvenience would be solved with the appearance of the famous Canon de 75, that had a hydro-pneumatic recoil mechanism, which kept the gun's trail and wheels perfectly still during the firing sequence. However, there were two howitzers the Obusier de 120 mm C modèle 1890 and Obusier de 155 mm C modèle 1890 with de Bange breeches and recoil mechanisms designed by Captain Louis Henry Auguste Baquet. From 1882 to 1889, de Bange was Director of the Cail Manufacturing Corporation (Société Anonyme des Anciens Etablissements Cail), the