The Tiger's gun was elevated by a 16-toothed gear wheel. This wheel was carried on a a gearbox in the right-hand side of the turret. The photo above shows the gearbox; the wheel is at the extreme left, inside a black cover. There is a small hole in the gearbox; this is the site of an oil-filling tap, which is missing from the photo.
The gearbox was bolted to a structure called the 'box'. This diagram shows the position of the gearbox and the 'box' within the turret. Although the 'box' was redesigned, the elevation gearbox was apparently unchanged throughout the Tiger's production run [4] [3] .
The gear wheel was driven manually by the gunner. The ratio of turns was reduced by the gearbox. This diagram shows the gear wheel and the profile of the gearbox.
This external view shows the main dimensions of the gearbox and cover.
The gearbox was a casting and it contained a worm gear [1] . These are some dimensions of the gearbox [2] .
There was a sheet-metal cover on the gear wheel, to prevent things getting caught in it.
A shaft from the gunner's hand wheel connected to a 90 degree joint at the end of the worm gear. This view shows the shaft, the gearbox, and the cover. There is a hole in the cover, allowing access to the oil-filling tap.
In turrets with a drum cupola, the shaft passed through a structural tube. But in turrets with a ring cupola, the shaft was exposed as we see here. This is the 'Saumur' vehicle, #2501114 [3] .
The rear side of the gearbox had a round cover plate.
There was a hole in the 'box' to accomodate the cover plate. This view shows the 'Bovington' vehicle, #2500122 [2] .
[2] Survey of vehicle 250122, Bovington, by David Byrden
[3] Survey of vehicle 251114, at Saumur, by Jean-Charles Breucque
[4] Survey of vehicle 250031, by Stephan Vogt