Steam gun
Steam guns were guns that were operated with the help of steam power . For several reasons, however, they never caught on.
history
After water vapor had been successfully used as a moving force in machines , the idea arose to use this also for moving projectiles . Experiments were already carried out in London in the middle of the 18th century and resumed by James Watt at the beginning of the 19th century .
In 1814 , the French Philippe Henri de Girard constructed a steam cannon to defend Paris , but it was never used. The Englishman Jacob Perkins built a steam rifle in 1824 that could fire 400 to 500 bullets per minute , and later also a four-pound cannon that fired 80 bullets per minute. Tests by the French artillery in Vincennes in 1828/1829 revealed the great clumsiness of such a construction and the uncertainty of the shot.
Even Henry Bessemer struck a steam gun in front, should fire the several thousand rounds per minute, but later nothing was reported more of it.
According to all experience, at the end of the 19th century it was considered impossible to develop and supply a sufficient amount of steam with a uniformly high voltage with certainty. Before the steam could be used, it had to be generated every time, which was time consuming (heating up). This could only be done in gun-like positions, but the main advantage of the cheap generation of propulsion power was negated by the completely different system to the other types of gun.
literature
- Natale de Beroaldo Bianchini, treatise on fire and side guns: including plans and production tables, Volume 2, Verlag Hof- und Staats-Aerarial-Druckerey, 1820, available online
- Franz Maria Feldhaus, fame sheets of technology from the original inventions to the present, Verlag F. Brandstetter, 1910, pages 232, 233, 251
- Karl von Elgger, Die Kriegfeuerwaffen der Gegenwart: Their emergence and their influence on the tactics of infantry, artillery and cavalry, Brockhaus Verlag, 1868, available online
