Electric shotgun
The electric shotgun is a shotgun developed by the clergyman Matthias Wißhofer , which was not used in the military and is one of the curiosities in the field of early electrical engineering and experimental weapons technology at the end of the 18th century.
description
Wißhofer points out in his publication that the insert must be equipped with accessories depending on the weather and that the basic equipment consists of a wooden shaft and an iron barrel and coupling connections made of copper. Georg Heinrich Seiferheld described his weapon of the same type, which cannot be compared with the further development of Martin de Brettes , who used cartridges.
The weapon was not functional in closed rooms or outdoors in damp weather conditions.
Without significant setback could bolt and lead or marble balls are fired, but none of the already known at the time cartridges . The propellant charge consisted of swamp gas (“flammable air”) with a correspondingly high proportion of methane , in order to trigger the ignition through “electricity” (electrical spark).
See also
literature
- Le Baron, Delmas: Use of electricity to ignite charges in firearms or to fire projectiles. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 189, 1868, pp. 370-373.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Matthias Wißhoffer: Draft electric gun . Salzburg, 1780 ( online ).
- ↑ An electric shotgun. In: Polytechnisches Journal . 183, 1867, Miszelle 3, p. 409.