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3.2-inch Gun M1885
The 3.2-inch gun M1897 (81 mm), with its predecessors the M1885 and M1890, was the U.S. Army's first steel, rifled, breech loading field gun. It was the Army's primary field artillery piece in the Spanish–American War, Philippine–American War, and Boxer Rebellion from 1898 to 1902. Design This series of weapons was designed to provide a modern alternative to breech loading conversions of the Civil War-era 3-inch Ordnance rifle. It was constructed of steel and was of built-up construction with a central rifled tube, and reinforcing hoops from the trunnions to the breech. Its steel was stronger than the wrought iron of preceding weapons. The guns had an interrupted screw breech with either a de Bange plastic obturator or (on the earlier modifications) a conceptually similar design by Spaniard Luis Freyre y Góngora with a metallic ring, and fired separate-loading, bagged charges and projectiles. The projectiles weighed approximately and common, shrapnel, or canister ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field Gun
A field gun is a field artillery piece. Originally the term referred to smaller guns that could accompany a field army on the march, that when in combat could be moved about the battlefield in response to changing circumstances ( field artillery), as opposed to guns installed in a fort (garrison artillery or coastal artillery), or to siege cannons and mortars which are too large to be moved quickly, and would be used only in a prolonged siege. Perhaps the most famous use of the field gun in terms of advanced tactics was Napoleon Bonaparte's use of very large wheels on the guns that allowed them to be moved quickly even during a battle. By moving the guns from point-to-point during a battle, enemy formations could be broken up to be handled by the infantry or cavalry wherever they were massing, dramatically increasing the overall effectiveness of the attack. World War I As the evolution of artillery continued, almost all guns of any size became capable of being moved at some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Breech Loading
A breechloader is a firearm in which the user loads the ammunition (cartridge or shell) via the rear (breech) end of its barrel, as opposed to a muzzleloader, which loads ammunition via the front ( muzzle). Modern firearms are generally breech-loading – except for replicas of vintage weapons. Early firearms before the mid-19th century were almost entirely muzzle-loading. Mortars and the Russian GP-25 grenade launcher are the only muzzleloaders remaining in frequent modern usage. However, referring to a weapon specifically as breech loading is mostly limited to single-shot or otherwise non-repeating firearms, such as double-barreled shotguns. Breech-loading provides the advantage of reduced reloading time, because it is far quicker to load the projectile and propellant into the chamber of a gun/cannon than to reach all the way over to the front end to load ammunition and then push them back down a long tube – especially when the projectile fits tightly and t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hydraulic Recoil Mechanism
A hydraulic recoil mechanism is a way of limiting the effects of recoil and adding to the accuracy and firepower of an artillery piece. Description The usual recoil system in modern quick-firing guns is the hydro-pneumatic recoil system. In this system, the barrel is mounted on rails on which it can recoil to the rear, and the recoil is taken up by a cylinder which is similar in operation to an automotive gas-charged shock absorber, and is commonly visible as a cylinder mounted parallel to the barrel of the gun, but shorter and smaller than it. The cylinder contains a charge of compressed air, as well as hydraulic oil; in operation, the barrel's energy is taken up in compressing the air as the barrel recoils backward, then is dissipated via hydraulic damping as the barrel returns forward to the firing position. The recoil impulse is thus spread out over the time in which the barrel is compressing the air, rather than over the much narrower interval of time when the project ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smokeless Powder
Finnish smokeless powderSmokeless powder is a type of propellant used in firearms and artillery that produces less smoke and less fouling when fired compared to gunpowder ("black powder"). The combustion products are mainly gaseous, compared to around 55% solid products (mostly potassium carbonate, potassium sulfate, and potassium sulfide) for black powder. In addition, smokeless powder does not leave the thick, heavy fouling of hygroscopic material associated with black powder that causes rusting of the barrel. Despite its name, smokeless powder is not completely free of smoke; while there may be little noticeable smoke from small-arms ammunition, smoke from artillery fire can be substantial. Originally invented in 1884 by Paul Vieille, the most common formulations are based on nitrocellulose, but the term was also used to describe various picrate mixtures with nitrate, chlorate, or dichromate oxidizers during the late 19th century, before the advantages of nitrocellulose beca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Powder
Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). The sulfur and carbon act as fuels while the saltpeter is an oxidizer. Gunpowder has been widely used as a propellant in firearms, artillery, rocketry, and pyrotechnics, including use as a blasting agent for explosives in quarrying, mining, building pipelines and road building. Gunpowder is classified as a low explosive because of its relatively slow decomposition rate and consequently low brisance. Low explosives deflagrate (i.e., burn at subsonic speeds), whereas high explosives detonate, producing a supersonic shockwave. Ignition of gunpowder packed behind a projectile generates enough pressure to force the shot from the muzzle at high speed, but usually not enough force to rupture the gun barrel. It thus makes a good propellant but is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canister Shot
Canister shot is a kind of anti-personnel artillery ammunition. Canister shot has been used since the advent of gunpowder-firing artillery in Western armies. However, canister shot saw particularly frequent use on land and at sea in the various wars of the 18th and 19th century. Canister is still used today in modern artillery. Description Canister shot consists of a closed metal cylinder typically loosely filled with round lead or iron balls packed with sawdust to add more solidity and cohesion to the mass and to prevent the balls from crowding each other when the round was fired. The canister itself was usually made of tin, often dipped in a lacquer of beeswax diluted with turpentine to prevent corrosion of the metal. Iron was substituted for tin for larger-caliber guns. The ends of the canister were closed with wooden or metal disks. A cloth cartridge bag containing the round's gunpowder used to fire the canister from the gun barrel could be attached to the back of the m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shrapnel Shell
Shrapnel shells were anti-personnel artillery munitions which carried many individual bullets close to a target area and then ejected them to allow them to continue along the shell's trajectory and strike targets individually. They relied almost entirely on the shell's velocity for their lethality. The munition has been obsolete since the end of World War I for anti-personnel use; high-explosive shells superseded it for that role. The functioning and principles behind Shrapnel shells are fundamentally different from high-explosive shell fragmentation. Shrapnel is named after Lieutenant-General Henry Shrapnel (1761–1842), a British artillery officer, whose experiments, initially conducted on his own time and at his own expense, culminated in the design and development of a new type of artillery shell. Usage of term "shrapnel" has changed over time to also refer to fragmentation of the casing of shells and bombs. This is its most common modern usage, which strays from the o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glossary Of British Ordnance Terms
This article explains terms used for the British Armed Forces' ordnance (i.e.: weapons) and also ammunition. The terms may have slightly different meanings in the military of other countries. BD Between decks: applies to a naval gun mounting in which part of the rotating mass is below the deck, and part of it is above the deck. This allows for a lower profile of turret, meaning that turrets need not be superfiring (i.e. they can be mounted on the same deck and not obstruct each other at high angles of elevation.) BL The term BL, in its general sense, stood for breech loading, and contrasted with muzzle loading. The shell was loaded via the breech (i.e. the gunner's end of the barrel, which opened) followed by the propellant charge, and the breech mechanism was closed to seal the chamber. Breech loading, in its formal British ordnance sense, served to identify the gun as the type of rifled breechloading gun for which the powder charge was loaded in a silk or cloth bag and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrought Iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" that is visible when it is etched, rusted, or bent to structural failure, failure. Wrought iron is tough, malleable, ductile, corrosion resistant, and easily forge welding, forge welded, but is more difficult to welding, weld electrically. Before the development of effective methods of steelmaking and the availability of large quantities of steel, wrought iron was the most common form of malleable iron. It was given the name ''wrought'' because it was hammered, rolled, or otherwise worked while hot enough to expel molten slag. The modern functional equivalent of wrought iron is Carbon steel#Mild or low-carbon steel, mild steel, also called low-carbon steel. Neither wrought iron nor mild steel contain enough carbon to be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trunnion
A trunnion (from Old French "''trognon''", trunk) is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development. Alternatively, a trunnion is a shaft that positions and supports a tilting plate. This is a misnomer, as in reality it is a cradle for the true trunnion. In mechanical engineering (see the trunnion bearing section below), it is one part of a rotating joint where a shaft (the trunnion) is inserted into (and turns inside) a full or partial cylinder. Medieval history In a cannon, the trunnions are two projections cast just forward of the center of mass of the cannon and fixed to a two-wheeled movable gun carriage. As they allowed the muzzle to be raised and lowered easily, the integral casting of trunnions is seen by military historians as one of the most important advances in early field artillery. With the creation of larger and more powerful siege guns in the early 15th century, a n ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hoop Gun
Hoop or Hoops may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Hoops'' (TV series), an American animated series Music * Hoops (band), an American indie pop band * ''Hoops'' (album), a 2015 album by The Rubens ** "Hoops" (The Rubens song) * "Hoops" (Ruby song), 1996 * "Hoops", a song by Saweetie, Salt-N-Pepa and Kash Doll from the '' Space Jam: A New Legacy'' soundtrack Video games * ''Dunk Dream '95'', a sequel to the game ''Street Slam'' that was known as ''Hoops'' in North America * ''Hoops'' (1986 video game), a 1986 college basketball video game * ''Hoops'' (1988 video game), a 1988 basketball video game Sports * Basketball, also referred to as ''hoops'' * Celtic F.C., nicknamed the Hoops * ''Hoop'' (magazine), an American basketball magazine * Hoop (rhythmic gymnastics), an apparatus in rhythmic gymnastics * Hoops Club, a Lebanese basketball club * Queens Park Rangers F.C., nicknamed the Hoops * Shamrock Rovers F.C., nicknamed the Hoops * Sham ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Built-up Gun
A built-up gun is artillery with a specially reinforced barrel. An inner tube of metal stretches within its elastic limit under the pressure of confined powder gases to transmit stress to outer cylinders that are under tension.Fairfield (1921) p.161 Concentric metal cylinders or wire windings are assembled to minimize the weight required to resist the pressure of powder gases pushing a projectile out of the barrel. Built-up construction was the norm for guns mounted aboard 20th century dreadnoughts and contemporary railway guns, coastal artillery, and siege guns through World War II. Background The first built-up gun was designed by French artillery officer Alfred Thiéry in 1834 and tested not later than 1840. Also about 1840 another one was made by Daniel Treadwell, and yet another one was produced by Mersey Iron Works in Liverpool according to the John Ericsson's design. Sheffield architector John Frith received a patent on their manufacture in 1843. However, all these guns (w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
