re - Steam Cannon

[harrytheh]

Hi All,
Something just a bit different, a steam cannon - thought it might be of interest and amuse. Not sure I would want to try it.
Cheers,
Martyn.

[Cat Whisperer]

harrytheh -

WELCOME to the board!

We've seen this type of thing before, I wonder if anyone has made/used one?

[Don Krag]

Never made one of those, but I can vouch for the steam. I had a tubular steel item i wanted to cool off fast after doing some forge work. I dropped it down into the quench tub. I dropped it in end first and when the water flowed into the interior I ended up with a geyser. I learned a very painful lesson that day. I'm guessing it would have fired an object out with a pretty good force, though! I don't know what kind of BBQ grill they have...but none of mine will heat bearings to red!

Welcome to the forum!

[GGaskill]

While I suppose in principle this would work, the bearing would lose so much heat rolling down the barrel that I doubt it could vaporize very much water.  It would be an interesting experiment.

[sui generis]

When that was printed (presumably WWII +/) they called it a 'harmless' steam cannon -

can you imagine any general circulation magazine publishing that today?

Times do change - not necessarily for the better.

[lance]

well i'll probably get in trouble for writing this........... but the military is working on a steam cannon for the future. a small capsule of water with two electrodes is loaded behind the shell. a very high voltage, so high in fact,that when applied it plasmatizes the water and the water explodes with more force than 250 pounds of powder. not bad for a couple of ounces of water.............now that's a steam cannon!!!

[Rickk]

Hey Lance, there have been hobbiest plasma cannons for years.
Oddly enough, they found that Jello works better because it has a high specific gravity than plain water.

Here is a link to one of the more interesting articles on a "steam cannon":
http://amasci.com/amateur/capexpt.html

[Double D]

Steam cannons are on topic...plasma cannons may not be..

[lance]

I knew i'd get in trouble............. neat link Rickk, but the military likes water for their steam cannon. i wish i could remember if it's the Navy or the Army that has one built.

[sui generis]

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i wish i could remember if it's the Navy or the Army that has one built.
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The navy had one around about 1898 or so - they called it a 'dynamite gun' - basically the ship was built around it - IIRC it was mounted pointing out the bow at a fixed elevation - range was adjusted by varying steam pressure - the object was that the explosive charge was dynamite and with the technology of the day they had trouble with premature explosion with conventional propellants.

[seacoastartillery]

     Some very nice photos of the Dynamite Cruiser USS Vesuvius and its pneumatic cannons, (3) 15 inch fixed elevation smooth bore guns are available on this site:  www.hazegray.org.  Although steam and high explosive definitely DO NOT MIX, steam powered compressors filled the compressed air tanks which supplied the propulsive power to launch the large shells toward Spanish targets in Cuba during the Spanish American War in 1898.  The US Army had a much smaller field artillery piece which worked in a similar fashion and which also did some execution during the same war.  Our military forces abandoned these cannon as "impractical" before WWI started.  The Sulfur Queen explosion in Galveston Harbor proved that live steam and explosives are NOT a good combination!

Regards,

Mike and Tracy