Author Topic: Strange Confederate Cannon  (Read 1593 times)

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Offline lance

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Strange Confederate Cannon
« on: March 28, 2008, 01:37:16 PM »
 Hi Guys, anybody have any info on this cannon, it would be appreciated. I know who it's named after, but i don't know the caliber or how many shots it held, or if the dangerous looking thing was ever used. Here's the only picture i have:
PALADIN had a gun.....I have guns, mortars, and cannons!

Offline cannonmn

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Offline lance

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2008, 02:37:16 PM »
Talk about speedy service! Thanks cannonmn, the info you gave states it's a prototype model. You probably have it in your nice collection!
PALADIN had a gun.....I have guns, mortars, and cannons!

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2008, 04:26:12 PM »
I don't like to disappoint Lance.

This item is 54 caliber, measures 16 x 12 x 7 in., weighs 32 lbs.  It has on-carriage traverse of about 45 degrees either direction, that's why it looks "crooked" in the pix.  This item was once in the long-closed Stagecoach Museum in Minneapolis, MN. and you can find it in the published book catalog of the museum.











Offline lance

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2008, 04:37:02 PM »
cannonmn you're the BEST!!! Now that's a model i never would have known even exisited! Thanks for sharing!!!!
PALADIN had a gun.....I have guns, mortars, and cannons!

Offline KABAR2

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2008, 12:07:16 AM »
A little info on General Josiah Gorgas.....

http://students.umw.edu/~dgran5mt/gorgasbio.html
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Sed tamen sal petrae LURO VOPO CAN UTRIET sulphuris; et sic facies tonituum et coruscationem si scias artficium

Offline Max Caliber

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2008, 02:28:34 AM »
A really great book on General Gorgas and the Confederate Ordnance Bureau is "Ploughshares into Swords" by Frank E. Vandiver.
Max

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #7 on: March 29, 2008, 04:22:48 AM »
I think the model shown is more like this 1834 Cochran patent than the Gorgas gun, as much as I'd like to think I had a one-of-a-kind Confederate secret weapon.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=Ji0qAAAAEBAJ&dq=many-chambered+cannon&jtp=1

Offline lance

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2008, 09:19:52 AM »
cannonmn,either way it's a very nice model. Any other multi-shot models in your fantastic collection?
PALADIN had a gun.....I have guns, mortars, and cannons!

Offline cannonmn

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Re: Strange Confederate Cannon
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2008, 09:44:56 AM »
There's a water-cooled turret cannon that locks the barrel into the end of each chamber like the old Nagant 7.62mm Russiian revolvers.  It was made by Augustus Hebert of Malone, New York.  I've been trying to find out if he patented it or applied for a patent, since the model is definitely a patent model and the same guy holds a patent for railroad stuff.  His railroad patent is 1870 or so, but the multi-chambered cannon patent  (if it exists) would be earlier, I would think.

Can anyone find a multi-chambered cannon patent by Augustus Hebert?