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Author Topic: cannon id - "The Wizard"  (Read 818 times)

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Offline eod20

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cannon id - "The Wizard"
« on: August 26, 2011, 05:31:47 PM »
   bought a new book tonight and there is a pic of a hugh cannon on page 42/43 without any identification - it looks to be approx. 4 feet in dia. and only about 12-14 feet long with large metal cut outs around the breach and around the barrel in front of the trunnions. the only id i can find is "the wizard" and a LOC, lot 13958 in the credits of the book, which is the civil war - a visual history, rare images and tales  by parragon books. no author is stated.
there is a ?shell? laying next to the gun with 900 lbs painted on the base - it looks like a large round ball in the front and rear with a connecting sub cal center section and a flat base.  i will try to scan a pic and post it later.    i am just guessing but the men in the photo make me think this was a southern gun - just a guess.
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Offline Starr 2011

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #1 on: August 27, 2011, 04:00:51 AM »
eod20
If your picture looks like this, then it's one of Norman Wiard's peculiar creations. It's a civil war piece made in cast-iron as an experiment for the US. It wasn't a success... (No real surprise). A casting nightmare...
Starr
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Offline eod20

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2011, 05:18:55 AM »
that is it   and it was hugh --  where can you fnd more info about them     i searched the net and found nothing yet
 
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Offline Starr 2011

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2011, 06:47:33 AM »
There's a lot about Norman Wiard's big guns in Alexander Holley's 1866 book on Ordnance and Armour. You can read it here through Google Books:
 
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=jx1ZbfEtWW8C

Your Wiard is described on Page 327. Somewhere in web-world I've seen photographs of the piece, it burst on first firing. Damned if I could find them for you today! Other GBOs may know the pictures.

Wiard is much better known for his small steel field guns.    Starr
 
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Offline Cannoneer

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #4 on: August 27, 2011, 11:14:24 AM »
I'm always tempted to say that Wiard was weird, but seriously, there's no question about his having had some strange ideas concerning artillery (amongst other things).

Inefficiency of heavy ordnance in this country and everywhere
Norman Wiard, Miscellaneous Pamphlet Collection (Library of Congress)

http://books.google.com/books?id=RoyTkSdlV_cC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false






A few of Wiard's ordnance patents.

http://www.google.com/patents?id=0hcAAAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.google.com/patents?id=vAkAAAAAEBAJ&printsec=drawing&zoom=4#v=onepage&q&f=false
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Offline 1Southpaw

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #5 on: August 28, 2011, 05:51:05 AM »
Wonder if the "fins " were for cooling purposes ? 
 The illustrations don't show much material around the powder chamber .
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Offline GGaskill

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #6 on: August 28, 2011, 10:27:59 AM »
It is somewhat hard to understand the section drawing but if it is supposed to show vents the length of the first half of the bore, then I have to question the level of understanding of reality of the designer.
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Offline gulfcoastblackpowder

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Re: cannon id - "The Wizard"
« Reply #7 on: August 28, 2011, 12:07:25 PM »
It seems like a very undersized cannon wall with a huge heat sync.  I know cannon can get hot from repeated firing, especially if out in the sun, but heat is not as big a safety issue as the strength of the chamber.  It also looks like the trunnions are secured to a couple of fins, rather than the body of the tube.  Neat looking design, but I wouldn't want to be anywhere around it when fired.  I'd consider it a "fantasy" cannon.
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