ELECTRIC MACHINE GUN IS SILENT (Nov, 1936)
Filed under: Origins, War — @ 7:56 am
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
| Buy on Ebay
Source: Popular Science ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Nov, 1936
| Buy on Ebay
This is a pretty cool looking rail gun.
ELECTRIC MACHINE GUN IS SILENT
Electricity replaces gunpowder in a silent, smokeless, machine gun recently perfected for defense against hostile aircraft. Without betraying its location, this weapon is declared capable of firing 150 bullets or high-explosive shells a minute. Projectiles are hurled from its muzzle by a series of electromagnets spaced along the barrel, which start the missile moving and successively raise its velocity as they become energized.
Actually, from the description given, it would be a coil gun, not a rail gun. A coil gun uses a series of electromagnets to propel the projectile down the barrel of the weapon. A rail gun uses a different effect called the Lorentz force.
Comment by avatar28 — April 18, 2007 @ 5:59 am
The wheel on the side is probably a commutator spun manually or electricly to energize the coils sequentially to accelerate each projectile.
Comment by jayessell — September 2, 2007 @ 7:05 am
that would look great mounted on my jeep…
Comment by Jeffery Wright — October 22, 2007 @ 1:56 pm
150 rounds per minute most coil guns you have to charge it with capacitors and then fire taking the rate of fire down to about 10 rounds per minute
Comment by slik — December 26, 2007 @ 9:47 am
Don’t believe the 30’s hype.
Comment by Chris Russell — December 29, 2007 @ 11:34 pm
If the comutator is most likely electrically turned to contact the circuits.
And if you use a high power pulse circuit precisely tuned and timed you can bypass any need for capacitors. because the caps are used in the circuits not of nesesity but because the caps have a faster discharge rate than the average battery or conventional power supply. with suficient pulse climb and timing the need for the caps disappears. another option is to switch the caps out just as fast as the coils are being fired for a recharge if caps are even used.
Comment by Dragon — April 9, 2008 @ 11:28 pm
slik, modern coil guns are capable of rapid fire, the only limitation being the ability to provide enough power to the capacitors, however newspapers back in the good old days always inflated the numbers for a better sale. I would say it’s perfectly plausible to have a 150 rpm coil gun given a large enough power source, however the m/ps of the projectile might not be much faster then throwing it by hand.
Comment by sdin — December 29, 2008 @ 3:20 am
oh my god! its the Gauss rifle from fallout 3!
Comment by will — June 4, 2009 @ 8:59 am
Awsome….with no carbon foot print….perfect!!
Comment by justenuff — June 4, 2009 @ 1:40 pm
Steampunk lives!!!!!
Comment by Lisa the traveller — June 8, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Made a very much simplified version some 45 years ago when I was a member of JETS. I highly recommend that technically minded youth look to the excellent group for direction.
Comment by knr — June 10, 2009 @ 12:04 pm
If I’m not mistaken, those are batteries at the guy’s feet. Capacitors capable of holding enough juice to accelerate bullets to a useful velocity are nowhere in evidence, but those cables are impressive.
Comment by Jim Demers — August 26, 2009 @ 4:34 pm
Wait, wait, wait.
How did this not catch on?
Comment by Revan343 — September 7, 2009 @ 2:42 am
Revan343: Rate of fire for one thing (or lack of rate of fire) in comparison to the Browning machine guns of the time. Weight of the power supply and the limits of battery life. Also there’s no mention of muzzle velocity.
Stuff like that.
Comment by Firebrand38 — September 7, 2009 @ 11:19 am
Well, the one in “Eraser” had near-relativistic speed for its projectiles so assuming this was similar, as an anti-aircraft gun it would be perfect–no need to lead the target at all no matter what the aircraft’s speed. Just point and shoot.
Comment by Randy — September 7, 2009 @ 3:16 pm
Randy: (Buzzer sound) Assuming facts not in evidence!
Yeah, a couple car batteries at the guys feet and a barrel a few feet long, that’ll boost it up to near light speed!
And of course leaving the barrel that fast air resistance has nothing to do with anything.
And thanks for playing.
Comment by Firebrand38 — September 7, 2009 @ 4:10 pm
Nah, the projectile moving that fast through the air will melt it right away, and it will be like a shaped charge (or like Arthur Clarke’s “liquid metal bayonet” weapon in Earthlight).
Remember, in space noone can tell how far in your cheek your tongue is.
Comment by Randy — September 7, 2009 @ 4:35 pm
And don’t reply “star-mangled spanner” either…
Comment by Randy — September 7, 2009 @ 4:38 pm
Randy: Aw raspberries!
Comment by Firebrand38 — September 7, 2009 @ 4:47 pm
You are right, of course, Firebrand38, my ravings aside… Muzzle velocity and projectile mass are the two most important characteristics of a firearm (since it is basically a kinetic energy weapon) and neither are mentioned.
This could be the gun in question: http://www.google.com/patents?id=E4V5AAAAEBAJ
On the other hand Edwin F. Northrup was doing experiments on electromagnetic propulsion for space launches in the 1930’s and apparently built several prototype launchers, but I haven’t been able to find any substantial information about them.
Comment by Randy — September 8, 2009 @ 8:11 pm
Randy: Top marks on finding that patent!
I checked out Northrup as well but none of his designs seemed to match this.
lifeboat.com/em/chapter.1.pdf
http://www.coilgun.info/northrup/home.htm
Comment by Firebrand38 — September 8, 2009 @ 8:18 pm
No, Firebrand38, top marks to YOU for finding the “Zero to Eighty” excerpts that I failed to locate.
Our mad Google skillz be dovetailin…
Comment by Randy — September 9, 2009 @ 9:22 pm