In 1862, Georgia dentist, builder, and mechanic John Gilleland raised money from a coterie of Confederate citizens in Athens, Georgia to build the chain-shot gun for a cost of $350. Cast in one piece, the gun featured side-by-side bores, each a little over 3 inches in diameter and splayed slightly outward so the shots would diverge and stretch the chain taut. The two barrels have a divergence of 3 degrees, and the cannon was designed to shoot simultaneously two cannonballs connected with a chain to “mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts wheat”. During tests, the Gilleland cannon effectively mowed down trees, tore up a cornfield, knocked down a chimney, and killed a cow. These experiments took place along Newton Bridge Road northwest of downtown Athens. None of the previously mentioned items were anywhere near the gun’s intended target.
r*ddit
I’m guessing the main problem is the two barrels never detonate at the same instant, so the chain flings the shot wildly somewhere in the forward field of fire.
Regular chain shot packs the projectile in a single barrel.
If I recall I don’t think barrels and balls were precision machined so there would always be “windage” or some sort of gap between the ball and barrel. So not only the timings as you identify, but also differences in force between the balls due to windage and charge.
Those are the same issues that led to my third child being conceived.
Fuck, sights are off!
Fuck sights?
I need more details please
I remember that with some cannons the fit was so sloppy you had to wrap the ball in rags or pack it in straw to get it to go any distance at all. This was just a spectacularly goofy idea from start to finish, and I love every inch of it.
In Patrick O’Brian’s novels some/many of the cannons had sizing hoops. Incoming balls would be sorted by size because not every ball would fit every barrel.
It says the barrel was cast, which is definitely not precise machining
Isnt this a super easy fix? Just make one detonation chamber connected to 2 barrels. Or make a longer barrel holding 2 balls with the chain between them.
The even easier fix is one barrel firing chain or bar shot. The method that had been done for at least 100 years at that point.
The only real reason for two barrels is to try and get a longer chain to be more effective against infantry formations, but at that point just load grape or canister shot and it works better and the cannon crew has an easier time of reloading.
I think one chamber with two barrels would propel the projectiles unevenly, wouldn’t it?
In theory, yes. But in practice, option 2 is how it usually is done, and option 1 would still require scrapping the gun and casting a new one, assuming it would work and not throw the shot off based on the weight difference of the balls.