Great moments in history - Innovative weaponry that never caught on.

[Wonk]

I'll start. Feel free to add more.

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Built for $350, the cannon was cast in Athens in one piece, with a 3-degree divergence between its almost-parallel double barrels. The idea was to connect two cannonballs with a chain and fire them simultaneously in order to, according to a plaque that now stands near the cannon, "mow the enemy down like scythe cuts wheat."

(snip)

On April 22, 1862, the cannon was fired for the first time. It was a rather spectacular failure.

According to the official report, printed on the cannon's plaque: "It was tested in a field on the Newton's Bridge Road against a target of upright poles. With both balls rammed home and the chain dangling from the twin muzzles, the piece was fired; but the lack of precise simultaneity caused uneven explosion of the propelling charges, which snapped the chain and gave each ball an erratic and unpredictable trajectory."

Unofficial contemporaneous reports describe a far more chaotic scene, with both balls circling madly around each other after they were fired from the cannon.

Screaming spectators ducked and covered as the twinned, spinning projectiles plowed through a nearby wood and destroyed a cornfield before the chain connecting the balls broke. One of the cannonballs then collided into and killed a cow; the other demolished the chimney of a nearby home.

But Gilleland was not discouraged by a mere dead cow, a ruined corn crop and a wrecked chimney. He had faith in his cannon.

more...

[DarkPhenyx]

1. I always thought the Microwave Gun was an interesting idea.

Never went far. Soon as the UN got wind of it they banned it as inhumane. I have to agree with them there.

Strangely it's making a comeback in the home extermination community for zapping cocroaches inside the wall.

[TexasMexican]

3. it got banned?

by the UN?

I never heard anything about.

I thought I heard that the marines were developing one to use against protesters and embassy defense, stuff like that.

[Journeyman]

2. How about the Lepage Gun. . .

said to glue entire bomber groups together in the air. I believe John Yossarian invented it, then was horrified later to hear rumors of its existence.

[TexasMexican]

4. Davy Crockett

http://www.3ad.us/history/cold.war/nukes.pages/davy.crockett.htm

The Davy Crockett was designed in the late 1950's primarily for frontline use by the U.S. infantry in Europe against Soviet troop formations. The weapon system used a spin-stabilized, unguided rocket fired from a recoiless rifle. It's 51-pound nuclear warhead had an explosive yield of 0.18 kilotons (equivalent to 18 tons of TNT, with an added radiation effect). As a secondary design feature, the system could also fire a conventional high-explosive round for other use, such as an anti-tank weapon.

The Davy Crockett's warhead was launched from either a 120-millimeter (M-28) or 155-millimeter (M-29) recoilless rifle. The155 millimeter version, which became the standard issue, had a maximum range of 2.49 miles and could be fired from either a ground tripod mount or from a specially designed jeep mount.

[GregW]

5. Check out the Metal Storm grenade launcher

Firing grenades at 240,000 RPM

Yes, that's right, 240 thousand grenade rounds per minute.

http://www.metalstorm.com/videos/40mm_pod_240000rpm.zip

More Metalstorm videos here: http://www.metalstorm.com/latest_videos.html

[happyslug]

6. The V-3 weapon of the Nazis

Every so often it comes back (it was part of the Star Wars project of Reagan):

http://www.eurapart.com/v3fort.html