In the age of high technologies, which are most actively introduced in the field of means and methods of armed struggle, we are no longer surprised by the periodically appearing news about the next successful test - usually in the USA - of electromagnetic guns, or, as they are often called today, railguns. This theme is actively played up in the movies: in the movie "Transformers 2. Revenge of the Fallen" the newest American destroyer URO is armed with a railgun, and in the blockbuster "The Eraser" with Arnold Schwarzenegger there is a hand-held electromagnetic assault rifle. However, is this invention really so new? It turns out not. The first prototypes of railguns, the so-called "electric guns", appeared over a century ago.
For the first time, the documentary idea of using an electric current to send bullets and shells instead of gunpowder charges arose in the 19th century. In particular, in The Mechanics' Magazine, Museum, Register, Journal, and Gazette, published in London, in volume No. 43 for July 5 - December 27, 1845, on page 16, you can find a small note about the so-called "electric gun" design by Beningfield (original name - Beningfield's "Electric Gun"). The news item reports that recently on a vacant lot on the south side of King Street in Westminster, one of the districts of the British capital, there were “very interesting experiments with the electric cannon - the invention of Mr. Bennington of Jersey (an island in the English Channel, the largest of islands in the Channel Islands), which the magazine briefly reported on 8 March."
This is how the "electric cannon" designed by Beningfield, presented by him in 1845, looked like this.
The following is a description of the gun itself: “The barrel for firing bullets or balls with a diameter of 5/8 (about 15, 875 mm. - V. Shch. Note) is mounted on a machine that generates energy for a shot, and the entire gun is mounted on a two-wheeled carriage. The weight of the entire structure is half a ton, according to calculations, it can move with the help of one horse at a speed of 8-10 miles per hour. In the firing position, for the strength of the stop, a third wheel is used, which allows you to quickly aim the gun. The barrel has a sight similar to a rifle. The balls are fed into the barrel by means of two magazines - fixed and movable (removable), and the latter can be made in a version with large dimensions and include a significant number of balls. It is estimated that 1000 or more balls can be fired per minute, and when ammunition is supplied from a large detachable magazine, the queues can be almost continuous.
During the experiments, the inventor managed to achieve all the goals that he set for himself. The bullet balls pierced a fairly thick board and then flattened themselves against an iron target. Those balls, which were fired at once at an iron target, literally scattered into atoms … The energy of the shot, thus, significantly surpassed that which can be produced by any of the existing weapons of the same caliber, in which the energy of powder gases is used to produce a shot.
The cost of operating such a weapon, consisting in the cost of maintaining it in working condition and the cost of its direct use for its intended purpose, according to the developer, is significantly lower than the cost of using any other weapon of equal potential capable of firing thousands of bullets into the enemy. The invention is not protected by a patent, so the inventor did not disclose the design of his installation or the nature of the energy used in it. However, it has been established that not the energy of steam is used for the shot, but the energy obtained with the help of galvanic cells."
Is it a correspondent's invention or the useless creativity of a self-taught Jersey? Far from it - this is a description of a very real event that took place in the middle of the nineteenth century. The inventor himself is quite real and famous - Thomas Beningfield owned a tobacco factory, was known as an electrical engineer and inventor. Moreover, the combat potential of Beningfield's invention, also known under the designation "Siva electric machinegun", turned out to be very, very attractive for military customers. Let us turn again to the London magazine: “During the tests, a three-inch board (7.62 cm. - V. Shch.'s note) at a distance of 20 yards (about 18.3 m. V. Shch.'s note) was riddled with bullets through and through, as if a carpenter had worked with a drill, and the speed and precision with which it was done was extraordinary. When clearing a trench or destroying manpower, such an installation will be extremely destructive."
In addition, we recall that the note indicates that the publication has already written about this gun, and further, in the notes section, on page 96 of the same issue of the magazine, it is noted that since the preparation of the news note with which we began the story, the electric gun Beningfield was demonstrated to experts of the Woolwich Armaments Committee (also Woolwich or Woolwich): “At a distance of 40 yards (about 36, 6 m. literally perforated, and the balls that pierced it fell into a steel target and flattened to the thickness of a half-crown … and some of them even scattered into small particles. " At the same time, it is emphasized that "the high rate of fire was a surprise", and "the cost of continuous firing for 18 hours - with a break for several minutes every four hours - will be £ 10, and during this time the number of balls fired will exceed the number of bullets fired by two regiments of shooters firing at the highest possible rate of fire."
Representatives of the British Royal Artillery from Woolwich, where the headquarters and artillery barracks of the British Army were previously located (on a reproduction of a postcard), did not receive the design of his invention from Beningfield
It is also noteworthy that in another magazine, "Littell's Living Age", published in the American Boston, in volume VI for July - August - September 1845 on page 168 there was published a note entitled "Electric Gun" and also devoted to the invention Beningfield. Moreover, the note cited the following words of the engineer himself: “I have bullets - 5/8 inches in diameter, but the serial sample that will be adopted for service will have increased dimensions and will be able to shoot bullet balls with a diameter of one inch (2, 54 cm. - Approx. V. Shch.), And with increased strength. The bullets used now, according to calculations, can kill at a distance of one statutory mile (British land or statutory (statutory) mile is 1609, 3 m. - Note V. Shch.), They freely pierce a three-inch board - during firing with a burst of it simply tears apart, although when shooting at an iron target, on the contrary, the bullets fly into small pieces. In the case of firing at a log, the bullets, as it turned out, stick to each other - as if they are being welded."
It should be noted that the author of the note himself points out: “It is asserted that the gun cannot shoot bullets weighing more than one pound (453.6 grams. - V. Shch. Note), but it is not heavy and easily transported, it can easily transported by one horse. According to the publication, Beningfield's invention attracted increased attention from army and navy specialists, and the note states that several artillery officers expressed their intention to arrive at the next test, scheduled a week after the one described in the magazine.
On June 30, 1845, the British newspaper The Times reported that the Duke of Wellington had attended a demonstration of Mr. Beningfield's "electric cannon" and expressed "his great admiration." A month later, The Times returned to this invention again - in a new note dated July 28, it was indicated that a group of representatives of the royal artillery from Woolwich (today an area in South London, and before that it was an independent city. Previously, there were headquarters units and barracks of British artillery Army, and today there is a museum. - Approx. V. Sh.), which was joined by Colonel Chambers, attended a demonstration on the south side of King Street, Westminster, where the demonstration of the Beningfield cannon took place. The results of the evaluation of the invention by the military could not be found.
Ultimately, the fate of the "Beningfield electric machine gun" was unenviable. The inventor, as already noted, did not patent his invention and did not provide the British military specialists with the drawings. Moreover, as W. Karman points out in his book A History of Weapons: From Early Time to 1914, Beningfield “demanded money from the war, and demanded it immediately”. And only in this case he was ready to hand over the documentation to the customer and fulfill the contract for serial deliveries. As a result, as W. Karman points out, "the military did not submit a report on the machine gun to the command."
On the other hand, in all fairness, it must be noted that today it has not been convincingly and precisely proven that this gun was precisely "electric". There is no patent, drawings too, it was not accepted for service. And the developer did not fire for a long time - for the aforementioned 18 hours. It is possible that there really was a compact steam engine (although observers would then have noticed steam or smoke from the combustible fuel), or, more likely, the balls were ejected using the energy of compressed air or a powerful spring mechanism. In particular, Howard Blackmore's The Machine Guns and Arms of the World, published in 1965, in the Electric Machine Guns section on pages 97–98 with reference to another work, The Science of Shooting by William Greener, the second edition of which was published in London in 1845, the following data are given:
“Interesting is the case of the 'electric machine gun' demonstrated by Thomas Beningfield to the representatives of the Armaments Committee in London in 1845. According to a brochure printed by the inventor and entitled "SIVA or the Destroying Power", the gun had a rate of fire of 1000-1200 rounds per minute. Members of the committee personally observed the firing of 48 one pound lead balls at 35 yards. Everyone who attended the demonstration, including the Duke of Wellington, was amazed at what they saw. Unfortunately, the inventor did not inform the committee of the operating principle of his machine gun and did not allow them to study it, so the committee, in turn, could not do anything. Beningfield never patented his invention or gave a detailed explanation of how it worked. On June 21, 1845, the Illustrated London News published a report about this invention, which stated that "the shot was fired from the energy of gases ignited by means of a galvanic cell." W. Griner himself suggested that gases - probably a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen - could be obtained by hydrolysis of water."
As you can see, there could be no talk of any prototype of a modern railgun - the bullet was not pushed by the energy of electricity, which was used only as a fuse. However, this, I repeat, is just an assumption - today it was not possible to find accurate and contemporaneous information about the design and principles of operation of the Beningfield cannon.
Russian inventor and American "wonder weapon"
However, soon there were projects that with full confidence can be called "ancient railguns." So, in 1890, the Russian inventor Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos, widely known as the discoverer of electric arc welding "Electrohephaestus" (he is also the creator of all the main types of electric arc welding, and also became the founder of mechanization and automation of the welding process), presented a project for a ship (casemate) electric gun. He turned to the military topic for a reason - Nikolai Nikolaevich was born in the village of Benardosovka in a family in which for many generations the main profession was military service. For example, his grandfather, Major General Panteleimon Yegorovich Benardos, is one of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. Among other, less well-known inventions of N. N. Benardos, there is one that is no less fantastic than the "electric cannon". This is an all-terrain steamer, which was equipped with rollers and could cross shoals or bypass other obstacles along the coast along the rail track. He built a prototype of such a vessel in 1877 and successfully tested it, but none of the Russian industrialists was interested in him. Among the more famous inventions of N. N. Benardos - a tin can, a tricycle, a screw plug, a digital lock for a safe, as well as projects for a hydroelectric station on the Neva and … a mobile platform for crossing pedestrians across the street!
In the same year as N. N. Benardos, the American inventor L. S. Gardner proposed a project for his "electric" or "magnetic" cannon. The last newspaper "Oswego Daily Times" (the city of Oswego is located in the state of Kansas, USA) dedicated an article on February 27, 1900, entitled "A New Horror for War: A Southerner Developed an Electric Cannon."
The note begins very curiously: "Anyone who has developed a killing machine that can kill more people in a given period of time than any other weapon can be endlessly enriched," Eugene Debs said during a speech in New Orleans (American trade union leader, one of the organizers of the Social Democratic and Socialist Parties of America, as well as the organization "Industrial Workers of the World", often made anti-war speeches. - Note. V. Shch.). Thousands applauded him, but at the same time, not far away, within earshot of his voice, someone L. S. Gardner was performing the final steps to create what was to become the very war machine that Debs spoke of. This is an electric gun.
The cannon should be the most powerful weapon in warfare. Its design is very unusual. Instead of being pushed out (by powder gases. - Approx. V. Shch.), The projectile moves along its barrel under the influence of a system of powerful magnets and flies into the air at the initial speed set by the operator. According to the Chicago Times Herald, the barrel of the cannon is open on both sides, and it takes no more time for the shell to leave the barrel than when loading through the breech of a conventional gun. It has no recoil, and instead of steel, the barrel can be made of glass."
Here is such a fantasy - a barrel made of glass. However, it is further indicated that Gardner himself "does not see the possibility of using his weapon in the field, since its operation requires a large number of powerful electric batteries." According to the developer, the use of such a gun is most likely in defense systems and in the navy. "The advantage of the cannon is that it will be possible to shoot dynamite or other explosive charges from it, in the absence of any shock loads," the author of the note writes.
And here is how L. S. Gardner himself described his invention:
“The cannon is a simple line of short coils or hollow magnets that end up forming a continuous tube. Each magnet has a mechanical switch that applies current to it or turns it off. This switch is a thin disc with a row of metal "buttons" extending from the center to its edge. The switch is connected to the "bolt" of the gun and is maintained by the gunner. Depending on the speed of rotation of the switch and the number of magnets involved, one or another initial velocity of the projectile is provided. As the magnets located along the barrel from the bolt to its muzzle are turned on, the projectile accelerates rapidly and flies out of the barrel at great speed. On the opposite side of the row of "buttons" on the disc there is a through hole, so that with each revolution the projectiles can enter the barrel from the magazine."
It is noteworthy that then the author of the note, with reference to L. S. Gardner, points out that the inventor, explaining how the projectile in his cannon passes through the magnets, even stated that practically any initial velocity of the projectile could be achieved in this way.
“After his secret was revealed, Mr. Gardner tried not to talk about the technical details of his invention, fearing the negative consequences of such publicity, - the newspaper further writes. “He agreed to hold a demonstration of a model of his cannon in New York for a group of capitalists. The model includes a small glass tube, about a quarter of an inch in diameter (0, 63 cm - Note V. Sh.), Which is surrounded by three coils of wires, each of which is a magnet."
In an interview with reporters, Gardner admitted that there are still a number of small issues that he needs to solve, but the main task - to accelerate the projectile and send it to the target - he has successfully solved. “Barring some unexpected problems, Mr. Gardner’s electric cannon could well revolutionize gunnery theory,” says the author of the Oswego Daily Times post. - The cannon does not require ammunition (meaning gunpowder or explosives. - V. Shch. Note), it does not produce noise or smoke. It is lightweight and can be assembled at an insignificant cost. The cannon will be able to fire projectile after projectile, but its barrel will not heat up. The flow of shells will be able to pass through its barrel at a speed that can only be limited by the speed of their delivery."
In conclusion, it was said that after the completion of the current work with the model, the inventor will assemble a working model, a prototype in real size, and begin its real tests. Moreover, it was argued that "the barrel is likely to be made of thin sheet metal, since due to the lack of pressure inside the barrel, there is no need to make it heavy and durable."
It should also be noted that in 1895 an Austrian engineer, a representative of the Viennese school of astronautics pioneers Franz Oskar Leo Elder von Geft presented a project of an electromagnetic reel-to-reel cannon intended for … launching spaceships to the Moon. And during the Spanish-American War, in 1898, one of the American inventors proposed shelling Havana with a powerful current coil - it was supposed to be on the coast of Florida and launch large-caliber projectiles at a distance of about 230 km.
However, all these projects remained only "projects" - it was not possible to implement them in practice at that time. And first of all - from a technical point of view. Although the idea that the barrel of an electromagnetic weapon can be easily made of glass is something …
Norwegian professor steps in
The first more or less real project of an electromagnetic gun was proposed already at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Norwegian Christian Olaf Bernard Birkeland, professor of physics at Frederick Queen's University in Oslo (since 1939 - the University of Oslo), who received a patent in September 1901 for a "coil-type electromagnetic gun", which, according to the professor's calculations, was supposed to give a projectile weighing 0.45 kg an initial speed of up to 600 m / s.
We can say that the idea of developing such a gun came to him by accident. The fact is that in the summer of 1901, Birkeland, better known to our readers for his work on the study of the aurora, was working in his university laboratory on the creation of electromagnetic switches, he noticed that small metal particles falling into the solenoid fly through the coil at the speed of a bullet. Then he decided to conduct a series of relevant experiments, becoming, in fact, the first to understand the practical significance of this phenomenon for military affairs. In an interview two years later, Birkeland recalled that after 10 days of endless experiments, he finally managed to assemble his first model of the gun, after which he immediately applied for a patent. On September 16, 1901, he received a patent No. 11201 for "a new method of firing projectiles using electromagnetic forces."
The idea was simple - the projectile had to close the circuit itself, supplying current to the solenoid, entering the latter, and opening the circuit when exiting the solenoid. At the same time, the projectile itself, under the influence of electromagnetic forces, accelerated to the required speed (in the first experiments, the professor used a unipolar generator based on a Faraday disk as a current source). Birkeland himself compared his elegant and at the same time simple design of an electromagnetic gun with the "rope of Baron Munchausen". The essence of the comparison will become clear if you quote an excerpt from The First Trip to the Moon: “What to do? What to do? Will I never return to Earth? Am I really going to stay all my life on this hateful moon? Oh no! Never! I ran to the straw and began to twist a rope out of it. The rope came out short, but what a disaster! I began to descend along it. I slid along the rope with one hand and held the hatchet with the other. But soon the rope ended, and I hung in the air, between heaven and earth. It was terrible, but I was not taken aback. Without thinking twice, I grabbed the hatchet and, firmly grasping the lower end of the rope, chopped off its upper end and tied it to the lower one. This gave me the opportunity to go down to Earth."
Soon after receiving the patent, Birkeland proposed to four Norwegians, two of whom were high-ranking officers and two others from the industry and the government of Norway, to create a company that would take over all the work on the development, putting into service and mass production of the new "miracle weapon".
Alv Egeland and William Burke's book Christian Birkeland: The First Space Explorer contains a letter from Birkeland dated September 17, 1901, addressed to Gunnar Knudsen, an influential politician and shipowner who served as Prime Minister of Norway in 1908-1910 and 1913-1920. where the professor wrote: “I recently invented a device that uses electricity instead of gunpowder. With such a device, it becomes possible to shoot large charges of nitroglycerin at a considerable distance. I have already applied for a patent. Colonel Craig has witnessed my experiments. To raise the capital needed to build several guns, a company will be formed, which will include several people. I invite you, who have supported my basic research, to participate in this campaign. The idea is that if the gun works - and I believe so - Colonel Craig and I will present it to Krupp and other members of the arms industry to sell them the patent. In reality, it all looks like a lottery. But your investment will be relatively small, and the chances of making a profit will be high. Better if the answer is given by telegraph. Of course, all this must be kept secret for some time. " Knudsen responded positively: “I accept the offer with pleasure. I promise to smile even if the lottery turns out to be a losing one."
In November 1901, the Birkeland's Firearms company was created, the authorized capital of which was 35 thousand Norwegian crowns, distributed over 35 shares (shares). At the same time, Birkeland received five shares for free - payment for his scientific contribution to the common cause. The first "electromagnetic cannon" about a meter long was built already in 1901, it cost 4,000 crowns and was able to accelerate a half-kilogram projectile to a speed of 80 m / s. It was necessary to demonstrate the gun to a wide range of specialists.
The New York Times of May 8, 1902, in connection with a demonstration in Berlin, stated: "In theory, Professor Birkeland's cannon can send a projectile weighing two tons for 90 miles or more." However, in the "test" tests on May 15, according to other foreign sources, an initial speed of only 50 m / s was obtained, which significantly reduced the estimated firing range - no more than 1000 meters. Not so hot that even for the beginning of the twentieth century.
In 1902, Birkeland and Knudsen held a demonstration of the cannon for the Swedish king Oscar II, who first of all demanded a long firing range and therefore literally beamed when Knudsen told him that such a cannon could get Russia from Oslo. However, the inventor himself understood the unattainability of such distances. After filing the third patent, he, in particular, wrote: “to fire a steel projectile weighing 2000 kg, containing 500 kg of nitroglycerin, with an initial speed of 400 m / s, a barrel 27 meters long will be required, and the pressure will be 180 kg / sq. cm . It is clear that at that time it was very difficult to build a weapon with similar characteristics, one might say - practically impossible.
On March 6, 1902, Birkeland held a cannon demonstration at the Norwegian Academy of Sciences, firing three shots at a 40-centimeter-thick wooden shield. The demonstration was a success, with rave reviews from various publications, including the English Mechanics and World of Science. Moreover, at this demonstration, the professor announced a developed method to reduce the sparks that accompanied the flight of the projectile through the coils. Impressed by the demonstration, the Germans offered Birkeland to buy out his company. The board of directors did not approve the proposed price, but since the project required new investments, it allowed Birkeland to hold a public lecture and demonstration of the cannon at the University of Oslo on March 6, 1903, at 17:30. However, instead of a tremendous success, the "lecture" ended in fiasco. No, the gun didn’t explode, it didn’t kill anyone, but the trouble that happened during the demonstration scared away investors and customers.
For the demonstration, the last version of the gun, the model of 1903, was chosen, which had a caliber of 65 mm, a barrel length of about 3 meters and included 10 groups of solenoids with 300 coils each. Today, this cannon, which cost 10 thousand kronor and fired 10 kg shells, is on display at the Norwegian Museum of Technology in Oslo. The university allowed its professor to give a lecture and a demonstration in the old banquet hall. The upcoming event was widely advertised in the press - as a result, there were no empty seats in the hall. Moreover, a few hours before the event, Birkeland and his assistant conducted a test - a shot at the oak shield was successful.
The demonstration itself was later described by Birkeland's assistants, Olaf Devik and Sem Zeland, an English translation of their memoirs is given in the aforementioned book by A. Egeland and U. Burke:, 7 cm. - V. Shch. Note). A dynamo that generated energy was installed outside in the lobby. I blocked the space on both sides of the trajectory of the projectile, but Fridtjof Nansen ignored my warning and sat down in the danger zone. Apart from this enclosed space, the rest of the room was filled with spectators. In the front row were representatives of Armstrong and Krupp …
After explaining the physical principles on which the cannon is built, I announced: “Ladies and gentlemen! You don't have to worry. When I turn the switch, you won't see or hear anything except the projectile hitting the target. " Then I took up the switch. Immediately there was a powerful flash of light, it loudly rumbled. A bright arc of light is the result of a short circuit at 10,000 amperes. Flames burst from the barrel of the cannon. Some of the ladies screamed shrilly. Panic reigned for a while. It was the most dramatic moment in my life - the shot brought down my capitalization from 300 to 0. However, the shell still hit the target."
However, Norwegian historians and researchers still have not come to an unequivocal opinion about whether the projectile hit the target, or whether it never left the barrel of the gun. But then it was not important for Birkeland and his companions - after the commotion that arose, no one wanted to acquire either a gun or a patent.
This is how the artist presented the last experience of Professor Birkeland with his electromagnetic gun.
In the article "Electromagnetic Cannon - Getting Closer to the Weapon System" published in Military Technology No. 5, 1998, Dr. accelerating devices, cited such memories of one of the witnesses about Birkeland's cannon: “The cannon is quite clumsy, one might say, a scientific device that at first did not inspire much confidence in its usefulness, but which, thanks to further improvement, could become useful … the cannon needs a special energy source … In short, the electromagnetic cannon is currently in its embryonic stage. But it is premature to try to draw conclusions on the basis of its imperfection that this first weapon system will not develop into a useful combat weapon in the future."
In April 1903, Birkeland was asked to prepare, in the name of the French Minister of War, a proposal to transfer the design of an electromagnetic gun for study and production, but the inventor never received a response from the head of the Commission on Inventions to his proposal.
Birkeland's electromagnetic cannon, model 1903, at the Museum of the University of Oslo
Birkeland made his last attempt to pave the way for his brainchild about six months before the outbreak of the First World War. A. Egeland and W. Burke point out: “Birkeland sent letters from Egypt to Lord Reilly (the famous British physicist, Nobel Prize winner. - V. Shch. Note) and Dr. R. T. Glazebrook (British physicist. - V. V. Sch.), Members of the British Commission for the Examination of Inventions of War. In both letters, the British government offered the right to free and gratuitous development and use of his electromagnetic gun.
At the same time, he set three conditions: an absolute secret - the name of Birkeland should not have been mentioned in any documents; after the completion of work on weapons, Norway should have received free access to them; weapons created on the basis of this technology should never be used against the inhabitants of Scandinavia.
The demand for secrecy arose out of Birkeland's fears that he, as the inventor of the electromagnetic gun, could be in danger. A meeting with Francis Dahlrymple of the British Invention Council in Cairo at the end of November 1916 probably ended in vain."
A year later, Birkeland died, eventually receiving six patents for the electromagnetic gun.
No time for innovation
Less successful was the project of the London inventor A. S. Simpson: a 1908 “reel-to-reel” cannon, allegedly capable of throwing a 907 kg projectile at a distance of 300 miles with an initial velocity of 9144 m / s (it was this speed that Colonel R. A. in the New Zealand edition of "Progress" of August 1, 1908, which, however, raises serious doubts), was rejected by the British military as impracticable and unnecessarily technically difficult for that time.
It is noteworthy that in response to the note, Progress received a letter from New Zealand engineer James Edward Fulton, a member of the UK Institute of Civil Engineers and an employee of the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, in which A. S. Simpson's ideas were criticized: The inventor claims that he has reached a very high initial velocity of the projectile and at the same time says that "there is no recoil!" On the same page, Colonel Maud of the Royal Artillery states that "indeed, the gun can provide a muzzle velocity of 30,000 feet per second (9144 m / s) without recoil." Colonel Mod's strange words are quoted on page 338: "Mr. Simpson (the inventor) managed to overcome the laws of Newtonian mechanics."
We must be skeptical of the inventor's ability to overcome these laws. One of Newton's laws says: "Action is always equal and opposite opposition." Therefore, the explosives will work in the opposite direction. Suppose you fired a shot with the bolt open, then the propellant gases will rush into the air, which is lighter and more elastic than the projectile - as a result, the propellant gases will exert weak pressure on it. If in this case we turn the cannon with the muzzle backward, then the inventor will simply shoot with air, but at the same time, he will probably declare that the recoil does not act on the projectile, which here, as it were, plays the role of a bolt. During tests, a 5 pound projectile was fired from a 16-pound gun (7, 26 kg), but the recoil could have been undetectable. if the weapon was significantly heavier than the projectile."
As you can see, doubts about the reality of A. S. Simpson's invention arose not only among us. By the way, for comparison: the muzzle velocity of the 31.75-kg projectile of the Mark 45 Mod 4 naval artillery installation, adopted by the US Navy in 2000 and having a total mass of 28.9 tons, does not exceed 807.7 m / s, and the speed the flight of the anti-aircraft guided missile of the most modern American shipborne system RIM-161 "Standard-3" is 2666 m / s. And here is an ordinary cannon of the early twentieth century with a projectile speed of more than 9000 m / s. Of course, fantastic!
The project of the "magnetofugal cannon" of the Russian engineers Colonel Nikolai Nikolayevich Podolsky and M. Yampolsky did not pass into the practical plane either. The request for the creation of a 97-ton 300-mm ultra-long-range electric cannon with an 18-meter barrel and an estimated initial speed of 3000 m / s for a 1000-kg projectile was rejected by the Artillery Committee of the Main Artillery Directorate of the Russian Army by a decision of July 2, 1915 due to lack of funds and production capacities under the conditions of the ongoing world war, although he recognized this idea as "correct and feasible."
Towards the very end of the First World War, the French engineer Andre Louis-Octave Fauchon-Villeplet - and the Kaiser's troops had already become fed up with the French at that time - offers an "electric apparatus for the movement of the projectile", structurally representing two parallel copper rails placed inside the barrel, on top which were hung with coils of wire. Electric current was passed through the wires from a battery or a mechanical generator. When moving along the rails, the feathered projectile with its "wings" sequentially closed the contacts of the above coils and thus gradually moved forward, gaining speed. In fact, it was about the first prototype of today's railguns.
The Fauchon-Villeplet project was prepared at the turn of 1917-1918, the first application for a US patent was filed on July 31, 1917, but the French engineer received his patent No. 1370200 only on March 1, 1921 (he received three patents in total). By that time, the war had already ended happily for England and France, Germany was defeated, and Russia, in which the Civil War was raging, was not considered a rival. London and Paris reaped the laurels of victory, and they were no longer up to any "exotic". Moreover, in the course of the last war, new types of weapons appeared - including combat aircraft and tanks, the further improvement of which, as well as dreadnoughts and submarines, drew on all the forces and resources of the military ministries.
