So, what about potato cannons?

I haven't read the most recent book, but the last time I looked, the Church was having a really hard time creating enough projectile weapons for their infantry, especially light cannon for infantry support.

How about something modeled after potato cannons? A large combustion chamber, and a less energetic fuel than gunpowder. Alcohol will do the job, and is not that hard to make.

Googling for videos of spud cannons will show what they are capable of. I could easily see spud cannon technology being used for a very light artillery to support infantry.

I could far more easily see spud cannons used to fire light grapeshot into the rigging of enemy ships to destroy sails. Using alcohol as a fuel, there would be no coals to worry about for premature ignition. If that was decided to still, somehow, be a concern, no problem. Spray down the inside with a hose between every shot. It doesn't matter if the inside is wet, or even if there are pools of water inside the combustion chamber.

Of course, this might be a little late, considering where ship technology is headed, but it would be a innovation for the church, within their ability to manufacture, to allow light artillery for land and sea.

Cheopis wrote:I haven't read the most recent book, but the last time I looked, the Church was having a really hard time creating enough projectile weapons for their infantry, especially light cannon for infantry support.

How about something modeled after potato cannons? A large combustion chamber, and a less energetic fuel than gunpowder. Alcohol will do the job, and is not that hard to make.

Googling for videos of spud cannons will show what they are capable of. I could easily see spud cannon technology being used for a very light artillery to support infantry.

I could far more easily see spud cannons used to fire light grapeshot into the rigging of enemy ships to destroy sails. Using alcohol as a fuel, there would be no coals to worry about for premature ignition. If that was decided to still, somehow, be a concern, no problem. Spray down the inside with a hose between every shot. It doesn't matter if the inside is wet, or even if there are pools of water inside the combustion chamber.

Of course, this might be a little late, considering where ship technology is headed, but it would be a innovation for the church, within their ability to manufacture, to allow light artillery for land and sea.

I have a spud gun. And it shoots...spuds! The thing powers up with air compression and with 50 pounds of pressure will shoot a potato up to a quarter mile.

It is made out of PCV pipe and uses a globe valve to release the pressure. I've mounted a fishing pole with reel to mine with a 2oz projectile on the end of a 50 pound test line.as a way of getting my wire antennas up into trees.

Don

Cheopis wrote:I haven't read the most recent book, but the last time I looked, the Church was having a really hard time creating enough projectile weapons for their infantry, especially light cannon for infantry support.

How about something modeled after potato cannons? A large combustion chamber, and a less energetic fuel than gunpowder. Alcohol will do the job, and is not that hard to make.

Googling for videos of spud cannons will show what they are capable of. I could easily see spud cannon technology being used for a very light artillery to support infantry.

I could far more easily see spud cannons used to fire light grapeshot into the rigging of enemy ships to destroy sails. Using alcohol as a fuel, there would be no coals to worry about for premature ignition. If that was decided to still, somehow, be a concern, no problem. Spray down the inside with a hose between every shot. It doesn't matter if the inside is wet, or even if there are pools of water inside the combustion chamber.

Of course, this might be a little late, considering where ship technology is headed, but it would be a innovation for the church, within their ability to manufacture, to allow light artillery for land and sea.

Downside is that it needs a either a supply of compressed gas or an air compressor. By the time you have either, explosive powered systems already pack more punch as you are basically looking at an infantry mortar with a higher level of complication and you already have a steamship to put it in (as unless you want to hand pump it).

AirTech wrote:

Cheopis wrote:I haven't read the most recent book, but the last time I looked, the Church was having a really hard time creating enough projectile weapons for their infantry, especially light cannon for infantry support.

How about something modeled after potato cannons? A large combustion chamber, and a less energetic fuel than gunpowder. Alcohol will do the job, and is not that hard to make.

Googling for videos of spud cannons will show what they are capable of. I could easily see spud cannon technology being used for a very light artillery to support infantry.

I could far more easily see spud cannons used to fire light grapeshot into the rigging of enemy ships to destroy sails. Using alcohol as a fuel, there would be no coals to worry about for premature ignition. If that was decided to still, somehow, be a concern, no problem. Spray down the inside with a hose between every shot. It doesn't matter if the inside is wet, or even if there are pools of water inside the combustion chamber.

Of course, this might be a little late, considering where ship technology is headed, but it would be a innovation for the church, within their ability to manufacture, to allow light artillery for land and sea.

Downside is that it needs a either a supply of compressed gas or an air compressor. By the time you have either, explosive powered systems already pack more punch as you are basically looking at an infantry mortar with a higher level of complication and you already have a steamship to put it in (as unless you want to hand pump it).

Eh, no, you do not need a compressor or compressed gas for a potato cannon. Alcohol works just fine. There are hundreds if not thousands of Youtube videos demonstrating combustion-based potato cannons.

A long, long time ago when I was in college, I made a "potato cannon" out of a couple soda cans. Used lighter fluid as the propellant, and shot a tennis ball out of it one night. As God is my witness, the ball seemed to go forever. It was still rising when I lost sight of it in the darkness. While I couldn't hazard a guess as to the ultimate or maximum range, my one and only shot HAD to travel a couple hundred yards.

Almost got me tossed out of school.

My roomies cracked up!

OOPS!

What a potato gun based infantry weapon? It can be used to propel grenades and similar explosives further away. It wont be heavy artilley but could be very dangerous.

Wouldn't inventing a potato gun require the Church to be... inventive? You know, the very thing the Inquisition and Church as a whole was designed to suppress?

And that's even if you can get the idea sold to the Church.

"Why exactly should we waste resources to build a weapon that's already inferior to what we already have?"

Fine. The potato gun can be fired using alcohol for propellant. Now, where exactly is this alcohol supposed to come from again? Is the Church going to have to take invaluable skilled workers off making guns and maintaining vital internal infrastructure to build a whole set of refineries to make propellant for this weapon?

Or worse, empty their wine cellars?

An interesting idea for light artillery. Some thoughts:

Can the church devote quality steel to this project, with the other need it has? They currently use a lot of iron and brass when it will do the job, because they lack Charis' steel production

Can they produce tube walls that are light and strong enough to do the job? If they lack good enough quality control in their steel production, then they have to make the tube thicker and heavier. The can alleviate this some by accepting lower velocity, and lower range.

What would they fire? Black powder grenades are likely to be ineffective as artillery weapons, and if they try to make a heavier shell we end up heading into full size mortar territory.

I also suspect that most drinking alcohol will not suffice for propellant (have never tried it). Do they have, or can they make, other alcohols?

Cheopis wrote:I could far more easily see spud cannons used to fire light grapeshot into the rigging of enemy ships to destroy sails. Using alcohol as a fuel, there would be no coals to worry about for premature ignition. If that was decided to still, somehow, be a concern, no problem. Spray down the inside with a hose between every shot. It doesn't matter if the inside is wet, or even if there are pools of water inside the combustion chamber.

Alcohol aboard ships ? There are real concerns there that the only thing you'd get is a lot of drunk sailors, and no alcohol left when battle starts.

Ok, the Church can probably get around that problem. But it seems to me that the issue with gun technology is less what propellant you use than how strong you can make the barrels for a given weight. After all, you can tone down the charge of gunpowder, maybe leave some room between it and the projectile to lower the initial pressure spike... in other words you should be able to fire your spud gun with gunpowder...

So how is this potato cannon better than existing Safehold cannons? It's a cannon. You're just using a different, less powerful, propellant.