Ethnographic Arms & Armour - View Single Post

Philip · 22nd October 2006, 07:32 PM

Fenlander,
Yes, the principle for the mobile rocket launchers is the same, although the ones Hezbollah has shoot further and have a bigger bang thanks to black poweder being supplanted by specialized propellants and high explosives in our time.

China did import some technology besides the matchlock about a half-century ago--remarkable is the number of breechloading cannons used by Ming and early Qing artillery units. The technology was brought to Asia by the Portuguese. The Chinese made some BLs that were of impressive size, larger than what Europeans were used to making. Their advantage was faster rate of fire than muzzle loaders, but the downside was lower chamber pressure (and thus shorter range) because combustive gases invariably leaked out between barrel and chamber-piece because there no effective way of sealing the joint completely. [the problem was not solved in Europe, either, until the latter 19th cent.].

What is truly remarkable about Chinese ordnance was the development, late in the middle ages, of some ingenious land and underwater mines, some detonated by timed fuses. The latter used some rather clever detonation devices which were waterproof. Less laudable were chemical weapons which sickened the enemy with noxious fumes or caused boils on their skin.

22nd October 2006, 07:32 PM	#8
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	explosive-activated weapons Fenlander, Yes, the principle for the mobile rocket launchers is the same, although the ones Hezbollah has shoot further and have a bigger bang thanks to black poweder being supplanted by specialized propellants and high explosives in our time. China did import some technology besides the matchlock about a half-century ago--remarkable is the number of breechloading cannons used by Ming and early Qing artillery units. The technology was brought to Asia by the Portuguese. The Chinese made some BLs that were of impressive size, larger than what Europeans were used to making. Their advantage was faster rate of fire than muzzle loaders, but the downside was lower chamber pressure (and thus shorter range) because combustive gases invariably leaked out between barrel and chamber-piece because there no effective way of sealing the joint completely. [the problem was not solved in Europe, either, until the latter 19th cent.]. What is truly remarkable about Chinese ordnance was the development, late in the middle ages, of some ingenious land and underwater mines, some detonated by timed fuses. The latter used some rather clever detonation devices which were waterproof. Less laudable were chemical weapons which sickened the enemy with noxious fumes or caused boils on their skin.