Swedish Cannon ??

[Jim McDougall]

There you have it!!!! As I said before, the maestro !!!
and yes we are truly a great forum and as can be seen by these threads, there is outstanding knowledge out there.
The search feature is an amazing feature here as it opens the doors to all these wonderful archived threads. These resources are invaluable to members and lurkers alike as research ever continues on these topics. The only reason I always mention the lurkers is because I want you guys to join in!!!!

There is no reason to think that anything you say will be ridiculed or unimportant. Besides, I have played devils advocate many times knowing that my comments are likely to draw fire, and the resulting comments are often loaded with important previously unknown information. Its a win win deal!

Nicely done Michael! Thank you for reviving those threads and the comprehensive material, and thank you David for posting this...really interesting topic!

All the best,
Jim

[Matchlock]

Thank you very much indeed as always, Jim!

Best,
Michael

[katana]

Thank you Jim and Michael ,
for your input. I can see that an artillery piece with 'portability' would have great tactical advantages in certain terrain or for rapid deployment during phases of a battle.

The cannon on 'Mythbusters' was not historically accurate ie dimensions etc. However the construction was fairly close. It was used to fire a solid ball and was compared to an iron barrelled cannon with the same 'bore'. As I said before interestingly the muzzle velocity was greater with the Swedish cannon. (I believe the powder charge was the same for both cannons). Unfortunately the 'breach' end was blown out and therefore was only fired once.
I suspect that, perhaps, the breach end was either incorrectly made or they had reproduced an earlier version (which was later modified).

Even with the overheating problem they still seem that they would be reasonably effective. I would think that if a smaller charge was used to propel grape shot it could have been a useful 'anti-personnel' weapon. Even if the copper barrel was slightly deformed by the heat ....grape shot would still exit....a full cannon ball might not with the obvious consequences

Quick moving artillery would be a massive advantage during a battle....perhaps if the Swedes had utilised this cannon as a large 'shotgun' ...it may have proved its worth

Summary from Mythbusters...........

"... For comparison, the Build Team fired a Civil War Parrott gun of similar size to the cannons described in the myth to measure its muzzle velocity, which was 389 mph (626 km/h). Because there are two separate versions of the myth, originating from Sweden and Ireland, the Build Team decided to test both designs. The Swedish cannon consisted of a copper core wrapped in leather and iron bands, while the Irish cannon was built completely out of leather. The Swedish cannon managed to fire its cannonball at a speed of 450 mph (720 km/h), but blew out its breech in the process. The Irish cannon failed spectacularly, with the breech blowing out, the cannonball moving only two feet, and the barrel completely unravelling, making a second shot impossible. They then built a third leather cannon and reinforced it with significantly more leather. They also lubricated the barrel to make it easier for the cannonball to fire. The cannon managed to fire successfully, but the cannonball could only achieve a speed of 52 mph (84 km/h). While the cannon was still structurally intact, the barrel was too damaged for a second shot......."

Kind Regards David

[katana]

One of the threads posted by Micheal has a link stating that the 'Swedish cannon' idea was brought back and modified by Captain of Infantry; Robert Scott and was sucessfully used in English civil war.

http://home.earthlink.net/~dgshinn/companyinfo.html

This 're-inactment group' have built a functional version from x-ray images of a surviving cannon.

".........Our leather cannon is constructed like the original, with a copper core, sleeved in a steel tube held in place by a steel cage, wrapped with rope, plastered and covered with linen and the leather casing shrunk on the tube and over a wooden cannon muzzle and breech ring. The only departures are the steel tube sealed with its threaded breech plug rather than the cast amalgam used a to seal the breech of the wrought iron original. The simpler design adopted suffered serious design flaws that plagued it throughout the War. The Ripp design overcomes these and likewise offers greater strength solving in large degree the age-old failure of iron tubes subjected to the wet swab that eventually cracked the casing, by using a cooper core and the cage that helped dissipate heat. No doubt its added weight and expense though made it prohibitive to adopt on large scale. Our carriage design is taken from an original leather cannon....."

Regards David