6.2 CANNON

BASIC PIPE CANNON
ROCKET FIRING CANNON

The cannon is a piece of artillery that has been in use since the 11th century. It is not unlike a musket, in that it is filled with powder, loaded, and fired. Cannons of this sort must also be cleaned after each shot, otherwise, the projectile may jam in the barrel when it is fired, causing the barrel to explode. A sociopath could build a cannon without too much trouble, if he/she had a little bit of money, and some patience.

6.21 BASIC PIPE CANNON

A simple cannon can be made from a thick pipe by almost anyone. The only difficult part is finding a pipe that is extremely smooth on its interior. This is absolutely necessary; otherwise, the projectile may jam. Copper or aluminum piping is usually smooth enough, but it must also be extremely thick to withstand the pressure developed by the expanding hot gasses in a cannon. If one uses a projectile such as a CO2 cartridge, since such a projectile can be made to explode, a pipe that is about 1.5 - 2 feet long is ideal. Such a pipe MUST have walls that are at least 1/3 to 1/2 an inch thick, and be very smooth on the interior. If possible, screw an endplug into the pipe. Otherwise, the pipe must be crimped and folded closed, without cracking or tearing the pipe. A small hole is drilled in the back of the pipe near the crimp or endplug. Then, all that need be done is fill the pipe with about two teaspoons of grade black powder or pyrodex, insert a fuse, pack it lightly by ramming a wad of tissue paper down the barrel, and drop in a CO2 cartridge. Brace the cannon securely against a strong structure, light the fuse, and run. If the person is lucky, he will not have overcharged the cannon, and he will not be hit by pieces of exploding barrel. Such a cannon would look like this:

             __________________ fuse hole
             |
             |
             V
      ________________________________________________________________
     | |______________________________________________________________|
     |endplug|powder|t.p.| CO2 cartridge
     | ______|______|____|____________________________________________
     |_|______________________________________________________________|

An exploding projectile can be made for this type of cannon with a CO2 cartridge. It is relatively simple to do. Just make a crater maker, and construct it such that the fuse projects about an inch from the end of the cartridge. Then, wrap the fuse with duct tape, covering it entirely, except for a small amount at the end. Put this in the pipe cannon without using a tissue paper packing wad. When the cannon is fired, it will ignite the end of the fuse, and shoot the CO2 cartridge. The explosive-filled cartridge will explode in about three seconds, if all goes well. Such a projectile would look like this:

           ___
          /   \
          |   |
          | C |
          | M |
          |   |
          |   |
          |\ /|
          | | | ---- tape
          |_|_|
            |
            | ------ fuse

6.22 ROCKET FIRING CANNON

A rocket firing cannon can be made exactly like a normal cannon; the only difference is the ammunition. A rocket fired from a cannon will fly further than a rocket alone, since the action of shooting it overcomes the initial inertia. A rocket that is launched when it is moving will go further than one that is launched when it is stationary. Such a rocket would resemble a normal rocket bomb, except it would have no fins. It would look like this:

the fuse on such a device would, obviously, be short, but it would not be ignited until the rocket's ejection charge exploded. Thus, the delay before the ejection charge, in effect, becomes the delay before the bomb explodes. Note that no fuse need be put in the rocket; the burning powder in the cannon will ignite it, and simultaneously push the rocket out of the cannon at a high velocity.

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