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Post by boxholder on Apr 30, 2016 12:11:31 GMT
The problems with thermite are the time that it takes to burn and the fact that the molten iron puddle runs off if the surface is inclined. You can't really direct it. Quendil's post immediately above may reflect a WW-2 explosive shaped charge anti-tank grenade: "springlading"= explosive loading It was attached by magnets. The charge will penetrate solid steel armor up to about 6x the diameter of the charge (3 inch charge penetrates 18 inches!!). Works on concrete too. This a German one and the Russians had a similar one. It was a kind of desperation weapon since some guy had to run up and put on the tank. Just the thing for a Forlorn Hope unit, though. The magnets might be replaced with adhesive for non-magnetic targets. Mortars could fire them for topside attack.
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Post by hardlec on Apr 30, 2016 23:45:48 GMT
Wicket glue plus thermite. Big grenade. One use. For desperate situations.
It would be good for setting off big fires, too.
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Post by madmorgan on May 1, 2016 0:27:08 GMT
Nice. I was thinking something akin to the German "potatoe masher" grenade, with a strip of tinfoil covering the top with Wickett glue underneath. Pull the tinfoil off, pull the pin, and stick it where it'll do the most good. That is just about perfect for the Forlorn Hope guys. Ty.
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Post by scottwashburn on May 1, 2016 11:11:27 GMT
Mount them on poles as lances for cavalry or motorcycle troops. The principle of shaped charge explosives did exist at this time period.
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Post by boxholder on May 1, 2016 12:38:39 GMT
With all due respect, I was known at the time From Wikipedia entry on shaped charges
'The earliest mention of hollow charges occurred in 1792. Franz Xaver von Baader (1765–1841) was a German mining engineer at that time; in a mining journal, he advocated a conical space at the forward end of a blasting charge to increase the explosive's effect and thereby save powder.[2] The idea was adopted, for a time, in Norway and in the mines of the Harz mountains of Germany, although the only available explosive at the time was gunpowder, which is not a high explosive and hence incapable of producing the shock wave that the shaped-charge effect requires.[3]
The first true hollow charge effect was achieved in 1883, by Max von Foerster (1845–1905),[4] chief of the nitrocellulose factory of Wolff & Co. in Walsrode, Germany.[5][6]
By 1886, Gustav Bloem of Düsseldorf, Germany had obtained U.S. Patent 342,423 for hemispherical cavity metal detonators to concentrate the effect of the explosion in an axial direction.[7]
The Munroe effect is named after Charles E. Munroe, who discovered it in 1888. As a civilian chemist working at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, he noticed that when a block of explosive guncotton with the manufacturer's name stamped into it was detonated next to a metal plate, the lettering was cut into the plate. Conversely, if letters were raised in relief above the surface of the explosive, then the letters on the plate would also be raised above its surface.[8] In 1894, Munroe constructed the first crude shaped charge:[9][10]
Exactly in our time period.
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Post by hardlec on May 1, 2016 15:56:45 GMT
One of Edison's principals was that there had to be a need for an item before he would spend resources developing it. The shaped charge was a solution without a problem until thousands of Nazi tanks rolled across France. The Nazis made special purpose demolition charges for paratroopers but did not apply them to the anti-tank role until allied tanks became a problem.
With Martian war machines running amok, I'm quite confident shaped charges will get the attention they deserve.
Good stuff, Boxholder.
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Post by scottwashburn on May 1, 2016 16:17:16 GMT
With all due respect, I was known at the time From Wikipedia entry on shaped charges 'The earliest mention of hollow charges occurred in 1792. Franz Xaver von Baader (1765–1841) was a German mining engineer at that time; in a mining journal, he advocated a conical space at the forward end of a blasting charge to increase the explosive's effect and thereby save powder.[2] The idea was adopted, for a time, in Norway and in the mines of the Harz mountains of Germany, although the only available explosive at the time was gunpowder, which is not a high explosive and hence incapable of producing the shock wave that the shaped-charge effect requires.[3] The first true hollow charge effect was achieved in 1883, by Max von Foerster (1845–1905),[4] chief of the nitrocellulose factory of Wolff & Co. in Walsrode, Germany.[5][6] By 1886, Gustav Bloem of Düsseldorf, Germany had obtained U.S. Patent 342,423 for hemispherical cavity metal detonators to concentrate the effect of the explosion in an axial direction.[7] The Munroe effect is named after Charles E. Munroe, who discovered it in 1888. As a civilian chemist working at the U.S. Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Rhode Island, he noticed that when a block of explosive guncotton with the manufacturer's name stamped into it was detonated next to a metal plate, the lettering was cut into the plate. Conversely, if letters were raised in relief above the surface of the explosive, then the letters on the plate would also be raised above its surface.[8] In 1894, Munroe constructed the first crude shaped charge:[9][10] Exactly in our time period. Uh, yes, that's what I said: It did exists during the time period we are talking about. I had already looked at that exact entry. And Mr. Munroe will be appearing in my books
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Post by madmorgan on May 1, 2016 23:45:30 GMT
Sweet. Write scott write.
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Post by boxholder on May 1, 2016 23:53:09 GMT
Mr Washburn: I misread your posting. Sorry 'bout that!
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