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Image: Scientific American, February 15, 1862
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50 Years Ago: Bee Jargon
During 1862, while the Civil War raged across the country, Scientific American periodically covered inventions that were designed to help some aspect of the military effort. Some were considered to be patentable but were in reality perfectly useless, while others were harbingers of how war was to be fought down through the next century and a half.
These inventions from 1862 came from some of the best minds in the business of military technology. A few of them, unfortunately, came from some of most clueless brains.
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2 Comments
Add CommentThe Merrimac is amazingly similar to the modern design theme for stealth.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNot necessarily a waste of the turret. Notice that the cannons shown are muzzle loaders.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisTherefore: aim, fire, rotate to the next loaded cannon and fire. The monitor so equipped could keep up a steady rate of fire as each loaded weapon is rotated into firing position and discharged and is then pulled in (if recoil didn't already drive it back into the turret) and reloaded out of the line of return fire; assuming a one-on-one engagement. A well-trained crew could probably manage several shots per minute until exhaustion of shot & powder and/or the crew.