Cast Iorn Artillery Gun

[Mike(PA)]

Hey guys, I found this at an older home, I have found a lot of 1940's coins here so it might be from that time period. Anybody know how old it is, or what it is? On the inside of one side of it, it has the number 22 and the other piece has the number 33. Thanks HH

 

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[hollowpointred]

looks like a rail gun to me. i think they were first used in WW2 so your guess of the 40s would be pretty accurate.

 

[Leon]

Them's pretty cool, WTG!!!
My Father used to have a small canon that you put sulfur into, and actually shot it off...
Didn't look quite like those, but from the holes in the side, they look like they might have been used to hold them down when firing... Just a thought,,, Good luck on the ID, & Happy hunting~

 

[Monty]

I'm pretty sure it is a carbide cannon. They were popular when I was a very small child. It had a lanyard on the back of the breach that when pulled caused a spark inside the cannon to make it fire. Carbide mixed with water causes a flammable gas to form which will detonate when a spark hits it. Sometimes they stuffed them with newspaper and it made confetti shoot out several feet. They were also used to start races for track and field events. The biggest one I ever saw was used to start boat races. It was a low pressure explosion and did not fire a projectile. The ones I remember were made of cast iron and often were not solid pieces. Carbide was also use to make gas to burn in miners lamps that were worn on a strap around the head for underground mining. JIM

 

[Pangus]

the carbide is Calcium Carbide, and when wet it foams, releasing heat and Acetylene gas, which is the gas they mix with oxygen to weld metal. (Its the red tank of the red and green tanks welders push around on the cart.) It makes one heckuva potato gun fuel too!!

 

[Monty]

That would be the same thing! It only took about a quarter teaspon full as I remember. JIM