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Along with Whitworth's smaller 3-pdr gun, the artillery piece was considered for adoption by the British government's Board of Ordnance. However, Whitworth's guns eventually lost out to the Armstrong gun. [1] During the American Civil War the weapon was exported and saw service in the Union and Confederate armies, though it was considered a rarity.
The Big Guns: Civil War Siege, Seacoast, and Naval Cannon. Alexandria Bay, New York: Museum Restoration Service. ISBN 0-88855-012-X. War Office; Whitworth, Joseph (1866). The Report of the Armstrong & Whitworth Committee, with a Letter Thereon to Earl de Grey, and Appendices. J. Thomson & Son. Kinard, Jeff (2007).
The Whitworth, designed by Joseph Whitworth and manufactured in England, was a rare gun during the war but an interesting precursor to modern artillery in that it was loaded from the breech and had exceptional accuracy over great distance. An engineering magazine wrote in 1864 that, "At 1600 yards [1500 m] the Whitworth gun fired 10 shots with ...
12-pounder Whitworth rifled cannon M1841 howitzer In the left of this picture U.S. Grant can be seen firing a mountain howitzer. The twelve-pound cannon is a cannon that fires twelve-pound projectiles from its barrel, as well as grapeshot, chain shot, shrapnel, and later shells and canister shot. [1]
Along with Whitworth's 12-pdr rifle, the artillery piece was considered for adoption by the British government's Board of Ordnance, eventually losing out to the Armstrong gun. [1] During the American Civil War the weapon was imported and saw service in the Union army and possibly [2] in the Confederate army.
The Whitworth rifle was designed by Sir Joseph Whitworth, a prominent British engineer and entrepreneur. Whitworth had experimented with cannons using polygonal rifling instead of traditional rifled barrels, which was patented in 1854. The hexagonal polygonal rifling meant that the projectile did not have to bite into grooves as was done with ...
Whitworth also designed a large rifled breech-loading gun with a 2.75 inches (69.85 mm) bore, a 12 pounds 11 ounces (5.75 kg) projectile and a range of about 6 miles (10 km). The spirally-grooved projectile was patented in 1855. This was rejected by the British Army, who preferred the guns from Armstrong, but was used in the American Civil War.
Eventually the estate was 1,729 acres (7.00 km 2) and had seven million trees planted, together with five artificial lakes and 31 miles (50 km) of carriage drives. The lakes were used to generate hydro-electricity, and the house was the first in the world to be lit by hydro-electricity, using incandescent lamps provided by the inventor Joseph ...