In 1862, Georgia dentist, builder, and mechanic John Gilleland raised money from a coterie of Confederate citizens in Athens, Georgia to build the chain-shot gun for a cost of $350. Cast in one piece, the gun featured side-by-side bores, each a little over 3 inches in diameter and splayed slightly outward so the shots would diverge and stretch the chain taut. The two barrels have a divergence of 3 degrees, and the cannon was designed to shoot simultaneously two cannonballs connected with a chain to “mow down the enemy somewhat as a scythe cuts wheat”. During tests, the Gilleland cannon effectively mowed down trees, tore up a cornfield, knocked down a chimney, and killed a cow. These experiments took place along Newton Bridge Road northwest of downtown Athens. None of the previously mentioned items were anywhere near the gun’s intended target.
r*ddit
The only reason we know the right answers are because people like this weren’t afraid to try new things and find out what doesn’t work.
If you’re gonna dunk on the man, do it because he was a Confederate.
I find myself repeating some version this sentiment every now end then: There are good reasons to hate (whoever the conversation is about), but this ain’t one. We don’t need to grasp at straws when there are solid branches.
Or that he failed at convincing them to get funded more. I feel like a fleet of Virginia-like ironclads with twin-guns could’ve sank their pockets for good.
He couldn’t visualise his invention very well without computers or Orbs to ponder.