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| Some Artillery Firsts An Atomic Cannon -- dubbed "Amazon Annie" -- a forty-foot, eighty-five-ton weapon, was fired on May 25, 1943, at Frenchman Flat, Nevada. The 280-mm projectile measured eleven inches by three feet. A 200-mm Automatic Aircraft Cannon was delivered to the U.S. Army on May 16, 1941. The first Bazooka was produced on June 14, 1942. It was a steel tube, fifty inches long, open at both ends. An electric battery set off a rocket-propelled charge. Benjamin Chambers, Sr., patented a breech loading Cannon on July 31, 1849. It was made of wood. James R. Haskell invented a breech loading Cannon in 1854 that was made of steel and had a rifled barrel. The first revolving Gun was made by John Gille of North Carolina in 1829. It was a percussion gun, with chambers. The first rifled Gun was made in 1834 by Cyrus Alger of South Boston, Massachusetts. The Machine Gun was patented by Charles E. Barnes of Lowell, Massachusetts, on July 8, 1856. The rapid-fire Machine Gun was patented by Richard J. Gatling of Indianapolis, Indiana, on November 4, 1862. It was capable of firing 250 shots a minute. In 1798 the Springfield, Massachusetts, armory produced the first Musket for the U.S. Government. Samuel Colt patented a Pistol with revolving barrel in 1830. John Rider invented a self-cocking Revolver in 1856. The Semi-Automatic Rife invented by John C. Garand of Somerset, Maryland, was adopted as standard by the U.S. Army in 1936. The Submachine Gun -- popularly known as the "Tommy Gun" -- was invented by Brigadier Gneral John T. Thompson in 1915. The first model could fire 600 to 800 shots a minute. |
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