Gunners Quadrants

[Birdseye]

Hi all.

I got interested in collecting these things since I got #1 because of it's Hotchkiss mark. It is a Clinometer for a machine gun.

n.b. All of these things work on the same principle, you set an angle or range on the thing, you rest it on the cannon barrel, you raise the barrel until the bubble level shows "level". If you know the ballistics of a barrel/cartridge, the projectile should fall whare you want it to.
​

#2 Is an instrument that is marked (Upsidedown "V) P 920 with a funny "C" overlaying an "A" in a circle.

#3 is a classic design, French manufacture in this case. It has the inspection stamp of Col. Anus. Seriously. The exact one appears in the Am Ord catalog of 1894.

#4 is French by J. Carpentier. Made after 1888.

 

[MissingSomething]

Ok, the $1000 question. Do you know what weapons they were specifically designed for???? (besides the hotchkiss MG)

:xd:

(btw... I have no idea :tinysmile_cry_t4

 

[Birdseye]

Ok, the $1000 question. Do you know what weapons they were specifically designed for???? (besides the hotchkiss MG)

:xd:

(btw... I have no idea :tinysmile_cry_t4

Well ... in that case ...

Seriously, the Hotchkiss sight would go with Hotchkiss guns of greater than 1.65 incehes, presumably since these guns have no flat platform to stand the things. The others I have no idea about. There is no particular reason why they could not be used on any piece of artillery.

One is calibrated in Mils and I really do not understand what that means except as a stand-in for degrees. Anybody shed some light on that?

 

[Birdseye]

They are cute though, no?

 

[LCplCombat]

The British army use Mils instead of Degrees because there are more of them in a circle and are therefore more accurate. There are 6400 mils in a circle.

 

[Birdseye]

The British army use Mils instead of Degrees because there are more of them in a circle and are therefore more accurate. There are 6400 mils in a circle.

For how long? I mean is it a recent thing or back to ca. WW1?

 

[TimG]

Mils are far more practical in the field than using Degrees, Minutes & Seconds. One mil is taken to equal a displacement of 1 metre at 1000m, making it far easier to correct artillery.

For further info see [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angular_mil"]Angular mil - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Mil_estimation.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/d/d1/Mil_estimation.jpg/200px-Mil_estimation.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@en/thumb/d/d1/Mil_estimation.jpg/200px-Mil_estimation.jpg[/ame]

As to introduction; I believe post WW2

Regards

Tim. G.

 

[spotter]

I did read somewhere that the mils system was first used in a military role by the wehrmacht and later adopted post ww2 by the uk (just cant find which website i read this on now)

 

[Birdseye]

I have a little bit of a problem thinking that that quadrant is WW2.

Gotta do some research.

 

[ramc181]

The RA, along with the Commonwealth, used Degrees in WWII.
The US used Mils.
When it came to US-built equipment in RA & Commonwealth use the intention was that new scales and sights would be made and fitted so that any trained Gunner could use them.

One known exception to that was the 75mm Pack Howitzer M1A1.
Probably due to the relatively small numbers of these in RA use, they never had degrees scales produced.
I have a copy of the RA manual for these, which gets a fair amount of thumbing each year when my Living History Group displays our three blank-firing 75mm Pack Hows through the summer months.

All the best,
PB

 

[MissingSomething]

Here is a couple of mine...

2" Mortar clinometer w/case

Vickers HMG w/case

13 & 18 Pounder field gun w/ case

 

[Birdseye]

Very nice. RA I presume?

It is an interesting area for collecting I think.

 

[spotter]

This is the only one i have it is the Sight Clinometer MKIV for a 25pdr gun

 

[spotter]

The following document extracts may be of interest to you

 

[spotter]

More from the same document

 

[Birdseye]

Great references, thank you.

 

[MissingSomething]

Very nice. RA I presume?

It is an interesting area for collecting I think.

Call me dense..... "RA"???? oh:

 

[Birdseye]

Call me dense..... "RA"???? oh:

!??!

Royal Army

What WOULD Colour Sargent Bourne have done with you, I wonder.

On a more serious note, if you see one of those on sale somewhere, keep me in mind.

 

[MissingSomething]

!??!

Royal Army

What WOULD Colour Sargent Bourne have done with you, I wonder.

On a more serious note, if you see one of those on sale somewhere, keep me in mind.

hehehe..... being a colonial I don't know

I have good luck finding that type of stuff on ebay....(I know... dirty word)

Will do...... the mortar clinometer's have been appearing lately for $40-$50

 

[Birdseye]

hehehe..... being a colonial I don't know

I have good luck finding that type of stuff on ebay....(I know... dirty word)

Will do...... the mortar clinometer's have been appearing lately for $40-$50

You slovenly soldier.

(now that the brits are all asleep we have the place to ourselves:tinysmile_shy_t

Let me know if you see anything along those lines. I thought that I was looking closely but ... evidentially not.