Alan Dicey wrote:

> I'm afraid not.  What the pop-sci video-bite shows is a steam cannon:
> using the power of steam pressure contained in a closed vessel to drive
> a close-fitting plug out of a smooth straight pipe.  Archimedes is
> supposed to have designed one during the seige of Syracuse, and da Vinci
> also designed one, although there is no evidence it was ever built.  The
> WWII Holman Projector used the steam from a ship's boiler to launch
> anti-aircraft projectiles.
>
> What JMS wrote was apparantly the use of steam *temperature* to set off
> half-a-dozen handgun cartridges loosely fitted into pipe.  Not a lot of
> commonality.

Spoilsport...

-- 
Bruce
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