The Double Barreled Cannon and ISO Clause 8.3

Posted on May 9, 2023, Modified : May 10, 2023 jshell55

The other day I was in Athens, and stopped in to see the famed Double Barreled Cannon. This is an artifact of the 1860’s and believed to be the only one of its kind in existence. Since we make it our business to find the rare and unusual in the area, I was compelled to stop in on it.

double barreled cannon in Athens which is facing southeast

First question: Why did you go to see the Double Barreled Cannon?

This one is complicated, but suffice it to say there was an appointment, and the cannon was a side trip. I sometimes take side trips.

Second Question: Why is there a double barreled cannon?

This is probably the easier of the two questions.

There is a double barreled cannon because John Gilleland, a local Athens dentist, thought there should be one. This would have been 1862, in the time period before the invention of math.

Gilleland, who was part of one of the local militias, thought this interesting weapon could be developed. The concept was two cannonballs attached with a chain flying through the air. This would leave a swath of destruction, and the Confederacy would be thusly saved.

historical monument for the double barreled cannon

So, at a price of $350, raised from contributions from some of the other locals, the monument we now know as the Double Barreled Cannon was cast.

According to the references, there was a disagreement on whether the invention was a “success”. The three test firings resulted in the destruction of a cabin, and the killing of a local cow. In the opinion of Gilleland, this meant the cannon was brilliantly successful, and he toured the cannon through the Augusta Armory trying to sell the idea.

Since the definition of “success” for the local military involved being “controllable” the idea never took off.

Slightly funnier story

On July 27, 1864, the cannon was fired toward a supposed army of thousands of Yankees, which supposedly was attacking Monroe.

So you can envision the small town residents at the time, fearfully spreading rumors, getting their tinfoil hats on, and getting the double barreled cannon ready for this imminent attack.

Think of the children! Quick, Boys! Break out the Double Barreled Cannon! Monroe is under attack!

Of course we now know that the actual attack didn’t occur until November and essentially spared Athens because it was not of immediate military importance to Geary.

But, they obviously didn’t know that at the time.

Math Content

If Gilleland knew trigonometry, he would have figured out that with the 3 degree barrel offset, and a 6 foot chain between the two cannonballs, the chain would have been stretched to its maximum extent about 38 meters (170 feet) after it left the barrel and snapped, which is exactly what happened.

But, unfortunately for the cow, this calculation was never made.

Now, of course, we have high speed video, and know about physics and ignition, and the project would be slightly less silly.

Modern Do-Over of the Double Barreled Cannon

In the TV show “American Guns” a recreation attempt was made that was slightly more successful. Those wishing to stream it on Prime or pay a few dollars to see the episode may do so. We’re not that curious.

The Design Clauses and the Double Barreled Cannon

I was going to go through the elements of the Design Clause, and explain why the design and development process on this was tragically flawed.

But, this is the days before instant communication, a bidding process, and other things that we consider routine today.

Suffice it to say one thing, which is that the “design team” didn’t really take into consideration the customer requirements. They no doubt would have preferred a lightweight, versatile weapon, that took a standardized shot size. Also, because the nuances of loading two barrels of a cannon precisely equally, this would have been impractical in battle.

The design clauses of the ISO standard are there because customers don’t want to evaluate wacky ideas. Of course, this was during the early stages of the industrial revolution and a lot of wacky ideas were around.

This was also in the early stages of what is now called product development, which was pioneered by Edison about 60 years later.

But it is highly illustrative of the importance of understanding customer requirements and spending design and development resources on a project that is useful to the customers.

Side Point

According to the article below, from the City of Athens, the cannon is pointed north, as to symbolically shoot at the yankees.

The only problem is, that the cannon is clearly pointed toward the Southeast, in reality, thus this is a non conforming statement. Maybe this is in the tradition of human failure and equally strong influence of tribal knowlege.