Lyle Gun (cannon)

[-Xero-]

Lyle Gun -- Used for shooting line to distressed ships. These were replaced about 1952 by cheaper, easier to manage rockets.

This is a Sculler brand, New York, about 1940 near as we can figure from the mfg. number. Sculler produced Lyle Guns from 1936 to about 1944.

2.5" bore diameter, 28" bbl. Barrel is cast iron, machine bored and finished. Carriage is cast iron. Barrel collar is brass, round rod at front of carriage is 2" dia. and machined brass. Total weight is about 200 lbs.

I fired this: 1/2 lb. of Pyrodex RS, 5 sheets of newspaper for wadding. NO PROJECTILE, although lot's of artillery types use segments of sash weights.

Report was heard 3 miles away by my buddy who wasn't advised that I was shooting. He was in his house, "Sounded like a falling tree out in the yard."

Blast wave disconnected my portable (not cellular, wireless resident phone) phone signal. Carriage jumped off the pallet and dug a hole in the gravel drive. Literature says "5 oz of Fa cannon powder." -- shooting "blanks" and so not worried too much about the charge. HUGE flame out of the bore!



Running about $10 per shot, and probably Pyrodex RS and a half pound is a bit much. (It's what I had in the container at hand.)

Clean-up is heavy work. I get done and feel like I've been doing weight work in the gym.

 

[4v50 Gary]

They were used by the U.S. Life Saving Service.

Back in the very old days before the Coast Guard was created, there were three sister services: U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, U.S. Light House Service and the U.S. Life Saving Service. The three were merged to become the Coast Guard.

The Life Saving Service was stationed outside of harbors and provided rescue to crews whose ships had gone aground. The brave men of this service rowed out or when later equipped, shot lines with the Lyle gun out to stranded ships.

Nice piece of history.

 

[Steel Horse Rider]

Where did you find it? That would have a lot of entertainment value around my house! Did they originally charge it with black powder or something else?

 

[Acorn Mush]

I believe they were originally charged with black powder. I have seen Lisle (sp?) guns fired in the line-throwing configuration on a couple of occasions. Very impressive. One of the projectiles (don't know if there is a specific name for them) travelled almost 250 yards and buried itself 3 feet deep in the ground.

The projectiles I saw used looked similar to a barbell in that they had bore-fitting cylindrical sections on each end of a rod that was approximately 4 feet long. There was a sliding ring on the bar to which the lightweight line was attached. The projectile was inserted in the barrel with the line tied to the slip ring. I believe the slip ring rested on the gun muzzle.The line was dispensed from a 5-gallon pail that sat on the eground adjacent to the Lisle gun. The light line used in these demos was blue and white poly twine such as can be purchased at home improvement centers.

Don't know what powder charge was used, but I hope you find this paltry bit of information helpful.

 

[-Xero-]

It's "Lyle" --

Lyle gun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_gun

Line-throwing guns are most often referred to as Lyle Guns, after their inventor David A. Lyle. They were used from the late 19th century to 1952, when they were replaced by rockets for throwing lines.

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According to anecdotes from Coast Guard veterans who shot them as part of demonstration/training/drill, the line being shot was often 600 metres in length. The line is pre-coiled on a "loom/coiling rack" and stored in a "faking box" , then the "loom/rack" is removed and the line feeds free from the container.

Here's a link to a video demo --

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irR803dPLwY

The gun is smaller than mine, and brass. They're saying "4 oz" of powder charge. I hear 5 oz. elsewhere.

Here's a second video -- exact same gun as mine. This one is a hoot!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEWRNVuXNgk

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The half pound I used was for shooting paper wadding, no projectile -- which reduces chamber pressures considerably. Pyrodex doesn't work w/o some back pressure in the chamber, and so I used a large charge, and lots of wadding (5 newspaper pages).

-- Walked into my LGS and there it was sitting on the floor up front. My knee-jerk reaction was, "Not leaving here until that rig is in my truck."

I have a small naval cannon replica I built from scratch, 12" bbl. 1" bore.

I've always told myself "If you see a cannon for sale, don't pass it up." This Lyle Gun is the right size, right cost. I concede at 200 lbs. it's difficult to load up and haul around. Definitely a "crew served weapon."

 

[Jim K]

IIRC, the Lyle gun (or something like it) was also used for signalling distress. As noted, those little guns produced a lot of noise and could attract the attention of another ship.

Jim

 

[Acorn Mush]

It's "Lyle" --

Lyle gun
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_gun

Line-throwing guns are most often referred to as Lyle Guns, after their inventor David A. Lyle.

Thanks for the correction. Always happy to learn.