From the history of the development of artillery acoustics. H. 1
A branch of acoustics that deals with artillery Acoustic devices as a branch of military knowledge emerged in the first decade of the 1914th century. The most rapid growth was observed towards the end of the First World War of 1918-XNUMX. In subsequent years, in all major armies, issues of designing and combat use of acoustic artillery devices attracted the closest attention of military specialists and organizations.
Before turning to our short review stories development of acoustic artillery devices, we note that acoustics with its historical roots goes back to the cradle of the history of modern science - Egypt and Greece.
From the available materials it can be concluded that one of the sections of acoustics began to develop, namely, the section of musical acoustics. Various musical instruments appear, some basic relations are established (for example, Pythagoras of Samos developed the so-called Pythagorean commune, etc.).
Pythagoras of Samos
The names of Empedocles, Aristotle, Vitruvius are associated with the development of acoustics as a science, the last of which brilliantly developed the practice of architectural acoustics.
The extremely low level of medieval science in the field of acoustics, as in other areas, gave almost nothing to humanity. But starting from the 16th century - in the writings of Galileo, Mersen and, later, Newton - the acoustics were given due attention.
The middle of the XVIII century in the history of acoustics is closely connected with the names of scientists - Euler, d'Alembert, Bernoulli, Riccati and others. These scientists brought the mathematical foundations of academia to such a brilliant state that their work lies at the heart of modern acoustics.
L. Euler
In the XIX century, the work of the above remarkable scientists was continued by the Colds, the Weber brothers, Helmholtz, Reilly, Duhem, and others.
G. L. F. Helmholtz
The exceptional attention paid to acoustics issues by the most famous scientists over the past centuries has led to the fact that all the theoretical problems of classical acoustics have been resolved; physicists ceased to be interested in acoustics, which allowed some of them to treat acoustics as “the most perfect classically exhausted and complete department of physics” (lectures by Professor Khvolson in 1928). And only the rapid development of industry in the beginning of the 20th century, connected with the use of telephone, telegraph, radio engineering, and the use of acoustics in military affairs, raised a number of new questions for scientists.
Acoustic phenomena were used in military technology before (see, for example, Vitruvius. About architecture. Trans. From Latin. OGIZ, 1936.), But their use became so extensive due to the emergence of new technical methods of warfare and more advanced weapons of war (long-range guns, beating from closed positions, the emergence of aircraft and other "sounding" goals).
With regard to artillery, military acoustics has developed a number of issues, but the main ones are observation and firing in ground artillery (sound), in anti-aircraft artillery (sound trapping) and the issue of the nature and propagation of shock waves in the atmosphere.
Chronologically, the first of these questions began to develop a section on shock waves and, later, sound measurement and sound collection.
The beginning of the theoretical work on the issue of shock waves, should be considered the work of Riemann - relating to the seventies of the 19-th century. Work continued Hugoniot and Christofel.
Parallel to the development of the theory, applied and experimental work in the field of shock waves appeared and developed. Of the earliest works should be called the work of Mach. Photographs of shock waves accompanying the flight of a bullet were first taken by these scientists. By 1890, many well-known artillery magazines had already reproduced photos of shock waves received by Mach.
E. Mach.
Thus, the shock waves discovered by Riemann received general scientific recognition for thirty years. Of particular importance was the question of shock waves for artillery-ballistics (later also for specialists in explosives). Therefore, already in 1884, an attempt was made to use acoustic phenomena (shock waves) during ballistic experiments at the Havre range - and even then it was possible to clearly distinguish the muzzle and ballistic waves that accompany the phenomenon of the cannon shot and the projectile flight. At the same test site in 1891, special instruments were built to determine the velocity of the projectile in flight — and the creation of these instruments was also based on acoustic phenomena.
In the subsequent development of the question of shock waves, a change occurred: since the question of shock waves was necessary for a correct understanding of the phenomena studied in ballistics (projectile motion with different velocities, the question of air resistance, projectile stabilization, etc.) then this section of acoustics moved into the field of ballistics.
And only later, in connection with the development of more rational equipment for sound measurement, did the military acoustics again raise the question of further studying the nature of shock waves. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the work of the French academician Esklangon. It should also highlight the work of Taylor and Mac-Paul. Of the Russian researchers it should be noted V. G. Tikhonov.
We now turn to another issue of military acoustics - to the reconnaissance and shooting of ground artillery with the help of sound measurement.
The rearmament of the Russian field artillery with 76-mm guns with rapid-fire guns allowed firing from closed positions. And, according to the testimony of artillerymen (Barsukov. Russian artillery in World War II. T. I. S. 91 and others), Russian artillery paid much attention to the preparation of firing from closed positions using a protractor - but the Pyro-Japanese war revealed a number of shortcomings mediated the inertia and ruininess of a number of combined-arms and even some higher artillery commanders, who considered firing from closed positions ineffective.
Rapid fire gun arr. 1902
The experience of the Japanese-Japanese war forced the gunners to come to grips with the development of optical reconnaissance and surveillance devices; there were mnemonic rules, graphics, etc. - all this was intended to ensure the possibility of firing from closed positions. Gradually, acoustic sound reconnaissance of enemy artillery guns (sound metering) became important.
The main property of acoustic intelligence was the ability to work in conditions of poor visibility. And, as practice has shown, in conditions of poor visibility, sound intelligence worked even better than in good weather. This property of acoustic reconnaissance made it the most valuable for artillery.
But, having such a valuable property, sound intelligence also had a number of flaws. Sound reconnaissance equipment was less portable and less mobile compared to optical reconnaissance equipment. With, respectively, equal working conditions, it gave less accuracy than optical reconnaissance. As a result, sound reconnaissance did not exclude, but complemented the work of optical, as well as other artillery reconnaissance assets.
Sound reconnaissance entered the battlefield later than optical reconnaissance. This is natural. If you look at the questions of artillery reconnaissance from the point of view of ground-based reconnaissance, it should be noted that during World War 1812, artillery effectively fired at a distance of up to a kilometer. Opponents saw each other well and fired, as a rule, at visible targets. When firing at such close distances, no one thought of any reconnaissance of the enemy’s artillery in its modern sense.
Продолжение следует ...
Before turning to our short review stories development of acoustic artillery devices, we note that acoustics with its historical roots goes back to the cradle of the history of modern science - Egypt and Greece.
From the available materials it can be concluded that one of the sections of acoustics began to develop, namely, the section of musical acoustics. Various musical instruments appear, some basic relations are established (for example, Pythagoras of Samos developed the so-called Pythagorean commune, etc.).
Pythagoras of Samos
The names of Empedocles, Aristotle, Vitruvius are associated with the development of acoustics as a science, the last of which brilliantly developed the practice of architectural acoustics.
The extremely low level of medieval science in the field of acoustics, as in other areas, gave almost nothing to humanity. But starting from the 16th century - in the writings of Galileo, Mersen and, later, Newton - the acoustics were given due attention.
The middle of the XVIII century in the history of acoustics is closely connected with the names of scientists - Euler, d'Alembert, Bernoulli, Riccati and others. These scientists brought the mathematical foundations of academia to such a brilliant state that their work lies at the heart of modern acoustics.
L. Euler
In the XIX century, the work of the above remarkable scientists was continued by the Colds, the Weber brothers, Helmholtz, Reilly, Duhem, and others.
G. L. F. Helmholtz
The exceptional attention paid to acoustics issues by the most famous scientists over the past centuries has led to the fact that all the theoretical problems of classical acoustics have been resolved; physicists ceased to be interested in acoustics, which allowed some of them to treat acoustics as “the most perfect classically exhausted and complete department of physics” (lectures by Professor Khvolson in 1928). And only the rapid development of industry in the beginning of the 20th century, connected with the use of telephone, telegraph, radio engineering, and the use of acoustics in military affairs, raised a number of new questions for scientists.
Acoustic phenomena were used in military technology before (see, for example, Vitruvius. About architecture. Trans. From Latin. OGIZ, 1936.), But their use became so extensive due to the emergence of new technical methods of warfare and more advanced weapons of war (long-range guns, beating from closed positions, the emergence of aircraft and other "sounding" goals).
With regard to artillery, military acoustics has developed a number of issues, but the main ones are observation and firing in ground artillery (sound), in anti-aircraft artillery (sound trapping) and the issue of the nature and propagation of shock waves in the atmosphere.
Chronologically, the first of these questions began to develop a section on shock waves and, later, sound measurement and sound collection.
The beginning of the theoretical work on the issue of shock waves, should be considered the work of Riemann - relating to the seventies of the 19-th century. Work continued Hugoniot and Christofel.
Parallel to the development of the theory, applied and experimental work in the field of shock waves appeared and developed. Of the earliest works should be called the work of Mach. Photographs of shock waves accompanying the flight of a bullet were first taken by these scientists. By 1890, many well-known artillery magazines had already reproduced photos of shock waves received by Mach.
E. Mach.
Thus, the shock waves discovered by Riemann received general scientific recognition for thirty years. Of particular importance was the question of shock waves for artillery-ballistics (later also for specialists in explosives). Therefore, already in 1884, an attempt was made to use acoustic phenomena (shock waves) during ballistic experiments at the Havre range - and even then it was possible to clearly distinguish the muzzle and ballistic waves that accompany the phenomenon of the cannon shot and the projectile flight. At the same test site in 1891, special instruments were built to determine the velocity of the projectile in flight — and the creation of these instruments was also based on acoustic phenomena.
In the subsequent development of the question of shock waves, a change occurred: since the question of shock waves was necessary for a correct understanding of the phenomena studied in ballistics (projectile motion with different velocities, the question of air resistance, projectile stabilization, etc.) then this section of acoustics moved into the field of ballistics.
And only later, in connection with the development of more rational equipment for sound measurement, did the military acoustics again raise the question of further studying the nature of shock waves. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the work of the French academician Esklangon. It should also highlight the work of Taylor and Mac-Paul. Of the Russian researchers it should be noted V. G. Tikhonov.
We now turn to another issue of military acoustics - to the reconnaissance and shooting of ground artillery with the help of sound measurement.
The rearmament of the Russian field artillery with 76-mm guns with rapid-fire guns allowed firing from closed positions. And, according to the testimony of artillerymen (Barsukov. Russian artillery in World War II. T. I. S. 91 and others), Russian artillery paid much attention to the preparation of firing from closed positions using a protractor - but the Pyro-Japanese war revealed a number of shortcomings mediated the inertia and ruininess of a number of combined-arms and even some higher artillery commanders, who considered firing from closed positions ineffective.
Rapid fire gun arr. 1902
The experience of the Japanese-Japanese war forced the gunners to come to grips with the development of optical reconnaissance and surveillance devices; there were mnemonic rules, graphics, etc. - all this was intended to ensure the possibility of firing from closed positions. Gradually, acoustic sound reconnaissance of enemy artillery guns (sound metering) became important.
The main property of acoustic intelligence was the ability to work in conditions of poor visibility. And, as practice has shown, in conditions of poor visibility, sound intelligence worked even better than in good weather. This property of acoustic reconnaissance made it the most valuable for artillery.
But, having such a valuable property, sound intelligence also had a number of flaws. Sound reconnaissance equipment was less portable and less mobile compared to optical reconnaissance equipment. With, respectively, equal working conditions, it gave less accuracy than optical reconnaissance. As a result, sound reconnaissance did not exclude, but complemented the work of optical, as well as other artillery reconnaissance assets.
Sound reconnaissance entered the battlefield later than optical reconnaissance. This is natural. If you look at the questions of artillery reconnaissance from the point of view of ground-based reconnaissance, it should be noted that during World War 1812, artillery effectively fired at a distance of up to a kilometer. Opponents saw each other well and fired, as a rule, at visible targets. When firing at such close distances, no one thought of any reconnaissance of the enemy’s artillery in its modern sense.
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