Death-trombone of Marseilles – fact or fiction?

[maxmwill]

Well, that was the only practical technique I could think of, especially  with the slop engineered in, so that not only could it be set up relatively quickly and with less need for lights(such as when  something has precisely fitted parts and also need expertly trained personnel), but also in view of the fact that they may not have had time to train enough troops with more experience as soldiers than those fresh out of bootcamp or other initial training.

At least that's  how I'm looking at the problem from the perspective of a mechanic.

[MaxHeadroom]

Yes, an inflatable funnel... just like the complete equipment of Gen. Patton's 1st US-Army-Group (Operation Fortitude)...  
It's interesting idea and could be useful, but...

But:
-the more additional parts, the more parts can fail - so: no air-compressor!
-an inflatable funnel doesn't resist the projectiles of small arms or any other unfriendly circumstances.
-a rubber-made inflatable funnel is made of AIR, covered by a hull of thin rubber... A long-wave sonic gun shouldn't shook it's own producer!
Vibrating the funnel would make the result less good, because the wave-energy, which would be send, would be reduced - maybe only a few percent, but to compensate this few percents, the funnel must be much bigger. And I think 4 to 4 meters in square is big enough.

I will make the funnel foldable (as you can imagine by the pics).
To unfold the funnel's transportcondition into the ready-to-fire-status the crew will only need some long rods with hooks.
By hydraulic columns the solenoid will be raised, so the complete machinery can be directed horizontally.

Norbert

[Joe C-P]

The only way the Nazis knew how to fight back against the Scots and their bags of death.

[Hobbes]

A close cousin to the Gaffophone:

[MaxHeadroom]

Yes, I like Spirou et Fantasio and their chaotic pal Gaston very much.

Norbert

[MaxHeadroom]

Now an overview with all the components of the sonic gun train:

(I've tried to hide the most of my chaotic worktable.   )

The parts are primed with ordinary grey primer by spraycan (from a hardwareshop) and coloured with "german dark yellow" as the base for the camouflage.
Above you see the parts of the funnel for the later folded transport version, the white (only primed) cones are for inside the funnel(s), cause the sonic gun is not simply a horn, it's a giant "Druckkammerlautsprecher" (I don't know the english word for; maybe: "pressure-chamber speaker"? "loud-hailer"?).
In the middle, you see the lower part of the StuG III still for the friction drive. This will be cut off and closed with plastic sheet.
On the left, you see the "pyramid" of the "ready to use"-funnel with the hinges, important for folding it. Two sides have it's hinges outside, two sides have it's hinges inside.

Any questions?  

Norbert

[NARSES2]

Coming on well

[martinbayer]

Cool concept and great modeling!

Regarding the story in the original web source about the Germans trying to destroy Marseille by using some kind of sound cannon, I suspect however that this is a conflation of actual German schemes with the alleged work of Professor Vladimir Gavreau at the French Electro-Acoustical Laboratory in Marseille in the Sixties on infrasound effects and applications. Some purported background information can be found under the following links:

http://clayz.com/baz/horror.html

http://www.londoncircle.com/soundofdeaths.html

https://borderlandsciences.org/journal/vol/52/n04/Vassilatos_on_Vladimir_Gavreau.html

http://www.theguardian.com/education/2003/jun/19/research.highereducation2

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1817&dat=19670421&id=m3whAAAAIBAJ&sjid=pIoFAAAAIBAJ&pg=7375,3953485

Martin

[MaxHeadroom]

Danke für die interessanten Links, Martin!

Thank you for the interesting links, Martin!

Norbert

[Go4fun]

Death Trombone? Sounds like a description of the results my youngest son had when he first started practicing. 

[Rheged]

Death Trombone? Sounds like a description of the results my youngest son had when he first started practicing. 

My older son plays trombone, and I know exactly what you mean!!  He plays at amateur orchestral standard now, but when he started  $&$£*&^£%%£"*!@!!!!

[martinbayer]

Danke für die interessanten links, Martin!

Thank you for the interesting links, Martin!

Norbert

Gern geschehen !

Martin

[MaxHeadroom]

Now pics of the trombone on the trailer in both conditions: folded and ready to rumble (both without the final camouflage until now).

First the unfinished folded version to show the cone inside:

and


And the other version:

and

(as I'd said: 4 to 4 meters in a square)

The hydraulic jacks are made by toothpicks. Putting the toothpicks into a Dremel's collet and sliding with a fingernail-file over it's surface, I'd made the typical view of  hydraulic columns.
Both versions have it's own hydraulics to change them as the trailer's load and use it as the fixation on the trailer and its holders, and to show the different views of the heights of both conditions.
On the trailer's left side of the platform you see the electric pump with the cover of the electric engine and the pressure tube/barrel of the hydraulic oil pump.
There won't be a lot of oil needed, because the hydraulic columns having walls massive enough to fullfill it's 2nd task: stabilising the speaker on the trailer during the transport.
Because the highspeed of the Stug III in armed version only was 30 kms/h it maybe will have a Vmax of 20, maybe 25 kms/h with both trailers, the electric powerplant trailer and the trombone trailer: so there won't be strong forces to the structure.
(Don't worry: if the trombone-train will be transported by the Reichsbahn, the speaker will be secured additionally on the trailer and on the car! There were specific instructions for. )

Norbert

[Hobbes]

Great job 

[NARSES2]

Coming along nicely.

I like seeing these unusual subjects coming together