On 07/10/2010 15:33, Bruce Goatly wrote:   
   > JMS (not you, Jan!) was roundly criticized for the steam gun in "Grey 17 is   
   > Missing". Jem Stansfield has proved hin right in a recent edition of Bang   
   > Goes the Theory. Clip at.   
   >   
      
   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.   
   --- SBBSecho 2.12-Win32   
    * Origin: Time Warp of the Future BBS - Home of League 10 (1:14/400)