Centrifugal gun

A centrifugal gun is a type of projectile accelerator discharging the likes of debris within an area much like a machine gun. Centrifugal guns operate with a revolving disc at fast speeds, replacing gunpowder with the centrifugal force as the energy source for propelling projectiles.

A steam-powered centrifugal gun built by a certain Charles Dickinson of Boston was tested during the American Civil War. This gun was popularly, but incorrectly attributed to pro-Southern Maryland millionaire and inventor Ross Winans. Another, hand-cranked centrifugal gun was designed by Robert McCarty during the same period. It fired musket balls. Despite repeated tests, including one in the presence of Abraham Lincoln, McCarty's gun never saw service. Dahlgren however took the idea seriously, and after testing McCarty's prototype, he built a steam-powered 12 pounder which could fire 15 rounds in 16 seconds and had a range of a mile. It was extremely inaccurate however. As historian Robert V. Bruce notes: "the sole casualty of centrifugal gunfire during the Civil War seems to have been one ill-starred Army mule".

The idea was even tested during World War I by the US Bureau of Standards, using a prototype built by lawyer Edward T. Moore, and advertised as a silent machine gun. The prototype used a powerful electric motor to spin the gun's grooved rotor. It was abandoned due to extremely poor accuracy. Moore was granted USPTO patent number 1332992. Another design can be found in USPTO patent number 1311492, granted in July 1919. Another effort during WWI was to build a centrifugal gun powered by an aircraft's engine. This design was advanced by E. L. Rice and taken seriously by Robert Andrews Millikan and the National Research Council; the project ultimately proved "beyond resolution".

In 2005, a new centrifugal weapon called DREAD, invented by Charles St George, was discused in NewScientist and in Annals of Improbable Research. DREAD, patented in 2003, claims to launch projectiles with the speed of a handgun, at about 300 m/s.