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Tuesday, September 10, 2013
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20 comments:
Cannon to the right of them,
Cannon to the left of them,
Rode the six hundred.
Charge of the light brigade
These are 2 different trucks
Same cannon & mechanical elements
The 3rd stanza
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.
What a shame to chop shop such a fantastic vee hicle.
Paul
Hugo had ownership of this cannon after Eddie died. I am the one who talked him into donating it to Baraboo.
Before the cannon arrived at Baraboo, the motor and the firing equipment had been removed by Hugo.
So a Technical Question, how did the cannon "shoot" the flyer out? Compressed air?
Larry you must promise not to tell
Based on the weight of the flyer it
takes roughly 4 & a half pounds of
3F black powder tightly packed in a
flat canister beneath the seat
In all due seriousness Larry it's
amazing how similar the propulsion
systems have been these many years
I have worked on 9 different cannons
& have been otherwise involved in
several others as well & some years
back my wife made me promise no more
Currently there must be dozens of
these cannons working worldwide
The cab door was inscribed "Maddalena Zacchini, 2727 Fruitville Road, Sarasota, FL" when it arrived at CWM. The motor had been taken out and the launching mechanism had been removed, The Zacchini family never revealed the secret of the launching mechanism, to deter copycats.
Maddalena Zacchini was the step daughter of Victor and the niece of Hugo and Eddie.
Before Fruitville was widened many
years ago several members of the
Zacchini family owned houses along
several blocks of Fruitville between
Shade & Tuttle & a few empty lots
Teo had a very nice brick house with
a big brick outdoor fireplace
From time to time you would see some
of their road equipment parked there
With the widening of the road some
were torn down & most of the family
moved off of Fruitville to the area
between 12th & 17th where a few are
still there (perhaps Hugo's kids)
Teo's big machine shop closed many
years ago but the family still owns
the building at the corner of Orange
& 12th Streets & many acres nearby
The most dangerous of the cannon
mechanisms were the double firing
in the same outer barrel as the
1st out had no floor & the 2nd out
had to clear the 1st cylinder
The newer twin barrel units cheat
(not that there still isn't danger)
The only cannon that had nearly the
same interior details to Zacchini's
was the Wilno rig but was in pretty
sad condition from poor storage when
I did much rewiring in it as it was
both rotten & vermin infested
There is a Zacchini Avenue between
12th & 17th central to the property
I figured, Chic would know and the secret is safe with me. So they really were a cannon
Hope you know that was in jest Larry
The only black powder used was for
the device to make the BOOOOM
There are many good stories for
another time & place about that
I really wish I would have taken a photo of Elvin Bales cannon, as we shared a tunnel car with Jewell News Lions...
Back in those days Gary most of my
photos were done in slide format
I have a VAST collection of these
that I keep promising myself to get
around to scanning them on a brand
new (but 3 year old) device I bought
Irvin resisted Elvin's request for
that cannon & when he finally agreed
there were many stipulations
It was built on a wrecked schoolbus
frame that Schwartzie's kid turned
over & mostly assembled at Gene
Vercheski's G&G shop in Venice
We did much of the mechanicals in
stages of trial & error with many
changes to the original design
1 of these days I'll get around to
finding the images & prepare them
I believe you & Arthur became good
buddies if not friends
1 of Elvin's really good ideas for
that cannon was to devise & install
a hydraulic central nose wheel that
could lift & position the front end
for alinment to the net
The worst ting that ever happened
to that cannon was when Elvin went
to the Monte Carlo tour the cannon
was repainted supposedly in gold
but it ended up duckshit green
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