There seems to be several models of a Van Duren mortar, I think the orriginal design only used the spigot type of grenade, as you can see the barrel looks to have thinner walls so a 70 mm bore grenade should fit over it, the resemblance to the 58mm number 1a is interesting, it also looks like a Van Duren grenade would fit on it as well, some of the VanDuren pics show sleeves on the barrel, necessary for adjusting range, a 58mm bore would handle all the French grenades, have a look it seems obvious to me, latter pictures of Van Duren mortars have the ring spacers that the fins rest on, the simple slide on rings were for the VD Grenades.
-- Edited by Dresden on Thursday 7th of February 2013 10:07:49 PM
This are mortars developped by the belgian officer Pierre Van Deuren in 1915. They existed in several versions, using the barrels of the franch 58 or own developments (70 mm and 90mm).They were used by the belgian, french and italian artillery. A delegation prepared the selling of the licence to Russia but the october 1917 revolution made an end to that project. French marine used them for anti-submarine bombing.
Since I posted this I found that Austria had a similar mortar that must have been made in at least two sizes, the spigot mortar is a good concept as they can be lighter than regular mortars but a slower rate of fire seems what has kept them rom being used.
As I can see on the pictures , it is a similar development to the Van Deuren of an external bomb with the tail that in envelopping the tube. I presume it is also with electric ignition. On the VD, the range was finely adjusted by modifying the volume of the chamber with the screw ring you see on the pictures. It needs some care not to damage the rear part of the bombs (fins, propellant charge, ignition,...) in the narrow and dirty trenches. French artillery had several problems with that; that's why they abandonned it.
Thanks for the comments, I always wondered what that screw was for, in some air compressors they use valve controled volume chambers to decrease delivery pressure, called unloading, this would work in a gun as well.
The Austrian mortar has a primer ignition of some sort, on one pic there is a lanyard, i'll post more pics.
When was the development of the austian mortar? Is there a good reference book about it? Here a picture of the VD 58 long using a 58 N°1bis barrel. there were adaptor hoses allowing the use of different bomb types.
Thanks, GREAT drawing, they knew how to have fun back then, i am a cannon lover, shooting things into the air is a great fun. war however is not and Artillery should not be used for killing. this all comes from my being a pyrotechnician and love of shooting fireworks.
Sorry, I forgot to answer the question, I have little information about this Kloben mortar, look in the post the member who identified it may be able to help, I am planing on asking him.
I'm an old gunner. I'm retired after a long artillery officer career. I ended as director of the Belgian Fire support. I'm now writing and publishing books about the history of the Belgian artillery. I also publish studies in the Militaria Belgica yearbooks of the Armed Forces Museum of Brussels. Furthermore I developped an artillery museum at Brasschaat, location of the former artillery school. When you get under attack, the best way to save lives in your ranks is to call for fire support. This is often forgotten in normal times, as long as you don't come under fire. My first books about equipment, tactics, techniques, organisation,... with lots of illustrations : see www.editionsdupatrimoine.be.
Master Gunner, People do not understand the effect of high explosives very well, artillery caused 95% of the deaths in WW1 and WW2, counting bombing as a type of artillery, I spent many years as a machine too rebuilder at the Army Ammunition Plant in Minnesota, USA. We made Fuzes for 20mm, 30mm, Gau8 penetrators, At4 and AT8 shoulder launched, FAX Fuel Air Ordnance, Cluster Bombs, 30mm Dual purpose for Attack Choppers, ADAM Mines, and some stuff I still cannot discuss.
