32 cal Victorian Air Cane brought back to life

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Here's something a little unusual that I acquired a while back, it took me some time to play with it as I needed to make an adapter for a new chamber and it's only recently that I was able to cut non-standard threads on the lathe.  I bought this one without any accessories and with an air reservoir that was in a poor state, with corrosion visible internally and a few crush marks too.  For that reason an adapter was made to enable a 9oz CO2 bottle to be used as a reservoir.

Here's a little video overview including some action shots:



Here is the cane assembled along with the adapter and bottle:



The separation between chamber and barrel is roughly at the center and is marked by the middle part of the painted "bamboo" finish which is rather well done.



Here's what's inside the barrel section, there is a lock mechanism connected to an outer tube into which a rifled brass liner is inserted.  The rifling appears to be pressed rather than cut, and an odd choice to even rifle it in the first place given that these were mostly used with round balls and there wasn't really a way to aim it with any precision.



Close-up of the lock mechanism and adapter.  I could not find any maker's marks anywhere, however the design is typical of the air canes made and sold by James Townsend of Birmingham est. 1845.



Here is a diagram roughly to scale of the lock, the crank is rotated clockwise to cock the mechanism until it is caught by the trigger.

When the trigger is pressed, the crank is released and is rotated quickly anti-clockwise by the main spring, striking the hammer which transfers the movement to the firing pin that opens the valve.



Detail of the internals of the valve, of note is the original animal horn seal that just needed a little polishing and sealed perfectly.

The adapter was machined from C12L14 steel.



Valve assembly put together and the other end of the adapter with a male 5/8-18 UNF thread to fit the paintball bottle



Detail of the connecting faces of barrel and chamber assembly.  Note that there is some damage to the firing pin housing that would allow some air to escape while firing and probably interferes with the proper striking of the valve, however I made no attempt to repair it.



Filling adapter, cocking key and some Hornady 32 cal (0.310" diameter) lead ammunition

In terms of performance, I have to admit I expected more.

Above 850 psi or so the valve simply won't open, below that it's extremely sensitive to how much the barrel assembly is screwed into the valve body.

If it's tightened as far as it can go (not too much or it opens the valve), then it will give a short sharp burst of air and the ball comes out with very little velocity, and won't even pierce the bottom of a soup can.

If on the other hand a 1mm gap or so is left between the two faces, the valve is blown wide open and it virtually empties the reservoir.

You can see this happen in the slow motion video where the first can is picked up by the airflow and yeeted at full hilt downrange.

I suspect it should be performing better and it's down to the fact that the firing pin housing is in less than perfect condition.  I might consider a future repair but for the time being it was a lot of fun with something that was made well before my grandparents were born.

[oldair]

Nice faux bamboo, and maybe an ivory knob?

As I'm sure you know, these canes originally got several shots per fill of the reservoir.  If the originals are charged with 12 grams of CO2 which evaporates to  all gas in the usual reservoir size, they typically make 4 decent-power shots when all is working well.

With yours forcing the valve open when fully assembled, it seems like either your valve stem is protruding too far (could be due to valve wear or deformation over 100+ years), or the striker is too long for some reason.  You might investigate adjusting the assembly gap to find a point where it opens just enough to get good velocity and a number of shots - likely it needs to be more than the 1 mm which opened the valve "too much".  Then you can change the valve or striker length to suit.  When you had the gap near zero, I think the lock didn't swing through its full cycle of camming action, instead stopping partway in the stroke and giving hammer lock.

Don R.

[Insanity]

Interesting cane.

[Chris USA]

How fascinating. Thank you for all the hard work of putting the pics and text together in your report. Everything is quite clear.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Nice faux bamboo, and maybe an ivory knob?

It crossed my mind that it might be ivory, is there a way to identify it?

As I'm sure you know, these canes originally got several shots per fill of the reservoir.  If the originals are charged with 12 grams of CO2 which evaporates to  all gas in the usual reservoir size, they typically make 4 decent-power shots when all is working well.

I'm filling to about 800 psi with air and it's about the same volume as the original chamber, unfortunately I haven't found the happy medium between lots of weak shots or one massive dump.

With yours forcing the valve open when fully assembled, it seems like either your valve stem is protruding too far (could be due to valve wear or deformation over 100+ years), or the striker is too long for some reason.  You might investigate adjusting the assembly gap to find a point where it opens just enough to get good velocity and a number of shots - likely it needs to be more than the 1 mm which opened the valve "too much".  Then you can change the valve or striker length to suit.  When you had the gap near zero, I think the lock didn't swing through its full cycle of camming action, instead stopping partway in the stroke and giving hammer lock.

Thanks for the insight, I was just thinking while looking at the photos that I'm pretty sure the top of the valve face should not be proud of the bottom of the valve body thread.  I'll probably make another stem with a delrin seal and see how that goes.

How fascinating. Thank you for all the hard work of putting the pics and text together in your report. Everything is quite clear.

My pleasure, it's always a joy to rediscover these old mechanisms and preparing material to share with others is usually a good way of deepening one's own understanding.

[bantam5s]

Wow very cool, thanks for sharing.

Hopefully this thing is legal where you live.
I believe things like this are illegal here in California.

[Gippeto]

Nice find...and nice work too.

Al

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Thanks gents!

Hopefully this thing is legal where you live.

On account of being manufactured before 1898 it's an antique and legally "not a firearm" in my jurisdiction so I should be good

I made some progress in the meantime, new valve stem with a Delrin seal to rectify the issue of the old one resting proud of the thread base, here it is next to the old one:



Installed in the valve body you can see that it's slightly recessed at rest:



The barrel section can now be screwed in completely without air leaking from the barrel.

I did some quick testing and what a difference, completely different animal!

Pumped it to 1000 psi just to see what it would do and while the valve opened, it took a few shots before it even pushed the ball out of the barrel.

When I eventually got it to fire I ran some shots over the chrono and it was laughable:

76 fps - 0.6 ft lbs

130 fps - 1.7 ft lbs

156 fps - 2.4 ft lbs

Took it down to 600 psi and the results were very different:

634 fps - 39.8 ft lbs

623 fps - 39.4 ft lbs

616 fps - 37.6 ft lbs

602 fps - 35.9 ft lbs

Those are some very respectable numbers in the context of its age!

That's all there was time for this morning but I'll definitely be fiddling with it a little more

Part of me wants to make a balanced valve so it will run at higher pressures...

Also here's a detail of the knob, I'm guessing it could be ivory but the threaded portion is clearly a different material.

[Cajun72]

Very cool always wanted a can gun.

[oldair]

Great result!  It's generally accepted, based on pump diameter and weight of a person, that canes were filled to ~ 600 psi. 
Room temp CO2 is around 850 psi which usually works well, so you may be able to tinker with valve stem length vs pressure to optimize performance.

Your knob is a somewhat odd shape with the sharp corner at the top; possibly there was once a medallion set into the groove?  Usually they're more of a hamburger-bun style, often with a threaded metal insert.  It could take an expert eye (not mine) to determine whether the material is ivory, bone, etc.

Here are two of the numerous canes on Peter Nolan's UK website:
https://www.vintageairguns.co.uk/air-canes/?occur=1&lang=en&cover=0&album=47&photo=1968
https://www.vintageairguns.co.uk/air-canes/?occur=1&lang=en&cover=0&album=47&photo=1977

Don R.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Room temp CO2 is around 850 psi which usually works well, so you may be able to tinker with valve stem length vs pressure to optimize performance.

I think I'll just make a balanced valve and turn things up to 11...

Your knob is a somewhat odd shape with the sharp corner at the top; possibly there was once a medallion set into the groove?  Usually they're more of a hamburger-bun style, often with a threaded metal insert.  It could take an expert eye (not mine) to determine whether the material is ivory, bone, etc.

Possible but even if a part was missing it doesn't resemble any example I've seen online.  Posted to the UK airgunbbs forum in the meantime, maybe it will ring a bell.

[JoninMA]

Nice results....basically the equivalent of catching a pocket rimfire bullet back in the day. You'd be down for breakfast a couple of days afterwards, but downhill from there.

[Pneumatic-Addict]

Really appreciate what you've done with it so far.  Is it just me, or are there similarities to this .32 for sale:  https://www.gunsinternational.com/guns-for-sale-online/rifles/air-rifles/victorian-era-pneumatic-cane-gun.cfm?gun_id=101609128 ?   

[Vee3]

I've always thought those were super cool. Pretty useless, but cool. 

~25 years ago I was able to fire one similar to the one you show. It had a very convincing wood grain artfully painted on it.

Guy I was with got worn out pumping it, so I took over and finished. I took one shot, just to be able to say I'd fired one.

I imagined walking down a tree-lined lane hoping to see a rabbit; wearing a top hat, coat & tails with a pretty lady in a hooped white lace dress carrying a parasol. 

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Nice results....basically the equivalent of catching a pocket rimfire bullet back in the day. You'd be down for breakfast a couple of days afterwards, but downhill from there.

A hit to the vitals would be potentially lethal but how one would achieve that sort of accuracy beyond point blank range is debatable, not to mention that you only get one shot.

Really appreciate what you've done with it so far.  Is it just me, or are there similarities to this .32 for sale?

Pleasure!  Yes that certainly looks like something from the same era, and doubtless with the same internal mechanism.

I've always thought those were super cool. Pretty useless, but cool. 

Virtually all of my disposable income is spent on that category

I imagined walking down a tree-lined lane hoping to see a rabbit; wearing a top hat, coat & tails with a pretty lady in a hooped white lace dress carrying a parasol. 

It definitely feels like I should be wearing a pair of safety monocles while testing

Some progress in the meantime, I gave the balanced valve a go and was able to raise firing pressure to 1100 psi.

Some initial testing:



Best velocity recorded was 774 fps for 59.3 ft lbs, around 50% more than the maximum for the conventional valve.

I was a little conservative with the diameter of the balanced portion, I was worried that if it was too close to the seat then it might have problems sealing.

In that regard I've probably erred too much on the side of caution with 7mm, and can afford to go a little higher...

More to follow once I've played a little more with it.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Some balanced valve development:



Balanced valve V1 and housing compared to the improved poppet and original housing.

Note the groove at the head of the valve to allow air to vent into the balanced portion.

The head is also smaller diameter (6mm vs 8mm original) for better flow.



Balanced valve V2 with a larger bore balanced portion to decrease the seating bias and allow operation at even higher pressure.

Diameter is increased from 7mm to 9mm and the housing is bored out accordingly.

Pumped it up to 1800 psi and shot it over the chrono.

The display showed 520 feet per second but I suspect this is erroneous as the lead ball went further into the wooden backstop than previous shots.  The muzzle was probably too close to the first sensor on the chrono.

Loaded up a second shot and got an almighty whoosh, and this:



That works out at 84.2 ft lbs 

The chamber was completely empty however, and subsequent evaluation revealed the reason:



It turns out that allowing the valve to bottom out and a relatively weak valve spring might not be the best ideas at this end of the performance spectrum...

I think a minor redesign will solve the issue, watch this space

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Someone on another forum pointed me to a book that looks at these devices in detail, "Construction and Operation of the Air Gun Volume 2 - The Walking Stick Air Gun".  Found an online copy as it appears to be out of print and it's very well made.

The performance listed for a similar muzzle-loading air cane is in the same ballpark as the results I got from the unmodified design:



The introduction attempts to elucidate the raison d'etre of these devices:

Various explanations for their development and use have been touted, some of the most common being use by poachers, self defence or by naturalists for securing specimens. None of these explanations are really convincing as no working class poacher could possibly have afforded one, neither would it have been a sensible choice to carry for defence a loaded cocked aircane with all the hazard of an unprotected stud trigger. The case for use by naturalists is possibly the most viable; used as a shotgun with a charge of dust shot, they would have been very effective in acquiring undamaged specimens of small mammals and birds at short range.

However, this minority demand could not possibly account for the large numbers that were clearly being manufactured during this period. Most major gunmakers carried and advertised them as normal stock completely replacing the older style of butt and ball reservoir weapons. In fact they were still being listed in catalogues of the 1920's albeit as discontinued items.

Perhaps one explanation for their popularity was that for some purposes the aircane provided a viable alternative to the blackpowder firearms of the day. Its lack of flame, smoke and noise meant it could be used safely for amusement indoors by Country House shooting parties, for example when bad weather precluded normal shooting.

More importantly perhaps, the available evidence indicates the aircane filled a niche, prior to the introduction of the rook rifle as a rival to the bullet crossbow for rook shooting, as well as providing excellent sport with other small game.

Back to the present day and my efforts to max out this thing, more balanced valve development:



Version 2.1 with a stronger spring and a shoulder that bottoms out before the base of the valve hits the end of the balance chamber.

At 1100 psi, again using 45 grain 0.310" lead balls, the chrono read 789 fps for 62.2 ft lbs.

At 1500 psi, 860 fps / 73.9 ft lbs.

At 1600 psi, 163 fps / 2.7 ft lbs - obviously beyond what the hammer can reasonably open.

Not bad, but I was sure it could do better, so a coil was cut off the spring and further testing was carried out

At 1100 psi there was a slight improvement, up to 795 fps / 63.1 ft lbs.

At 1500 psi, WHOOOOOOOSHHHHH... no reading from the chrono as the chamber dump blew it three feet along the floor.

Subsequent investigation revealed that the spring had slipped over the valve shoulder, obviously the maximum diameter was a little too close.



This inspired the final balanced valve version 2.2 with as wide a diameter as could be made without compromising flow vis a vis the barrel diameter.

At 1100 psi it remained in the same ballpark at 786 fps / 61.7 ft lbs.

At 1600 psi now the hammer opened the valve comfortably so 4 shots were fired:

1) 869 fps / 75.4 ft lbs

2) 873 fps / 76.1 ft lbs

3) 860 fps / 73.9 ft lbs

4) 858 fps / 73.5 ft lbs

I thought I'd push my luck and took it to 1750 psi, another 4 shots were fired over the chrono:

1) 726 fps / 52.6 ft lbs

2) 883 fps / 77.9 ft lbs

3) 884 fps / 78.1 ft lbs

4) 878 fps / 77.0 ft lbs

The first low shot suggests that it's at the hammer's limit in this configuration.

More shots starting at 1700 psi showed similar results.  I think I can happily call this "done", muzzle energy has been effectively doubled compared to the original and I'll wager it's some sort of record for an antique air cane.  Also having fired about 25 shots with this last valve without failure, it looks like it's up to the job.

Here's one interesting result from the 786 fps shot at 1100 psi:



The lead ball entered the base of the aerosol can and ricocheted off the base at a 45 degree angle, still with enough energy to exit the can.

[Insanity]

Very impressive.

[kaotikross]

No more question as to lethality. A .31 ball at 800+ fps will kill and many did, especially at close range.

[jackssmirkingrevenge]

Very impressive.

Thanks!

Here's a damage video to wrap things up, after all the R&D it was time to have a little fun: