390 Stick Grenades and Gatling Guns
The sun shone through the glass windows of a large conference room within the Industrial District of the city of Kufstein. They gathered various men dressed in work clothes around the table, stained with the various fluids that an engineer would commonly encounter. At the head of this table was a familiar young man, the eldest son of the legendary engineer Ludwig Schmidt.
Jakob was designing a new weapon, and the men surrounding him were the Research and development team assigned to the Austrian National Armory. Usually, Ludwig would be at this meeting, but the man was getting on in years and had many other tasks to work on. With this in mind, he placed his eldest son as the head of the Research and development department.
At the moment, Jakob and his engineers were working together to design a replacement for the old cast iron grenades that were essentially nothing more than a hollow iron ball filled with black powder and used a slow-burning match to detonate.
While the mighty King of Austria, Berengar von Kufstein, had laid the groundwork for the development of arms and munitions, a certain amount of responsibility had fallen to these men, and it was with this in mind that they fervently worked to live up to the standards of their respective positions.
The rudimentary design on the table was akin to a Stielhandgranate or stick grenade from Berengar's past life. Much like the Chinese variant of the stick grenade from the 20th century, they had opted to use TNT as the explosive compound contained within. However, where they were struggling to complete the design was regarding the ignition system; for the time being, they could not think of a way to ignite the grenade safely.
Right when they were about to give up on the design altogether, a knock resounded throughout the room, which originated from the doors of the conference room. Shortly after this, the doors crept open to reveal the elegant figure of the young king of Austria.
Upon seeing their Monarch enter the room, the engineers all became dead silent, as they were not expecting his arrival and did not know how to react appropriately. Berengar had a dignified expression on his face as he explained his reasoning for stopping by.
"Apologies if I am interrupting your little meeting, but Ludwig informed me you guys might need some help in whatever it is you are designing. I have an hour or two to spare, and I dropped by."
After hearing this, Jakob swallowed the saliva pooled in his mouth before responding to his King's remarks.
"It would be an honor for his majesty to aid us with our newest design."
Having said this, the junior engineer revealed a document which contained the details of the prototype grenade on it. Berengar glanced at it for a few moments with an amused expression. He found it interesting how these engineers had put together something he was already planning to introduce soon.
After looking over the device, he instantly realized what they were struggling with and quickly grabbed hold of a nearby fountain pen, where he made alterations to the ignition system. The stick grenade was not an exceptionally complicated device, and truth be told, these men were completely overthinking this component.
The actual method from his previous life was relatively crude; unlike other designs, it did not use something akin to a percussion cap to ignite the explosive compound. Instead, it had a sheet steel cylinder embedded within the top of the handle, which was connected to the detonator. A pull cord ran throughout the entire length of the hollow wooden handle and protruded from below.
With this method, one only needed to pull the drawstring; this would drag a rough steel rod through the igniter within, where the abrasion from contact with the steel rod would cause the fuse to ignite; after it achieved this, it would take roughly four and a half seconds for the burning fuse to reach the explosive filling where it would then detonate.
After changing the grenade design, Berengar made a few other minor additions to the design, such as a clip, so that the grenades could easily be attached to a soldier's belt. When it was complete, he showed it off to the engineers with a smug expression on his face.
"I believe this has resolved the difficulties you were having, has it not?"
After seeing the completed design, the Engineers stared in awe at their King. In a matter of minutes, he had resolved the issues that they had spent weeks wrapping their minds around. Just what kind of intellect did this man have? Having completed the basic Stick Grenade Design, Berengar stood up from his seat and walked towards the doors, leaving behind one last phrase before he attempted to depart.
"You should be proud of yourselves; you have designed an effective grenade to replace the dreadfully outdated devices currently in use by our grenadiers. With this, you have increased the firepower that we can equip an average Landwehr with. Your only problem was that you were overthinking the ignition system; sometimes, a crude method like this is exactly what is needed."
The goal was to leave the manufacture and initial testing of these weapons up to the men in this room. After the grenades had proven safe for handling, these men would send them to the Department of Defense for extensive testing under field conditions. After being approved for combat, they would send the weapons to the army.
Berengar had done his part and was quite pleased with the results. He saw this as a huge step forward on the path to self-sufficiency; after all, he was not immortal, and the day he died, his Empire would have to maintain and expand upon everything he had built.
Just when Berengar was about to leave the engineers to themselves, Jakob spoke up. In doing so, he caught the king's attention.
"Your Majesty, we have another design we would like to show you. It is nearly complete, but we think it would be best to get your input before they have completed it."
This notion intrigued the Austrian king, who nodded his head with a smile before giving the engineers the approval they needed to show him the blueprint.
"Go ahead, I still have some time."
With the King's permission, the engineers quickly pulled out another blueprint and placed it down upon the table to reveal the hard work they had endured in order to come up with a replacement for the now obsolete Schmidt gun.
When Berengar gazed upon the device, he was well and truly shocked. This weapon was none other than a Gatling gun, particularly the model of 1874. It surprised him to see that these men would use their combined intellect to create such a devastating weapon. As he examined the details, he realized where their fault with the design was.
With a smile on his face, Berengar pointed towards the munitions that were used in the weapon. They were far too large to be effective for the design, and thus he boldly proclaimed how he would fix this weapon for them.
"If you scale down the ammunition for this weapon to a standard rifle caliber, it would be far more effective. You guys are thinking of using this as an artillery piece, when it should be used as an anti-infantry weapon. Do not fret, I will do my best to design a proper metallic cartridge for this weapon that our soldiers' standard issue rifle can also use."
When the engineers heard this, it was as if they had entered a zone of enlightenment, and bowed their heads with respect towards their king for the guidance he had showed them. Berengar waved this gesture of gratitude off before preparing to depart.
"Do not think too much of it. You have done an excellent job designing this weapon. Compared to the effort you have done to get this far, my contribution is minimal. I assure you that when this weapon is complete, it will be a significant change on the battlefield! For your efforts on these designs, I will handsomely reward you all."
Upon hearing their King's praise, the various engineers gathered, smiled and nodded their heads. It was great to receive approval for their efforts, especially by the man who provided them the path to get this far in life. After gracefully accepting the King's kind words, they showed him out the door where Berengar returned to the Palace.
There was much paperwork that needed to be done, and Berengar was the only one who could do it. He would spend the rest of his day in the office preparing the documents that were required for one of his upcoming wars. As for the design of the metallic cartridge that would ensure this new improved Schmidt Gun would be a success, he would get to that at a later date.
After all, his army currently maintained such a massive technological advantage over his enemies that the immediate deployment of Gatling Guns was not a major concern of his. The sooner such a weapon entered the field of battle, the sooner his enemies would tremble before his might.
Jakob was designing a new weapon, and the men surrounding him were the Research and development team assigned to the Austrian National Armory. Usually, Ludwig would be at this meeting, but the man was getting on in years and had many other tasks to work on. With this in mind, he placed his eldest son as the head of the Research and development department.
At the moment, Jakob and his engineers were working together to design a replacement for the old cast iron grenades that were essentially nothing more than a hollow iron ball filled with black powder and used a slow-burning match to detonate.
While the mighty King of Austria, Berengar von Kufstein, had laid the groundwork for the development of arms and munitions, a certain amount of responsibility had fallen to these men, and it was with this in mind that they fervently worked to live up to the standards of their respective positions.
The rudimentary design on the table was akin to a Stielhandgranate or stick grenade from Berengar's past life. Much like the Chinese variant of the stick grenade from the 20th century, they had opted to use TNT as the explosive compound contained within. However, where they were struggling to complete the design was regarding the ignition system; for the time being, they could not think of a way to ignite the grenade safely.
Right when they were about to give up on the design altogether, a knock resounded throughout the room, which originated from the doors of the conference room. Shortly after this, the doors crept open to reveal the elegant figure of the young king of Austria.
Upon seeing their Monarch enter the room, the engineers all became dead silent, as they were not expecting his arrival and did not know how to react appropriately. Berengar had a dignified expression on his face as he explained his reasoning for stopping by.
"Apologies if I am interrupting your little meeting, but Ludwig informed me you guys might need some help in whatever it is you are designing. I have an hour or two to spare, and I dropped by."
After hearing this, Jakob swallowed the saliva pooled in his mouth before responding to his King's remarks.
"It would be an honor for his majesty to aid us with our newest design."
Having said this, the junior engineer revealed a document which contained the details of the prototype grenade on it. Berengar glanced at it for a few moments with an amused expression. He found it interesting how these engineers had put together something he was already planning to introduce soon.
After looking over the device, he instantly realized what they were struggling with and quickly grabbed hold of a nearby fountain pen, where he made alterations to the ignition system. The stick grenade was not an exceptionally complicated device, and truth be told, these men were completely overthinking this component.
The actual method from his previous life was relatively crude; unlike other designs, it did not use something akin to a percussion cap to ignite the explosive compound. Instead, it had a sheet steel cylinder embedded within the top of the handle, which was connected to the detonator. A pull cord ran throughout the entire length of the hollow wooden handle and protruded from below.
With this method, one only needed to pull the drawstring; this would drag a rough steel rod through the igniter within, where the abrasion from contact with the steel rod would cause the fuse to ignite; after it achieved this, it would take roughly four and a half seconds for the burning fuse to reach the explosive filling where it would then detonate.
After changing the grenade design, Berengar made a few other minor additions to the design, such as a clip, so that the grenades could easily be attached to a soldier's belt. When it was complete, he showed it off to the engineers with a smug expression on his face.
"I believe this has resolved the difficulties you were having, has it not?"
After seeing the completed design, the Engineers stared in awe at their King. In a matter of minutes, he had resolved the issues that they had spent weeks wrapping their minds around. Just what kind of intellect did this man have? Having completed the basic Stick Grenade Design, Berengar stood up from his seat and walked towards the doors, leaving behind one last phrase before he attempted to depart.
"You should be proud of yourselves; you have designed an effective grenade to replace the dreadfully outdated devices currently in use by our grenadiers. With this, you have increased the firepower that we can equip an average Landwehr with. Your only problem was that you were overthinking the ignition system; sometimes, a crude method like this is exactly what is needed."
The goal was to leave the manufacture and initial testing of these weapons up to the men in this room. After the grenades had proven safe for handling, these men would send them to the Department of Defense for extensive testing under field conditions. After being approved for combat, they would send the weapons to the army.
Berengar had done his part and was quite pleased with the results. He saw this as a huge step forward on the path to self-sufficiency; after all, he was not immortal, and the day he died, his Empire would have to maintain and expand upon everything he had built.
Just when Berengar was about to leave the engineers to themselves, Jakob spoke up. In doing so, he caught the king's attention.
"Your Majesty, we have another design we would like to show you. It is nearly complete, but we think it would be best to get your input before they have completed it."
This notion intrigued the Austrian king, who nodded his head with a smile before giving the engineers the approval they needed to show him the blueprint.
"Go ahead, I still have some time."
With the King's permission, the engineers quickly pulled out another blueprint and placed it down upon the table to reveal the hard work they had endured in order to come up with a replacement for the now obsolete Schmidt gun.
When Berengar gazed upon the device, he was well and truly shocked. This weapon was none other than a Gatling gun, particularly the model of 1874. It surprised him to see that these men would use their combined intellect to create such a devastating weapon. As he examined the details, he realized where their fault with the design was.
With a smile on his face, Berengar pointed towards the munitions that were used in the weapon. They were far too large to be effective for the design, and thus he boldly proclaimed how he would fix this weapon for them.
"If you scale down the ammunition for this weapon to a standard rifle caliber, it would be far more effective. You guys are thinking of using this as an artillery piece, when it should be used as an anti-infantry weapon. Do not fret, I will do my best to design a proper metallic cartridge for this weapon that our soldiers' standard issue rifle can also use."
When the engineers heard this, it was as if they had entered a zone of enlightenment, and bowed their heads with respect towards their king for the guidance he had showed them. Berengar waved this gesture of gratitude off before preparing to depart.
"Do not think too much of it. You have done an excellent job designing this weapon. Compared to the effort you have done to get this far, my contribution is minimal. I assure you that when this weapon is complete, it will be a significant change on the battlefield! For your efforts on these designs, I will handsomely reward you all."
Upon hearing their King's praise, the various engineers gathered, smiled and nodded their heads. It was great to receive approval for their efforts, especially by the man who provided them the path to get this far in life. After gracefully accepting the King's kind words, they showed him out the door where Berengar returned to the Palace.
There was much paperwork that needed to be done, and Berengar was the only one who could do it. He would spend the rest of his day in the office preparing the documents that were required for one of his upcoming wars. As for the design of the metallic cartridge that would ensure this new improved Schmidt Gun would be a success, he would get to that at a later date.
After all, his army currently maintained such a massive technological advantage over his enemies that the immediate deployment of Gatling Guns was not a major concern of his. The sooner such a weapon entered the field of battle, the sooner his enemies would tremble before his might.
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