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Explosive harpoon

Type of harpoon used in whaling

Explosive harpoon used in Iceland in the 20th century

The explosive harpoon is a type of harpoon which uses an explosive discharge to assist in whaling. In Norway, Japan, and Iceland, the use of these harpoons is commonplace. Norway created and utilises the most technologically advanced grenades in their harpoons.

Historic versions

Albert Moore's Explosive Harpoon

Among many patents for explosive harpoons is Albert Moore's patented hand-dart explosive harpoon. It was invented on March 16, 1844 (U.S. Patent No. 3,490). This was the first handheld explosive harpoon ever invented.

Charles Burt’s Explosive Harpoon

Patented on May 6, 1851, by Charles Burt of Belfast, Maine (U.S Patent No. 8,073), this was the second harpoon of its kind.

Types of Explosive Harpoons

Mounted

'Mounted' is a term for a broad range of explosive harpoons. As this variant can be mounted onto a ship, it is generally larger and more powerful than a hand-thrown explosive harpoon. Mounted harpoons are spring operated as explosive discharges - which are more common in other forms of harpoons - have proven to be volatile and delicate in the 'mounted' variant.

Hand thrown

Hand thrown harpoons have been developed over time and now incorporate a gun or a ballistic type firing system.

Use

The explosive harpoon has historically only been used for whaling. Due to Oliver Allen’s improvements to the device, it can now be used on a smaller scale and in common practices like spearfishing.

References

"Explosive Harpoons".
(1963-07-22). "Muzzle-triggered gun".
(1946-08-20). "Harpoon cannon".
(1848-12-05). "Improved gun-harpoon".
"On the Water - Whaler's Allen's Gun Harpoon".

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

explosive-weapons harpoons

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