Technology Advancements WWI: 3D Gallery

Flamethrower

Flamethrowers were used in WWI as weapons. The machine hurled flame material and it was submitted to the German Army by Richard Fiedler in 1901. The devices were tested by the Germans with an experimental detachment in 1911 and were mostly used in 1915. They had their best potential during trench warfare. Flamethrowers burned alive enemy soldiers without inflicting structural damage.

Poison Gas

Poison gas had very devasting results because the chemical weapons brought a very large-scale gas attack. The German pioneered this and used it on the Russians on January 31, 1915. However, the low temperatures froze the poison in the shells. The first successful use of chemical weapons was on April 22, 1915, when the Germans sprayed chlorine gas from large cylinders towards trenches that were held by French colonial troops. Later, allied defenses were using poison gas as well.

Tracer Bullets

Tracer bullets had a lot of involvement in a futile activity, fighting at night was especially unproductive because it was hard to see where you were shooting. Night combat made it easier by the British invention of tracer bullets. The rounds were small amounts of flammable material that left a phosphorescent trail. The first attempt, in 1915, found that tracer bullets weren’t that useful because it was limited to 100 meters. However, the second model was developed in 1916 and it was perfect for battle because it emitted a green-white trail.

Depth Charges

Depth charges were invented because the Germans needed to figure out a way to combat the submarine menace. Depth charges were an underwater bomb that could be lobbed from the deck of a ship using a catapult or chute. They could be set to go off at a certain depth of water by a hydrostatic pistol. A hydrostatic pistol measured underwater pressure. This insured the depth charge wouldn’t damage surface vessels, including the launch ship. This idea was sketched in 1913 and was produced in 1916.

Hydrophones

A hydrophone was used as basically a microphone underwater, and was used to locate the U-boat by soundwaves. The first hydrophone was invented by Reginald Fessenden in 1914. However, hydrophones was a limited use because it couldn’t tell the direction of the underwater object, it could only tell the distance. Later, they were further improved by the Frenchman Paul Langevin and Russian Constantin Chilowsky, who were able to figure out a way to determine both underwater distance and direction of an underwater object. It was finally perfected by the Americans and they could detect U-boats up to 25 miles away.

Aircraft Carriers

The first airplane launch was from a ship called HMS Hibernia in 1912 but it wasn’t considered a true aircraft carrier because couldn’t land on its deck. The first real aircraft carrier was the HMS Furious which was a 786-foot-long battle cruiser equipped with two massive 18-inch guns. The British found a way to build a long platform capable of both launching and landing airplanes. They built hangers for the airplanes to be stored in, similar to the ones we use today.

Pilotless Drones

The first pilotless drone was developed for the U.S. Navy in 1916 and 1917 by Elmer Sperry and Peter Hewitt. They originally designed it as an unmanned aerial bomb. This measured 18.5 feet across, with a 12-horsepower motor, and weighed 175 pounds. The technique they were targeting was flying because it could be useful against ships during the war. However, without being successfully able to integrate remote radio control, the Navy lost interest in 1925.

Mobile X-Ray Machines

Since millions of soldiers were suffering from life-threatening injuries and there was a very big need for a machine that could do a medical diagnostic. The main issue was they needed something that was small and transportable because very large machines were too bulky and delicate to move. The French military immediately after the outbreak of war was able to create mobile X-ray stations. This invention was made by Marie Curie who built these in several cars and small trucks. By the end of the war, these were called “radiologic cars” or “Little Curies”.

Interrupter Guns

Since airplanes had been around for a decade when WWI started, there was a potential for an aerial platform for bombs and machine guns. It wasn’t clear how the latter would work because the propeller blades got in the way. The first attempt was by the U.S. Army and it basically tied the gun to the plane with a leather strap. Another solution was mounting the gun above the pilot so the bullets cleared the propeller blade but it was hard to aim. There was finally a presented version by the Dutch designer Anthony Fokker who was able to attach a cam to the propeller shaft, allowing the machine gun to only fire in between the blade of the spinning propeller.

Air Traffic Control

When airplanes were first made, a plane left the ground and the pilot was pretty much isolated from the terrestrail world (unable to receive any information aside from the signals using flags or lamps). This changed because the U.S. army was able to install the first operational two-way radios in planes during WWI. The development began in 1915 at San Diego and by 1916 technicians could send a radio telegraph over a distance of 140 miles.

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Technology Advancements WWI