For the longest time now I have been collecting rare torpedo artifacts, primarily thier propellers, guidance gyroscopes and inert fuzes. Although torpedoes may be a little off subject here, they are munitions and pretty interesting. I will post a few pics of a few gyroscopes that show some of the most spectacular engineering in thier construction and design. The addition of a gyro in a torpedo significantly improved accuracy and range. My collection spans an area from 1902 to 1970. During this time the design of the gyro has changed significantly. For example, my early Whitehead gyro is purely spring driven. As the timeline progresses, the gyro’s internal rotor is driven by both spring and air from a compresed bottle stored in the torpedo. Latter on, it became soley air driven. Now modern torpedoes utilize electric and even laser ring gyros. If you look at some of the main rotors of the gyros in the photos, you will notice that some have ported or vented rotors compaired to early models that have smooth rotors. These help trap an maximise the compresed air to spin the rotor as fast as possible. Anyhow, if thier is any interest in this, I will post more pics and better descriptions.
This is a Japanese WW2 Long Lance & Miget Sub torpedo gyroscope (AIR ONLY)
Here is a WW2 Whitehead Torpedo Gyro (Air & Spring)
This is from Argintina (Air Only)
Group of both early spring and latter spring & air Whitehead torpedo gyros
This is a German WW2 Pi3c Fuze. It is massive and weighs about 20 pounds
I’ll stop here, this is a German Pi4 Torpedo fuze in its “ARMED” position. Sorry I took it in blk & wht.