![]() ![]() Gundlach and Vickers 360-degree periscopesĪn important development, the Gundlach rotary periscope, incorporated a rotating top with a selectable additional prism which reversed the view. Periscopes may also be referred to by slang, e.g. In this context a periscope refers to a device that can rotate to provide a wider field of view (or is fixed into an assembly that can), while an episcope is fixed into position. In the context of armoured fighting vehicles, such as tanks, a periscopic vision device may also be referred to as an episcope. This prevents a potential ingress point for small arms fire, with only a small difference in vision height, but still requires the armour to be cut. A compact periscope inside the protectoscope allows the vision slit to be blanked off with spaced armoured plate. Periscopes permit view outside of the vehicle without needing to cut these weaker vision openings in the front and side armour, better protecting the vehicle and occupants.Ī protectoscope is a related periscopic vision device designed to provide a window in armoured plate, similar to a direct vision slit. Prior to periscopes, direct vision slits were cut in the armour for occupants to see out. Tanks and armoured vehicles use periscopes: they enable drivers, tank commanders, and other vehicle occupants to inspect their situation through the vehicle roof. Ī team of German artillery observers using periscope binoculars, 1943 Some of them also allowed estimating the distance to a target, as they were designed as stereoscopic rangefinders. The periscope rifle also saw use during the war – this was an infantry rifle sighted by means of a periscope, so the shooter could aim fire the weapon from a safe position below the trench parapet.ĭuring World War II (1939–1945), artillery observers and officers used specifically-manufactured periscope binoculars with different mountings. Periscopes, in some cases fixed to rifles, served in World War I (1914–1918) to enable soldiers to see over the tops of trenches, thus avoiding exposure to enemy fire (especially from snipers). Morgan Robertson (1861–1915) claimed to have tried to patent the periscope: he described a submarine using a periscope in his fictional works. Sir Howard Grubb perfected the device in World War I. Simon Lake used periscopes in his submarines in 1902. ![]() In 1854, Hippolyte Marié-Davy invented the first naval periscope, consisting of a vertical tube with two small mirrors fixed at each end at 45°. Hevelius saw military applications for his invention. Johannes Hevelius described an early periscope (which he called a "polemoscope") with lenses in 1647 in his work Selenographia, sive Lunae descriptio.
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