a portable pneumatic device for igniting heaps and piles of cuttings to clean up logged areas and for clearing soil cover and surface vegetation when using a backfire to put out forest fires. The device produced in the USSR consists of a backpack tank that holds 8 liters of kerosine, a pneumatic pump, and a hose with a nozzle. The flamethrower works on the blowtorch principle. While the fuel is burning, the temperature of the flame reaches 1000°C. Lumber cuttings burn four times faster when ignited with flamethrowers than with torches made of various materials.
a weapon designed to destroy the enemy with a stream of burning incendiary mixture.
Flamethrowers are portable (backpack), self-propelled, or tank-mounted. The flamethrower consists of containers for the incendiary mixture, a canister of compressed gas (air or nitrogen), a flexible hose, a nozzle equipped with a safety device to prevent accidental firing, and a mechanical ignition device. The current American ABC-M9–7 backpack flamethrower weighs 22.7 kg (outfitted), has a flame-throwing range of 20–55 m, and operates continuously for five to seven seconds. The self-propelled M132 American flamethrower was designed in the 1960’s on the basis of the M113 amphibious armored personnel carrier, on which a small turret with a M10–8 flamethrower device and machine gun are mounted. Containers for the incendiary mixture and compressed air are located in the body of the vehicle. The flame-throwing range is up to 180 m, and the flamethrower can operate continuously for 30–40 seconds.