American artillerist's companion; or Elements of artillery. Treating of all kinds of firearms in detail, and of the formation, object, and service of ... by an introductory dissertation on cannon ... - Tapa blanda

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1809 Excerpt: ...for should that be too great, it might be attended with great inconvenience, such as tearing the tackle. But when these guns are loaded with one fourth of the shot's weight, if there are no chambers made, the recoil will be but little greater, or perhaps no more than that of old guns loaded with half of the shot's weight: this being the case, there is not the least reason to make pieces so heavy as at present, nor so long: for if it be considered that ships may carry 12, 18, 24, 36, 42, and 48 pounders of this new construction, instead of 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, and 32 pounders of the present, and at the same time carry less burthen, it must appear to every rational person, what advantage such a ship must have above an enemy's of the same rate. That the strength of these guns is sufficient, appears from the trial of two twelve pounders, made for Admiral Keppel; they were loaded with twelve pounds of powder each time, and stood the proof without any damage; and I may venture to say, that they would stand any number of firings with the common charge. SECTION V. General Construction for Iron Ship Guns. Let the length of the piece be fifteen diameters of the shot; the diameter of the bore twenty-five parts of the shot's diameter divided into twenty-four as before, the distance A D forty parts; the breech A C twenty-four; the thickness of metal at the vent twenty-four, and half that thickness at the mouth; the diameter and length of the trunnions twenty-four each, and the rest of the construction the same as before. By the same way of computing as before, we shall find 140 pounds of iron, or a hundred and a quarter, for every pound weight of the shot: supposing that 108 cubic inches of cast iron weigh 29 pounds, according to our tables of specific gravities. To illust...