The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1885-02-04
saEEoH.1o4peas.7
Tbs Commonly Received Motion that They
Are a Modern Invention Not Borne Out

| The Commonly Received Motion that They
| Are Modern Invention Not Borne Out
| by the Facts. sA
There isa common notion that breeah-
loading is a modern idea, hut this rs not
true, for some of the earliess cannon
made were loaded at the bre, ch. The
load was placed in the barrel, then a
plug was driven in very tightly by
means,of awedge, and the whole strain
OF the explosion came on the carriage
Had the powder been of the quality now
used it is certain that these cannon
could have been fired but once; but the
reported effectiveness of the weapons is
a certain testimonial to the poor quality
OF the explosive. Many of these breech-
leaders were or carriages made movable
by means of wheels, though sometimes
iron balls were used so that the guns
could be turned in any direction. A
singular Italian gun of the fourteenth
century seems to be the direct ancestor
OF the Calling gun, being composed of
q number Of barrels, each separate
cannon mounted on the same carriage,
this consisting of frame on two large
wheels, and capable of being turned in
; any direction. IL was, in short, bat
terry of a dozen field pieces in one, and
for the age must have been terrible.
weapon. In the larger cannon of the
fourteenth century the powder-chamber
was made smaller than the bore, and as
. these guns were often OF great size,
they were not unfrequently quite
as dangerous to their friends as
to their foes. Bursting at the
powder-chamber was common.
occurrence, and King James w. of
I Scotland, according to history, was
killed by an accident of this kind. Dur
ing the wars of Francis /. of France and
Charles V. the artillery of the French
army consisted of nine pieces, all
mounted on carriages, the largest can
non being nine feet ten inches long.
weighing $500 pounds, carrying ball
weighing thirty-three pounds, and
drawn by twenty-one horses. The
honor OF inventing the shell belongs to
the Netherlanders, who greatly i'm
proved this branch of military force
during the fifteenth and sixteenth cen
turies, At first the shells were of the
nature Of hand grenade, number Of
them were inclosed in case of some
intlammable material, which was
ignited before the gun was loaded, and
when the charge was fired the in1am-
mable cover set fire to the powder con-
tanned in the shell. Then came the
bomb, or mortar shell, filled with
powder with fuse attached, which was
ignited before firing. These were ex-
tremely dangerous from the fact that II
the charge failed to explode. the SHELF
was reasonably certain to go off before
1t could be taken from the gun. The
Germans, therefore, met the difficulty
by inyenting a shell with single igni-
ton, or one in which the fire from the
powder of the gun also set fire to the
fuse Of the shell. The manufacture of
shells soon improved very greatly, and
they were made in two or three sections
and bolted together. The development
in the manufacture of cannon was very
great in the early history OF artillery,
and cannon were made in many differ
ent shapes. One is found with three
barrels welded together, another with
nine barrels in huge mass of metal,
the whole forming nine-barreled
mortar. In none was the range of any
great distance, close quarters being re-
quired to render any of them effective.
London Telegraph.