In artillery, capsquares, or capsquires, are strong plates of iron which come over the trunnions of a cannon, keeping it in its carriage. They are fastened by hinges to the paizeplate, so that it could be lifted up and down. They form a part of an arch in the middle, to receive a third part of the thickness of the trunnions; for two thirds of them are let into the carriage, and the other end is fastened by two iron wedges, which are called the forelocks, and keys.
A carronade is a short, smoothbore, cast-iron cannon which was used by the Royal Navy. It was first produced by the Carron Company, an ironworks in Falkirk, Scotland, and was used from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its main function was to serve as a powerful, short-range, anti-ship and anti-crew weapon. The technology behind the carronade was greater dimensional precision, with the shot fitting more closely in the barrel, thus transmitting more of the propellant charge's energy to the projectile, allowing a lighter gun using less gunpowder to be effective.
The Rodman gun is any of a series of American Civil War–era columbiads designed by Union artillery officer Thomas Jackson Rodman (1815–1871). The guns were designed to fire both shot and shell. These heavy guns were intended to be mounted in seacoast fortifications. 8-inch, 10-inch, 13-inch, 15-inch, and 20-inch bore Rodman guns were produced. Other than size, the guns were all nearly identical in design, with a curving bottle shape, a large flat cascabels, and ratchets or sockets for the elevating mechanism. Rodman guns were true guns that did not have a howitzer-like powder chamber, as did many earlier columbiads. Rodman guns differed from all previous artillery because they were hollow cast, a new technology that Rodman developed that resulted in cast-iron guns that were much stronger than their predecessors.
A trunnion is a cylindrical protrusion used as a mounting or pivoting point. First associated with cannons, they are an important military development.
Dahlgren guns were muzzle-loading naval gun designed by a United States Navy Rear Admiral John A. Dahlgren, mostly used in the American Civil War. Dahlgren's design philosophy evolved from an accidental explosion in 1849 of a 32 lb (14.5 kg) gun being tested for accuracy, killing a gunner. He believed a safer, more powerful naval cannon could be designed using more scientific design criteria. Dahlgren guns were designed with a smooth curved shape, equalizing strain and concentrating more weight of metal in the gun breech where the greatest pressure of expanding propellant gases needed to be met to keep the gun from bursting. Because of their rounded contours, Dahlgren guns were nicknamed "soda bottles", a shape which became their most identifiable characteristic.
A limber is a two-wheeled cart designed to support the trail of an artillery piece, or the stock of a field carriage such as a caisson or traveling forge, allowing it to be towed. The trail is the hinder end of the stock of a gun-carriage, which rests or slides on the ground when the carriage is unlimbered.
A gun carriage is a frame or a mount that supports the gun barrel of an artillery piece, allowing it to be maneuvered and fired. These platforms often had wheels so that the artillery pieces could be moved more easily. Gun carriages are also used on ships to facilitate the movement and aiming of large cannons and guns. These are also used in the funeral procession of any higher authority of any state and country.
The Ordnance BLC 15-pounder gun was a modernised version of the obsolete BL 15-pounder 7 cwt gun, incorporating a recoil and recuperator mechanism above the barrel and a modified quicker-opening breech. It was developed to provide Territorial Force artillery brigades with a reasonably modern field gun without incurring the expense of equipping them with the newer 18-pounder. It is the gun that writers usually mean by "15-pounder gun" in World War I, but can be confused with the earlier Ordnance QF 15-pounder Ehrhardt or Ordnance BL 15-pounder, both of which fired the same shell.
A carriage bolt is a type of bolt. It is also known as a cup head bolt in Australia and New Zealand.
The 21 cm Kanone 12 in Eisenbahnlafette was a large German railroad gun used in the Second World War and deployed to fire on England from the English Channel coast in occupied France.
Fort Phoenix is a former American Revolutionary War-era fort located at the entrance to the Fairhaven-New Bedford harbor, south of U.S. 6 in Fort Phoenix Park in Fairhaven, Massachusetts. The fort was originally built in 1775 without a name, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Just off the fort, in Buzzards Bay, was the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, the Battle of Fairhaven on 14 May 1775.
The Armstrong RBL 40-pounder gun was introduced into use in 1860 for service on both land and sea. It used William Armstrong's new and innovative rifled breechloading mechanism. It remained in use until 1902 when replaced by more modern Breech Loading (BL) guns.
The Canon de 155 C modèle 1915 Saint-Chamond was a French howitzer used during World War I. It was based on a private prototype of a 150 millimetres (5.9 in) howitzer presented to the Mexican government in 1911. The French government ordered 400 Saint-Chamond howitzers in 1915, these being delivered starting in late 1916. Small numbers of Saint-Chamond howitzers were given to the Serbian and Romanian armies towards the end of World War I. The Saint-Chamond howitzer served in the French Army after World War I and were mobilised at the outbreak of World War II. Finland bought 24 Saint-Chamond howitzers during the Winter War and these served until the 1960s. The German Army captured some Saint-Chamond howitzers after the fall of France and used these mostly as coastal defence guns until the end of World War II.
The RML 64-pounder 71 cwt guns (converted) were British rifled muzzle-loading guns converted from obsolete smoothbore 8-inch 65 cwt shell guns in the 1860s-1870s.
An oscillating cylinder steam engine is a simple steam-engine design that requires no valve gear. Instead the cylinder rocks, or oscillates, as the crank moves the piston, pivoting in the mounting trunnion so that ports in the cylinder line up with ports in a fixed port face alternately to direct steam into or out of the cylinder.
The M1841 mountain howitzer was a mountain gun used by the United States Army during the mid-nineteenth century, from 1837 to about 1870. It saw service during the Mexican–American War of 1847–1848, the American Indian Wars, and during the American Civil War, 1861–1865.
The RML 40-pounder gun was a British rifled muzzle-loading siege and fortification gun designed in 1871. It was intended to supersede the RBL 40-pounder Armstrong gun after the British military reverted to rifled muzzle-loading artillery until a more satisfactory breech-loading system than that of the Armstrong guns was developed.
The 3-inch gun M1903 and its predecessors the M1898 and M1902 were rapid fire breech-loading artillery guns with a 360-degree traverse. In some references they are called "15-pounders" due to their projectile weight. They were originally emplaced from 1899 to 1917 and served until shortly after World War II. These 3-inch guns were placed to provide fire to protect underwater mines and nets against minesweepers, and also to protect against motor torpedo boats. In some documentation they are called "mine defense guns". The 3-inch guns were mounted on pedestal mounts that bolted into a concrete emplacement that provided cover and safety for the gun's crew.
The 3-inch ordnance rifle, model 1861 was a wrought iron muzzleloading rifled cannon that was adopted by the United States Army in 1861 and widely used in field artillery units during the American Civil War. It fired a 9.5 lb (4.3 kg) projectile to a distance of 1,830 yd (1,670 m) at an elevation of 5°. The 3-inch rifle was not as effective in firing canister shot as the heavier 12-pounder Napoleon, but it proved to be highly accurate at longer ranges when firing common shell or spherical case shot. There was only one reported case of a 3-inch ordnance rifle bursting in action. This was in stark contrast to the similarly-sized cast iron 10-pounder Parrott rifles which occasionally burst without warning, inflicting injury on the gun crews. The Confederate States of America lacked the technology to manufacture reliable copies of the 3-inch ordnance rifle. However, the Confederate States Army respected the weapons and employed those captured from Federal forces.
The Canon de 32 modèle 1870/93 à glissement was a French railway gun used by the French Army during World War I and World War II.
The Canon de 32 modèle 1870/81 à glissement was a French Railway gun used by the French Army during World War I and World War II.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728). "Capsquare". Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al.
