G 
Mortars, as we have Teen above, are unqueftionably 
more ancient than cannon. They were employed in the 
wars of Italy, to throw balls of red-hot iron, Hones, &c. 
long before the invention of fhells, which were of Ger¬ 
man origin. The firft account of fhells ufed for mi¬ 
litary purpofes, is in 1435, when Naples was befieged 
by Charles VIII. Mr. Malter, an Englilh engineer, 
firft taught the French the art of throwing fhells, which 
they praCtifed at the liege.of Motte in 1634. The me¬ 
thod of throwing red-hot balls out of mortars appears 
to have been firft put in practice, in modern tactics, at 
the liege of Stralfund in 1675 by the elector of Branden¬ 
burg : though others fay in 1653, at the fiege of Bremen. 
Another fpecies of ordnance has been long in ufe, by 
the name of Howitzer, which is a kind of medium as to 
its length between the cannon and the mortar, and is a 
very ufeful piece for difcharging either fhells or large 
balls, which is done either at point-blank or at a fmall 
elevation. Another fpecies of ordnance was introduced 
by the Carron company, and thence called a Carronade, 
which is only a very fhort howitzer, having the advan¬ 
tage of being light and eafy to work. They are not, 
however, found fo ufeful as was expected. Match¬ 
locks or mufkets are faid to have been firft ufed at the 
fiege of Rhege, in 1521. For a particular defcfiption 
of all thefe terrible implements of war, with figures of 
their various forms, fee the article Artillery, vol. ii. 
p.232-236, and the correfpondent engraving; and for 
the fabrication of cannon, fee the article Foundery, 
vol. vii. p. 62 5. 
The manufacture-of mufkets, fufils, fowling-pieces, 
Sec. is the proper work of the gunfmith ; the molt ap¬ 
proved methods of which are the following: 
On the FORMATION of the BARREL. 
To form a gun-barrel in.,the manner generally prac- 
tifed for mulkets, fufils, or fowling-pieces, the work¬ 
men begin by heating and hammering out a bar of iron 
into the form of a flat ruler, thinner at the end intend¬ 
ed for the muzzle, and thicker at that for the breech ; 
the length, breadth, and thicknefs, of the whole plate, 
being regulated by the intended length, diameter, and 
weight, of the barrel. This oblong- plate of metal is 
then, by repeated heating and hammering, turned round 
a cylindrical rod of tempered iron, called a mandril, 
whofe diameter is confiderably lefs than the intended 
bore of tire barrel. The edges of the plate are made to 
overlap each other about half an inch, and are welded 
together by heating the tube in lengths of two or three 
inches at a time, and hammering it, with very brifk but 
moderate ftrokes, upon an anvil which has a number of 
femicircular furrows in it, adapted to the fizes of the 
barrels. The heat required for welding, is the bright 
white heat which immediately precedes fu-fion, and at 
which the particles of the metal unite and blend fo in¬ 
timately with each other, that, when properly managed, 
not a veftige is left of their former feparation: this de¬ 
gree of heat is generally known by a number of brilliant 
fparks flying oft'from the iron whilft in the fire; al¬ 
though it requires much practice and experience to af- 
certain the degree of heat required for welding iron, 
which pofTelTes various qualities, and is feldom alike. 
Every 1 time the barrel is withdrawn from the forge, the 
workman ftrikes the end of it once or twice gently 
againft the anvil, in a horizontal direction: this opera¬ 
tion, which the Englilh l'miths term jumping, and the 
French ejloquer, ferves to confolidate the particles of 
the metal more perfectly, and to obliterate every ap¬ 
pearance of a learn or joint. The mandril is then intro¬ 
duced into the bore; and the barrel, being placed in 
one of the furrows or moulds of the anvil, is hammered 
very brilkly by two perfons befides the forger, who all 
the time keeps turning the barrel round in the mould, 
fo that every point of the heated portion may come 
equally under the action of the hammers. Thefe heat- 
Vol. IX. No. j69. 
U N. 97 
ings and hammerings are repeated until the whole of 
the barrel has undergone the fame operatidh, and all its 
parts are rendered as perfectly continuous as if it had 
been bored out of a folid piece. 
The imperfections to which a gun-barrel is liable in 
forging, are of three-kinds, viz. the chink, the crack, 
and the flaw. Tlie chink is a folution of continuity, 
running lengthwife of the barrel. The crack is a folu¬ 
tion of continuity, more irregular in its form than the 
chink, and running in a tranfverfe direction, or acrofs 
the barrel. The flaw differs from both: it is a fmall 
plate or fcale, which adheres to the barrel by a narrow 
bafe, from which it fipreads but as the head of a nail 
does from its flmnk ; and, when feparated, leaves a pit 
or hollow in the metal. 
With regard to the foundnefs of the barrel, the chink 
and flaw are of much greater importance than the crack, 
as the effort of the powder is exerted upon the circum¬ 
ference, and not upon the length, of the barrel. In a 
fword, or bow, the very reverfe offthis takes place; for, 
if a crack, though but of a flight depth, occurs in ci¬ 
ther, it will break at that place, when bent but a very 
little; becaufe the effort is made upon the fibres dif- 
pofed longitudinally ; whereas if the fault be a chink, 
or even a flight flaw, the fword or bow will not gave 
way. The flaw is much more frequent than the chink ; 
the latter fcarcely ever occurring but in barrels forged 
as above, in which the fibres of the metal run longitu¬ 
dinally; and then only when the iron is of an inferior 
quality. When external and fuperficial, they are all 
defeCls in point of neatnefs only; but, when fituated 
within the barrel, they are of a material difadvantage, 
by affording a lodgment to moifture and foulnefs that 
corrode the iron, and thus continually enlarge the exca¬ 
vation until the barrel burfts, or becomes dangerous to 
ufe. 
The barrelj when forged, is either finiflted in the 
common manner, or made to undergo the operation of 
twilling, which is a procefs employed on thofe barrels 
that are intended to be of a fuperior quality and price 
to others. This operation cbnfiffs in heating- the bar¬ 
rel, in portions of a few inches at a time, to a high de¬ 
gree of red heat; when One end of it is ferewed into a 
vice, and into the other is introduced a fquare piece of 
iron with a handle like an auger; and, by means of 
thefe, the fibres of the heated portion are twilled in a 
fpiral direction, that is found to refill the effort of the 
powder much better than a longitudinal one. 
To perfons unacquainted with the lofs which iron 
fuffers in forging, it will be a matter of furprife that 
twelve pounds of iron are required to produce a barrel, 
which, when finifhed, fliall not weigh more than two 
pounds, or two pounds and a half.- But, although a 
conliderable wafte is unavoidable, yet the quantity of it 
depends very much upon the quality of the iron, upon 
that of the coal,^pid upon the knowledge and dexterity 
of the workmen. In Spain they cannot work but with 
charcoal of wood; in France they employ pit-coal 
charred, orcoaks; in England they ufe pit-coal with¬ 
out being charred, but are very careful to have it of 
the pure!! kind, forne forts containing a portion of ful- 
phur and arfenic which render the metal altogether^un- 
malleable, or, in the language of the workmen, poifon 
the iron. 
A circumftance of conliderable importance to the ex¬ 
cellence of a barrel, is, the forging it as near as can 
be to the weight it is intended to be of when finilhed, 
fo that very little be taken away in the boring and 
filing ; for, as the outer furface, by having undergone 
the action of the hammer more immediately than any 
other part; is rendered the moft compaCt and pure, we 
fltould be careful to remove as little of it as pollible : 
the fame thing holds, though in a lefs degree, with re¬ 
gard to that portion of the infide of the barrel which is 
to be cut out by the boring inftrument. 
PiftoL 
