- Mounted Crossbowman
A troop of mounted crossbowmen, of special skill and courage, usually formed the bodyguard of the king, and attended him in battle. Mounted crossbowmen were largely employed on the Continent in the fourteenth, and first half of the fifteenth century, and these men were usually allowed one and sometimes even two horses apiece, besides being supplied, when on the march, with carts to carry their crossbows and quarrels - Nordenfeldt Five Barrel Rifle Calibre Machine Gun on field carriage
- Crossbowman approaching game
Crossbowman approaching game by means of a stalkig horse - Hand Grenade No. 5
Mechanical Bombs. Hand Grenade No. 5, known as Mills’ Hand Grenade. Mills’ Hand Grenade No. 5 weighs about one and one-half pounds and is in constant and steady use at the front, being the best known of all grenades. It consists of an oval cast iron case, containing explosives and serrated to provide numerous missiles on detonation. In the center is a spring striking pin, kept back by a lever or handle, which, in its turn, is held in position by a safety pin. - Gardner five barrel machine gun
Gardner Five-Barrel Machine Gun, on portable tripod, adapted for Naval use. Weight of gun 235 lbs; of mounting 134 lbs. ; calibre .045 ; rapidity of fire, maximum, 1200 shots per minute - Norman Crossbowmen
- Hand Grenade No. 7. and Ball Hand Grenade
Ignition Bombs. Hand Grenade No. 7—Grenade heavy friction pattern. Hand Grenades Nos. 6 and 7 consist of metal cases filled with T.N.T and a composite explosive and are exactly alike, except that No. 7 contains shrapnel bullets or scrap iron, while No. 6 contains only explosive. At the top of each case is a place to fix the friction igniter, which is supplied separately. When these bombs are to be used, detonator fuse and igniter are put in and firmly fixed. Before throwing the becket on, head of igniter should be pulled smartly off. Ball Hand Grenade. The Ball Hand Grenade consists of a cast iron sphere, 3 inches in diameter, filled with ammonal and closed by a screwed steel plug which has attached to it a covered tube to take detonator in the center of grenade. It is also lighted by a Brock lighter. - M249 Machine Gun
- 5 inch Rapid-fire gun (Pedestal Mount.)
5 inch Rapid-fire gun (Pedestal Mount.) - 4.7 inch. Breech closing and firing gear
4.7 inch. Breech closing and firing gear - Hand Grenade No. 1
There are three kinds of bombs: (1) percussion; (2) ignition;, and (3) mechanical. It is not possible to describe every bomb in use under these three headings, but the most typical are selected for description, although it does not follow that they are all in use at the present time, but will give a fairly good idea of what is required. Percussion Bombs. 1. Hand Grenade No. 1. 2. Hand Grenade No. 2, formerly known as Mexican Hand Grenade. 3. Rifle grenade No. 3, formerly known as Hale’s Rifle Grenade. Hand Grenade No. 1 consists of a brass case screwed on to a block of wood, to which is fixed a small cane handle about half way up the case. Outside it is a cast iron ring serrated into 16 parts. The upper end is covered by a moveable cap with a striker pin in the center. On the cap are the words “Remove,” “Travel,” and “Fire” in duplicate. These are marked in red and can be made to correspond with red pointers painted on case. To prepare a bomb, turn cap so that pointer is at “Remove,” take off cap, insert detonator in hole and turn it to the left until the spring on the flange is released and goes into position under the pin; replace cap and turn to “Travel,” which is a safety position. When the bomb is to be thrown, turn cap to “Fire” and then remove safety pin. This bomb explodes on impact, and to insure its falling on the head, streamers are attached. Care should be taken that streamers do not get entangled. The bomb must be thrown well into the air. - Shooting rabbits with the crossbow
Joannes Stradanus, born at Bruges 1536, died at Florence 1605, a Flemish historical painter who delighted in portraying all kinds of sport, such as shooting, hunting, fishing and coursing, which he did with wonderful skill and in most realistic fashion. This picture is reduced from ' Venationes Ferarum,' a work consisting of 105 large plates of sporting scenes, dated 1578. The hunters carry stonebows, and the rabbits are being driven from their burrows by smoke and fire. Purse nets and stop nets may also be seen in use. - Asiatic Bow
- Nordenfeldt Five Barrel Rifle Calibre Machine Gun
- Travelling Position
88-mm multi-purpose gun - Travelling Position - M249 5.56 mm Machine Gun
- Moolik i Meidan
One of the largest cannon now existing is a brass one at Bejapoor, called “Moolik-i-Meidan,” or “The Lord of the Plain.” It was cast in commemoration of the capture of that place by the Emperor Alum Geer, in 1685. Its length is 14ft. 1in., diameter about 5ft. 8in., diameter of bore, 2ft. 4in., interior length of bore, 10ft.; length of chamber unknown; shape of gun nearly “cylindrical;” description of shot, stone. An iron shot for this gun, of proper size, would weigh 1600lbs. It is now lying in a dilapidated circular bastion on the left of the principal gateway of the city. The trunnions are broken off, and there is a ring on each side of it, as well as two Persian inscriptions on the top. It is placed on three heavy beams of wood, packed round with large stones. A number of stone shot, of 2ft. 2in. in diameter, are scattered about. This gun is said to be the heaviest piece of ordnance in the world. It weighs about forty-two tons. - Walther pistol
- From the wreck of the 'Mary Rose'
- Sighting the M102 Howitzer
Sighting through the pantel, the gunner positions the aiming post by extending his left hand. - Five barrelled Matchlock
The Chinese of the present day make use of a species of matchlock revolvers, and also of another matchlock, consisting of several barrels, placed on a common stock, diverging from each other, and fired simultaneously. - M102 Top view
Top view of M102 105 mm Howitzer attached to truck - The Duke of Wellington
One of the 'Wooden Walls of Old England.' The Duke of Wellington Screw Line-of-Battle Ship. One hundred and thirty-one Guns. - Old Eprouvette Pendulum
The only real use of these eprouvettes is to check and verify the uniformity of a current manufacture of powder, where a certain course of operations is intended to be regularly pursued, and where the strength, tested by means of any instrument, should therefore be uniform. - M102 Howitzer
- Matchlock
Breech loading Gingal (Chamber in) - New Pattern Eprouvette
The only real use of these eprouvettes is to check and verify the uniformity of a current manufacture of powder, where a certain course of operations is intended to be regularly pursued, and where the strength, tested by means of any instrument, should therefore be uniform. - breechloader
Under the Swedish warrior Gustavus Adolphus, artillery began to take its true position on the field of battle. Gustavus saw the need for mobility, so he divorced anything heavier than a 12-pounder from his field artillery. His famous "leatheren" gun was so light that it could be drawn and served by two men. This gun was a wrought-copper tube screwed into a chambered brass breech, bound with four iron hoops. The copper tube was covered with layers of mastic, wrapped firmly with cords, then coated with an equalizing layer of plaster. A cover of leather, boiled and varnished, completed the gun. Naturally, the piece could withstand only a small charge, but it was highly mobile. - trebuchet
The trebuchet was another war machine used extensively during the Middle Ages. Essentially, it was a seesaw. Weights on the short arm swung the long throwing arm. - Queen Elizabeth’s Pocket Pistol
At Dover there is a culverine, presented to Queen Elizabeth, by the States General of Holland, and called Queen Elizabeth’s Pocket-pistol. It is 24 feet long, diameter of bore 4 1⁄2 inches, weight of shot 12lbs.; it was manufactured in 1544, and is mounted on an ornamented iron carriage made in 1827, at the Royal Carriage Department, Woolwich Arsenal. - Revolving Barrelled Matchlock
The Chinese of the present day make use of a species of matchlock revolvers, and also of another matchlock, consisting of several barrels, placed on a common stock, diverging from each other, and fired simultaneously. - Diagram Showing Adaptation to the 'Large-Wheeled Tractor' Idea
The genesis of the “large-wheeled tractor” was as follows: Trenches with a parados and parapet about 4 ft. high were being constructed by the enemy in Flanders. The engineers consulted by the Land Ship Committee gave it as their considered opinion that if these obstacles were to be crossed, a wheel of not less than 15 ft. diameter would be necessary. Machines with these gigantic wheels were actually ordered, but the wooden model that was knocked together as a preliminary at once convinced even its best friends that the design was fantastic, and that any machine of the kind would be little better than useless on account of its conspicuousness and vulnerability. However, the “big wheel” idea did not utterly die, for in the upturned snout of the Mark I. Tank we have, as it were, its “toe” preserved, the track turning sharply back at about axle level, instead of mounting uselessly skyward, as would have been the case had not the old wheel idea been supplanted by that of the sliding track. - French Garrison Gun
French Garrison Gun (1650-1700). The gun is on a sloping wooden platform at the embrasure. Note the heavy bed on which the cheeks of the carriage rest and the built-in skid under the center of the rear axletree. - Bow strung
The Scythian bow strung - M102 Howitzer
- Light Artillery of Gustavus Adolphus
Gustavus abandoned the leather gun, however, in favor of a cast-iron 4-pounder and a 9-pounder demiculverin produced by his bright young artillery chief, Lennart Torstensson. The demiculverin was classed as the "feildpeece" par excellence, while the 4-pounder was so light (about 500 pounds) that two horses could pull it in the field. - Powder Mill
The three ingredients are now ground separately to a very fine powder. The mills which effect this, and incorporate, are so similar, that a description will be given under the head of “Incorporation.” Screening.After being ground in this way, the saltpetre is passed through a slope cylindrical reel, covered with copper sieving wire of 60 meshes to the inch, which, as it revolves, sifts it to the required fineness, being then received in a box or bin underneath. The charcoal and sulphur are likewise passed through similar reels of 32 and 60-mesh wire respectively, and that which remains without passing through, is ground again under the runners. - Robins’ Balistic Pendulum
The only reliable mode of proving the strength of Gunpowder is, to test it with service charges in the arms for which it is designed; for which purpose the balistic pendulums, are perfectly adapted - Mounted Crossbowman, with Cranequin crossbow, and a quarrel in his hat
Doubtless on the coasts of Scandinavia and North Germany, the chief home of these composite crossbows after the time of the Crusades, whalebone was easily obtainable, whilst in other parts of the Continent, the pieces which formed the heart of the bow, were made from the straightened horn of an animal. This ancient form of crossbow with a composite bow, survived in an improved form in Scandinavia and in the north of Europe, as a weapon of sport and war, till about 1460, or for nearly a hundred years after the far superior crossbow with a thick steel bow and a windlass had been in use in France, Spain and Italy. Some of these later weapons were made so strong in the fifteenth century, that after the invention of the powerful cranequin for bending steel bows, this apparatus was also employed for bending the composite bow - Breech loading Gingal (Chamber out)
Breech loading Gingal (Chamber out) - Siamese War Elephant