pbl-cannon-jwilliams: Cannon Construction

17th Century Cannon

This cannon, which was made in the 17th century, is cast in bronze. It also is made of wood and paint.But going back to it being made of bronze. It was made like this so that stone, iron, or lead cannonballs fit closely without being pushed together. The cannon was either vertically or horizontally rotated about its long axis while the boring tool was put into one end by gearing. Each and every cannon needed 2 gunners, 6 soldiers, and 4 officers of the artillery. The reason they need these people will be explained in the next few sentences. The right gunner loaded the cannon with powder, while the left gunner went to fetch more powder to keep on hand to be prepared for when the officer gave the order for the next fire. 3 soldiers stood on each side of the cannon, to ram and sponge the cannon, and hold the ladle. The second soldier on the left was required to provide 50 rounds. The way to operate this cannon may seem complicated but back then the people were taught and trained on how to work the procedures. 1. Beore loading the cannon, it was sponged to remove all sparks, filth and dirt. 2. The powder is then added, the a wad opf paper, then hay. 3. The cannonball is inserted. 4. After ramming the cannon was aimed at 45 degrees, with the officers permission though. Thats all the directions needed to fire a cannon. The materials needed are botefeux, a priming iron, a mire, a sponge, a wad screw, a lantern, a ladle, a primier, a rammer, and a quoin of mire. As far as i know this cannon does not have a name.

18th Century Cannon- Carronade

This cannon is named the Carronade. It was invented by General Robert Melville, bbut bult by the Carron Iron Company in Scotland. It was first used by the Royal Navy. This particular cannon was used on quarterdecks and fortcastles. It was designed as a short range naval weapon that has a low muzzle velocity. It has a nickname of the Smasher, because its lower muzzle velocitys round shot was intended to create many more of the deadly wodden splinters when hitting an enemy vessel. The short barrel and short range increaed teh risk of starting a fire. This type of cannon was usually mounted on a lug underneath a barrel. It also had a very unusual high center of gravity.There were irregularities with the size of the cannonballs which caused a large gap between the barrel and the balll meaning there was a loss of projectile power. With a 42 pounder Carronade you would only need four to five men, but depending on weight the number of men varies. This cannon is fired the same way as many others. I will not go through all the steps for they are the same as the 17th century cannon except theire is opnly one guy on each side and there is one officer of the artillery. Although it had many errors this cannon was initially very successful.

19th Century Cannon

The yellow on this cannon means that it is used for training only. Also the barrel of the gun has no thickening, unlike French guns from this era. This cannon was the smallest calibre of field guns used by Russia in the 1870's. Both versions of this cannon are horse drawn therefore helping with the issue of weight. In world war I these guns were not used though because the Russians had better artillery. Meanig if it was not used then then it was not used later on in wordl war II. This type of cannon was npot seen anymore after its use in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. Did not require more than 5 men although it could not have less than 3. To shoot this cannon all you do is load the cannonball and gunpowder in the gun barrel and fire. No further instructions were required. The elevation was 20 degrees, this meaning that it was the type of cannon that was shot for long distances because the closer to the ground the further it rolls. These cannons DO use gunpowder. I do not know the name or creator of this cannon.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Cannon Construction

Cannon Construction is not a very easy process, it takes alot of time and work to prepare an actual operating cannon. Im Jennifer Williams and I am in a group with Alex Pender, Tala Khatib, and Lea Cenname. Each group is given 2 tennis ball containers, a pair of scissors, and one piece of 18 inch tape. Our group has discussed all ideas possible and have concurred on one particular idea. This idea is to cut one of the tennis ball containers twice. This way we can prop up the other with the two pieces of the other container. The following are our steps we used to create our cannon. Steps: 1. Find and Measure angle, 2. Decide what height we want the cannon to be propped at, 3. Once found we must cut the 2nd bottle to fit the standards that were set, 4. Cut the cut bottle to hold the other bottle, 5. Measure with protractor to find the angle, 6. Once found cut again, 7. Tape the samll piece of the cut bottle to the uncut bottle, 8. Cut the other piece of the cut bottle to a specific chosen height and angle, 9. Tape that part of the bottle onto the uncut bottle, 10. Finish last minute touch-ups. These steps were long and hard. The worse thing was our team kept fighting throughout the whole proccess. Everyone would have a different opinion that no one would include in the plan. This made it hard for our team because we all had a different idea, and everytime someone would get mad we would have to stop. Plus, everyone was trying to talk at the same time, some people wouldnt let some people ive their opinions because they thought they were right and we were wrong. Eventually, we learned to talk things out and take everyones opinion into thought. Even though we ended in a fight we still got the project done. But what i say about this is that when your working with other people you HAVE to work as A GROUP!! One person cannot be the leder, everyone has to be the leaders. We all count just as much as the other person, one person is not better or smarter than the other, we are ALL EQUAL. Even though some people may have strong points, the other group members make up for their weak points. In the end everyone helps out in different ways, it may seem like someone else has done all the work but really EVERYONE has done the work TOGETHER. In ou group we did not understand the concept that everyone needed to perticipate, some people were left out but in the end were included. I hope that this experience has helped my other teammates see that we have to work together, as well as it has helped me see it. Pictures, equations, and other important things will be included at a later time.