Figure 21—MODERN POWDER TRAIN FUZE.
The Characteristics of Cannon
THE EARLY SMOOTHBORE CANNON
Soon after he found he could hurl a rock with his good right arm, man learned about trajectory—the curved path taken by a missile through the air. A baseball describes a "flat" trajectory every time the pitcher throws a hard, fast one. Youngsters tossing the ball to each other over a tall fence use "curved" or "high" trajectory. In artillery, where trajectory is equally important, there are three main types of cannon: (1) the flat trajectory gun, throwing shot at the target in relatively level flight; (2) the high trajectory mortar, whose shell will clear high obstacles and descend upon the target from above; and (3) the howitzer, an in-between piece of medium-high trajectory, combining the mobility of the fieldpiece with the large caliber of the mortar.
The Spaniard, Luis Collado, mathematician, historian, native of Lebrija in Andalusia, and, in 1592, royal engineer of His Catholic Majesty's Army in Lombardy and Piedmont, defined artillery broadly as "a machine of infinite importance." Ordnance he divided into three classes, admittedly following the rules of the "German masters, who were admired above any other nation for their founding and handling of artillery." Culverins and sakers (Fig. [23a]) were guns of the first class, designed to strike the enemy from long range. The battering cannon (fig. [23b]) were second class pieces; they were to destroy forts and walls and dismount the enemy's machines. Third class guns fired stone balls to break and sink ships and defend batteries from assault; such guns included the pedrero, mortar, and bombard (fig. [23c, d]).
Collado's explanation of how the various guns were invented is perhaps naive, but nevertheless interesting: "Although the main intent of the inventors of this machine [artillery] was to fire and offend the enemy from both near and afar, since this offense must be in diverse ways it so happened that they formed various classes in this manner: they came to realize that men were not satisfied with the espingardas [small Moorish cannon], and for this reason the musket was made; and likewise the esmeril and the falconet. And although these fired longer shots, they made the demisaker. To remedy a defect of that, the sakers were made, and the demiculverins and culverins. While they were deemed sufficient for making a long shot and striking the enemy from afar, they were of little use as battering guns because they fire a small ball. So they determined to found a second kind of piece, wherewith, firing balls of much greater weight, they might realize their intention. But discovering likewise that this second kind of piece was too powerful, heavy and costly for batteries and for defense against assaults or ships and galleys, they made a third class of piece, lighter in metal and taking less powder, to fire balls of stone. These are the commonly called cañones de pedreros. All the classes of pieces are different in range, manufacture and design. Even the method of charging them is different."