Length and weight gradually reduced.
The length and diameter of cannon became gradually much reduced, experience having determined how much they might be diminished in weight without injury to their safety, or to the effects they were intended to produce.
Horse artillery by Frederick the Great.
Frederick the Great of Prussia made some improvements with regard to the calibre of field guns, and to him may be given the credit of the introduction of Horse Artillery.
Guns bored.
Guns, at this period, were cast hollow by means of a core, which was kept suspended in the centre of the mould, while the metal was being run in. Owing, however, to the great difficulty experienced in keeping this core in a perfectly true position, several artillerists deliberated whether guns, cast hollow or solid, had the preference, and investigations took place as to the possibility of boring the latter, the result of which was, that Maritz, who had a foundry at Geneva, informed the Court of France, in 1739, that he had discovered a method of boring guns and mortars which had been cast solid. He was at once invited to France, where, first at Lyons, and afterwards at Strasbourg, he secretly worked at boring pieces of ordnance, which, on trial, proved perfectly satisfactory.
Guns of ice.
In the year 1740, a curious experiment in artillery was made at St. Petersburgh, where guns were cut out of solid ice, from which balls of the same substance were fired repeatedly, without bursting.
Improvements.
From this period, the science of artillery progressed rapidly, and various improvements were made in this arm of the service, Axle-trees.such as the introduction of iron axle-trees, High limbers.and high limbers for the carriages of field guns. Reduction of windage.The reduction of windage, (mainly owing to the invention of carronades), and the use of cartridges and elevating screws, which latter served to render the fire of artillery much more rapid and regular.