80. What are the weight and height of a wheel of siege-gun carriages and limbers?
Weight 404 lbs., and height 60 inches.
81. What is the portable forge designed for?
Service in a mountainous country, where wheeled vehicles cannot travel, for the purpose of making repairs, not only for the artillery but for all other arms of service taken on such expeditions.
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82. What is the mortar wagon designed for?
The transportation of siege mortars and their beds, or of guns or large shot and shells.
83. Describe this wagon.
The limber and wheels are the same as those of the siege-gun carriage. The body consists of a platform of rails and transoms, resting on an axle-tree, the two middle rails being prolonged to form the stock; six stakes or standards are inserted in sockets on the side of this platform and used to secure the load.
The side-rails are prolonged to the rear, and furnish pivots for a roller placed immediately in rear of the platform. This roller has holes for the insertion of handspikes, and is used in loading the wagon; the guns, mortars, &c., being drawn up on the stock.