Cannon, brass

At the Brooklyn navy yard there are a number of old brass cannon which were captured in Me. ico, and preserved as trophies. Great care has been taken to give them graceful, forms, and they arc covered with ornaments. 

Louis XI. of France has twelve cannon cast to throw metallic shot, for use as a siege train. 1477 Brass cannon first cast in England 4. 1521... 

Can nou-oast ing. The molds for brass cannon are formed by wrapping a long taper rod of wood with a peculiar soft rope, over which is applied a coating of loam, which, as the work proceeds, is dried... 

The dprouvette of Kegnier is an adaptation of the S(H. tor dynamometer. A small brass cannon is attached to one arc and chaiged with a given quantity of powder. A projection from the other arc comes... 

In the boring experiment, work is done by the surroundings on the system (the brass cannon), the energy of the system rises and heat is also released to the surroundings (water bath). The First Law of Thermodynamics and the mechanical equivalent of heat (1 calorie = 4.184 joule) were established in 1843 by James Prescott Joule (1818-89). In order to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 °C (1 calorie), 4.184 joule of mechanical work, such as spinning paddles in water (Joule s experiment), is required. 

Of the earliest date at which it was known In China, their own evidence is defective but Utf fa NO, an Italian author, affirms that not only gunpowder, but ordnance, was in use in that nation in the year 85, and that in his day cannon were remaining from the most ancient times in some of tho maritime provinces, mado both of iron and of brass, nenee some writers presume that the Chinese communicated the invention to the Indians whilst it lias also been said, but on no sufficient authority, that they themselves received it from Tartnry —a nation respecting wkich little or nothing is known and in which one would not be inclined to look for an eariy acquaintance with the arts. This, however, refers to a date so late aa 917 so that, if there is uny dependence to he placed on the Indian and Chincso hypothesis, the Tartars must themselves have borrowed the invention from those to whom they are said to have lent it. 

CLAUDK J. SISK of Washington, D. C writes about a small cannon he has made out of brass and cold rolled stock, and which shoots 22 caliber cartridges, either blank or Itiaded ... 

The English are supposed to have used brass or bronze cannon for the first time during the reign of Edward iii (1327 to 1377), possibly at the siege of Cambrai in 1339 or a few years later at Crecy in 1346. These were perhaps imported from abroad, but cannon are believed to have been made in Britain not long after the experience that had been gained in the bell foundries (p. 107) no doubt proved invaluable. ... 

Brass guns are said to have been made for the Sheriff of Northumberland in 1385 but guns of this alloy soon proved too weak and were superseded by wrought-iron and cast-iron cannon (pp. 274, 2,77). ... 

At that time and well into the 1900 s, Stockholm had no sewage treatment and the ship was gradually covered and buried in dirt and silt from the raw sewage outlet. As a result, very little oxygen had access to the ship. The oak wood did not decay very much, the iron metal rusted away, but the cannons, cast from brass, remained virtually unchanged. The Stockholm water is brackish and no wood shipworms can live there. The Vasa shipwreck was located in 1956 and was raised to... 

Count Rumford conducted a relentless campaign against the caloric theory. He showed, first, that caloric is weightless second, that metal which has been subjected to friction has the same heat capacity as the native metal third, that the ability of brass to produce heat by rubbing is inexhaustible. This last point, which he demonstrated by his famous cannon-boring experiments in his arsenal at Munich, proved to be the crucial one. In the words of Rumford, The source of the heat generated by friction in these experiments, appeared evidently to be inexhaustible. It is hardly necessary to add that anything which any insulated body, or system of bodies, can continue to furnish without limitation cannot possibly be a material substance. " (pp.xvi-xvii)... 

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