Question | Two objects on Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsena painting

KorbenDallas

KorbenDallas

KD
Joined
Oct 29, 2020
Messages
1,263
Reaction score
4,977
Would you happen to have an idea what the below two objects on the below painting could be?
#1
object-1.jpg


#2
object-2.jpg

Additional links:

KD: Thank you.
 
Solution
KorbenDallas
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a table cannon similar to the OP image while working on one of the below articles.
Tried to find it but failed miserably.

Update: Found it.

object-1.jpg
​
  • Rotating gun platform, from Vier Bücher der Rytterschafft, 1511.
  • Quick-firing rotating bombard platform, siege engine, woodcut from De re militari libri quatuor (Epitoma rei militaris), by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, printed by Christian Wechel, Paris...
Sort by date Sort by votes
Photo one appears to be a revolving canon of some sorts, however, it doesn't look much like the revolving cannon found here. According to the official narrative, the revolving cannon was not prototyped until 1871.

The second photo appears to be a mortar of some sorts, likely similar to the Tsar Cannon, which was created in 1586. That being said, if this were a stand alone photo and not part of a larger battle scene, I would have guessed this was a smelting pot.
 
Upvote 0
I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a table cannon similar to the OP image while working on one of the below articles.
Tried to find it but failed miserably.

Update: Found it.

object-1.jpg
​
  • Rotating gun platform, from Vier Bücher der Rytterschafft, 1511.
  • Quick-firing rotating bombard platform, siege engine, woodcut from De re militari libri quatuor (Epitoma rei militaris), by Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, printed by Christian Wechel, Paris, 1535.
  • Tormented Machina, Warfare in the Middle Ages, weapons, throwing machine, several cannon shot tubes on a rotating constructions, 1483.
Further search yielded the following (200 years later):
  • Invented in 1754, this weird device was the creation of Alexei Konstantinovich Nartov, an engineer working for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Forty four 3 pound cannons were arranged in a circle on a cart. The cart had a special gear system where as the wheels turned, so did the turntable mechanism of the cannon. When armed, the forwardmost gun would fire, and as the cart was wheeled forward, the next loaded cannon would turn into position and fire. The purpose of this contraption was to break up enemy columns. As Russian soldiers advanced upon the enemy, the device would continuously fire solid cannon balls, grapeshot, or large grenades. While ingenious, the device was too large and heavy for practical use, and did not see much combat. Nartov’s Battery is currently on display at the Russian Museum Artillery, Engineer, and Signal Corps, St. Petersburg, Russia.
 
Upvote 1
Solution
Both of these rotating cannon devices just where the hell is the fire hole?
Assuming of course gunpowder is the propellant it has to be lit by something. Firing holes are not in evidence.
Also why does the drawing of the device depict two cannons being fired at once in different directions?
Surely the probability of killing your own team is too high for these devices to ever have been used in anger.
As a slight aside why are the men in these drawings so badly posed?

As for #2 the one I said I had no clue about well on second glance it looks like it could be a mortar in a loading positio. The round dot about midway up its length suggests its actually a pivot which is used to change the loaded mortar to precise angles to fire.
No fire hole visible just like the cannon contraptions.
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top