What was the purpose of this small iron or steel cannon?

[cannonmn]

This came in today after much agony trying to get the seller to ship it, then having it bust through the paper-thin box he put it in and get lost in the FedEx system.  Anyway here 'tis but I don't know exactly what it is.  I think it could be a very late shipboard swivel gun, a monster model cannon, a salute cannon.  The pattern looks a bit like some ca. 1860-1870-ish British guns, or maybe even one of the Brooke Confederate guns, but I cannot find an exact match to the barrel-plus-4-hoop design, although I found some with barrel and 3 hoops or steps.  If this is a monster model it may be a 1/10 scale for a 13-inch gun.  But what do you think?

Specs:

Bore 1.3 in.
Nominal length 22 in.
Overall length 25.5 in.
Weight about 78 lbs.
Material-iron or steel?
Length over trunnions 9 in.
Trunnion dia:  1.5 in.
T. Length 2 in.
Basering diameter:  5.4 in.
Muzzle Dia:  2.6 in.
Marks:  None discernable

[dominick]

It looks like a scale model of an Armstrong 9" Rifled Muzzle Loader.  Not exact but very close.

[cannonmn]

Thanks.  Here's a pic of the famous 150 pdr. Armstrong RML at West Point (or did it go back to Fort Fisher?)  It does have a barrel and 4 hoops, although proportions are different from the small gun.  There's some resemblance.

[cannonmn]

let's try that link again:


http://www.ijnhonline.org/howard_special/The_Guns_at_Filipstad_pics_docs/Armstrong%20150-pdr,%20West%20Point.jpg

[Terry C.]

I saw the 'Fort Fisher' gun (8"?) during a web search last night. The proportions are a little off, but it does bear some resemblance.

The lines are more similar to the 9" guns, but they didn't have as many bands (at least not the ones in the photos I found).

Maybe it's just supposed to be a 'generic' Armstrong pattern?


It's a little big for a toy, so I'm thinking signal gun.

Any idea of the date of manufacture?

[cannonmn]

>Any idea of the date of manufacture?

None at all, except that due to the corrosion in the bore and under the relatively new paint, it has some age.  I'm guessing it could have gotten that kind of corrosion from storage in a basement for 100 years, especially if it was unpainted during that time.

I agree that it looks like some kind of 19th C. generic Armstrong gun.

One little clue to how this item has been used is the vent, which is fully large enough for firing, and appears to have been fired due to some wear.  An "arsenal"  model made strictly to illustrate a full-size gun of the same design but larger dimensions would have the vent made to scale, which means it would be far too small for firing with either fuse or friction primer.  We have some arsenal models and the vents are only large enough for a pin to go in. 

Since the bore surface is more corroded (pitted, uneven) than the outside surface, I suspect it means the gun had been fired with black powder and not cleaned.  The powder residue attracted moisture and formed acids and chewed up the metal more than on the outside.

[Double D]

What's the chances of this being  a unfinished bore-in casting?

[cannonmn]

The profile of this small gun is actually pretty close to that of the 100-ton Armstrong gun at Fort Rinella, Malta.  Notice the long barrel sticking out from the series of four hoops.

http://www.wirtartna.org/Portals/11/images/Fort%20Rinella/100-TON%20Gun_website.jpg

[cannonmn]

Short video with good shots of the 100 T. gun firing blanks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3KcLu6_TLE&feature=related

[Terry C.]

The profile of this small gun is actually pretty close to that of the 100-ton Armstrong gun at Fort Rinella, Malta.  Notice the long barrel sticking out from the series of four hoops.

I'd considered that one, but the lack of a cascabel/breeching ring on the big gun sent me looking elsewhere.

[cannonmn]

The big one got robbed of some of its accessories which were scrapped in the early 20th C, including the hydraulic traverse mech, and probably other stuff.  The gun may have had a screwed-in item of some type on the breech, at least to help move it.  Hard to imagine something that massive without some kind of purchase at the rear, but I guess we'd have to find some old pix or drawings of it.

[navygunner]

   it looks like an 18th century gunade, some of which were used on a swivel and others had a naval carriage. Used close in probably as a means to repel boarders. Google gunade.

[cannonmn]

>18th century gunade

Hmmm, wonder if you are looking at the same pix I am?  Not sure how we could get gunade out of this particular 25-inch "multi-hooped" item.  To me anyway it closely resembles the multi-banded Armstrong guns used in England and its colonies from about 1860-1890.  The 100-ton Armstrong gun at Fort Rinella, Malta happens to have the same number of bands and similar proportions of protruding barrel length to bands.  Admittedly the small one is one casting and not separate bands, but aside from that, the exterior profile matches the Fort Rinella gun more closely than anything else I could find.

[navygunner]

Yep!!! Totally overlooked the the bands got caught up in gunades vs carronades these eyes aren't so good anymore  that's why cannister was invented LOL