Cannons

Cannons. Leonardo da Vinci Weapons of War and Invention. It was in 1346 that the English first used cannons which, propelled by exploding gunpowder, fired stone balls. Despite this, progress in that area of military weaponry was not fast, and it was here Leonardo's particularly applied his thinking. This was an area in which there was plenty which could be done to improve the weaponry. , A typical cannon of Leonardo's age was cast in iron or bronze, had a short barrel, a short range, and fired cannonballs which fitted very approximately. This first thing we know Leonardo did was to design breech-loading cannons as against muzzle-loading. They required a fast means of being cooled before another firing, and Leonardo calculated that a vat of water would do the trick. By using several cannons in rotation, you could be firing one, loading another, and cooling the third. , Leonardo was the first to measure the penetrating power of a missile and to ascertain how to vary it by changing the attitude. During these tests he even managed to launch a rocket-powered cannonball ten thousand feet into the air.