CHAPTER VIII

WAR ENGINES PAST AND PRESENT

=A War Engine= (Plate XIII). This piece of artillery was used at the time of the crusade of Richard I. It is a simple and interesting model to make. The sides (A B C D in Fig. 325) are built up of pieces of stripwood 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch, length about 3 inches, or the sides may be pieces of cigar-box. If made of stripwood, grooves can be filed in the two bottom pieces to make holes, E, when these pieces are glued together. A round rod passes through these holes to form a windlass. Two posts, F and G, 1/4" × 1/2" × 3-1/4", are glued to the sides about 1-1/2 inches from end, A C, as in figure; these must either have holes drilled through them for a rod of wood (or thick wire) or have circular grooves filed in the tops into which a rod can be glued.

The sides _a b c d_ and A B C D should be about 2-1/2 inches apart, and are kept together by pieces of stripwood glued across the bottom. Make struts as in the figure to support posts F and G.

The beam H K may be made from a piece of stripwood, 1/2 × 1/2 × 5", filed to a round shape. Two pieces of wire, L L, are bent to form a fork and two hooks, M and N are bound firmly to one end with thread. The other end, K, has a small screw-eye screwed into it through which passes a wooden bolt to keep the rings of lead, O, from slipping off. These rings of lead are easily made from strips cut from a piece of sheet lead and bent round the beam. (A pair of old scissors should be kept for cutting lead, or a knife and hammer may be used.)

Now the beam H K must be fastened to rod P Q. This may be done in different ways. The simplest but least effective way is to bind the beam firmly in the middle to the rod with thread or elastic.

A second way is to drill a hole through the beam, through which the thread or elastic that binds it to the rod can pass. The best way perhaps is to make the hole in the beam large enough for rod P Q to pass through, and then bind it to the rod with elastic or thread or, if a large model is being made, catgut. (A jeweller is generally ready to give away a small quantity of this.) A barrel, R, can be filed or cut from a small piece of wood or cork, or it may be a small reel.

To work the machine pull the beam down by means of a piece of thread looped on to the hook M and wound around the windlass. When the beam head is down, place the barrel on the fork and keep it in position by rope, S. When the beam head is released, it flies up and the barrel is shot forward.

This trapget or war engine was used for casting Greek fire, with which the barrel was filled. It may interest the maker of this toy to know its composition. In the words of an old writer: "You make Greek fire thus: Take quick-sulphur, dregs of wine, Persian gum, 'baked salt,' pitch, petroleum, and common oil. Boil these together. Then whatever is placed therein and lighted, whether wood or iron, cannot be extinguished except with vinegar or salt."

Generally this engine had a kind of wooden hood in front to protect those working the machine (Fig. 326). This hood is easily made of stripwood or an old cigar-box. Notice that the stripwood that forms the sides, A B C D, must be longer (extended in diagram to S T), so that strips of wood, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, can be nailed and glued as in diagram.

The =Mangonel=, Fig. 327 (an instrument for casting great stones to beat down walls and to slay the enemy), makes an interesting toy.

First cut two pieces of wood, 10-1/4 inches by 1-3/4 inches (the sides of a wooden chocolate box will do when sawn the right size and filed), and shape them as in Fig. 328. Saw slits in both pieces at G, 1/4 inch wide and 1/2 inch deep. If two saw-cuts are made for each slit the wood between can be cut away with a pen-knife. These slits must be about 2-3/4 inches from end, _b d_.

With a round file make semicircles at _c_ and _e_ to hold the rollers on which the engine is moved into position.

With a bradawl and round file make holes, F, in both pieces about 3-1/2 inches from end, A (diameter of hole about 3/8 inch, or larger if a larger windlass is required).

Put these two pieces aside, and next saw a length of stripwood, 1/2" × 1/2" × 5"; saw a slit about 1/4 inch from one end and hammer it on the metal top of a bottle of Le Page's liquid glue as in Fig. 329. The corner _a_ should be cut or filed off. A small screw-eye is screwed into the wood just below the metal top. Saw a piece of stripwood, 1/2" × 1/4" × 3-1/2", tie this firmly with elastic to the other end of the first piece of stripwood as in Fig. 330. This elastic constitutes the propulsive force. The ancients used catgut, which formed a thick coil, stretched from H to K, the lever passing through the middle of the coil. The pulling down of the lever gave additional twist to the coil, which reacted strongly on release. Now fasten the sides _a b c d_ and A B C D together by nailing and glueing them to two pieces of stripwood, 1/2" × 1/2" × 2-1/4". Then glue H K securely into the slots G so that the beam with the stone-holder M is upright. Push a round stick through the holes F, for a windlass; this can have holes drilled in the portions that project, to hold sticks for turning the rod. A piece of thread is tied to the screw-eye Q, and wound round the windlass F; when this thread is tightened the beam is pulled down, then when let go it flies up, causing anything placed in the tin, M, to be shot some distance. The safest 'stones' to put in this pan are pieces of cork or small pieces of wood. The following additions can be made to the model:

(1) RR are pieces of stripwood, 1/2" × 1/4" × 4", glued to the sides and carrying a strip, T. This strip T in the olden days was covered with leather and was so placed that the beam carrying the stone-holder would abut against it. Notice the struts W for supporting the posts R.

(2) N O is a rod (about 1/4 inch in diameter) passing through two small screw-eyes fixed in a piece of stripwood, S, 1/2" × 1/4" × 3-1/4". A piece of strong wire, P, passes through hole in rod N O; it is bent so that it cannot work out, and the other end is bent to just catch the holder, M, when it is pulled down. A releasing handle is fastened to the rod, N O at O. The beam S is glued into slots in A B C D and _a b c d_, so that when the beam is pulled down the catch P clutches M.

(3) Small screw-eyes may be screwed in at A, _a_, B, _b_, for holding ropes to fasten the machine to pegs in the ground. Rollers may also be made to fit under C and E.

This toy is an attractive one, because it really works successfully. It must be strongly put together, for the beam when pulled down flies up with considerable force.

Stone-throwers like this were used at the siege of Acre. Very often these engines had special names given to them. For example Philip of France had a very good engine of war called 'The Bad Neighbour,' and inside Acre the Turks had one called 'The Bad Kinsman.'

=Cannons of the Fourteenth Century.= These are very easily made. Figs. 331 and 332 show two that can be copied.

In Fig. 331 a piece of wood is cut to the shape of A B; a groove is then filed in it, into which the cannon C is glued. The cannon may be made of a roll of brown paper (two pieces may be pasted together for greater strength) with four bands of cartridge paper painted yellow and gummed round it, or it may be a piece of wood filed to shape and circled with bands of lead.

The cannon in Fig. 332 consists of two cardboard wheels on an axle of stripwood, 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch, and the cannon is glued to a groove in the axle. It may be made of wood with a lead rim, or of two rolls of brown paper as in Fig. 333, where the flanges of the smaller roll A are gummed to flanges of B.

=Cannon of the Fifteenth Century.= This may be made of a short mantle-box (with lids on), cardboard wheels and pieces of stripwood, 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch. Fig. 334 shows the finished cannon. The stripwood cart which the cannon rests on must be made to fit the mantle-box; the shafts _a_ may be straight or curved. Round holes may be cut at _b_. This same cannon may be fitted with axles, and swing between two posts. The wheels should be painted black, and the mantle-box covered with black paper, with bands of yellow paper at 1, 2 and 3.

Toward the end of the fifteenth century artillery was much improved.

Fig. 335 shows a gun that is interesting to make.

The carriage consists of two pieces of stripwood, 1/2" × 1/4" × 8" (_a b_ and _c d_ in Fig. 335). A cannon, E, is made out of a roll of brown paper, length 3-1/2 inches, diameter about 3/4 inch, and glued between _a b_ and _c d_, or it may simply rest on cross-pieces of wood joining _a b_ and _c d_. G is a piece of wood, 1/4" × 3/4" × 3-1/2", turning on a pin or piece of wire, H, which passes through _a b_ and _c d_. _a b_ and _c d_ are glued to a piece of stripwood F (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch) which has its projecting ends rounded to receive two cardboard wheels. The great fault of these earlier cannons was that though they were often of immense bore and weight, throwing balls of from one to five hundredweights, they were for the most part without carriages, and therefore very difficult to move about and very slow in their operations.

The Scots were the first to anticipate the modern gun-carriage by what they called 'carts of war,' which carried two guns. Many of the guns of the English required fifty horses to drag them!

='Mons Meg'= (a fifteenth-century cannon still to be seen at Edinburgh Castle) is an easy model to make.

Parts A and B (Fig. 336) are drawn on cardboard, cut out and coloured (brown and black). They are joined together by strips of cardboard at _a b_ and _c d_. To the cardboard at _a b_ the cannon is gummed. The wheels are of cardboard, the axle of stripwood (1/4 inch by 1/4 inch). Mons Meg fired a granite ball weighing 300 lb.

=A Tudor Cannon= (Fig. 337). The sides A A may be cut out of cardboard or, better still, of three-ply wood with the fret-saw. The wheels are solid discs and may also be cut out with the fret-saw, holes being drilled in the centre for the axle. The cannon itself can be shaped out of wood with pen-knife and file, or a cardboard roll (such as is used for transmitting music or pictures) can be used, the thicker parts are then made by gumming additional pieces of cardboard round it, or glueing strips of lead.

It is difficult to discover when gunpowder was first used. Probably its use was learnt from the Saracens in the fourteenth century. Roger Bacon (? 1214-1294) suggested that it might be used in warfare.

In a Florentine document of 1326 mention is made of the use of gunpowder in Europe. The first use of the cannon recorded in English history is in 1327, when Edward III was at war with Scotland.

In making the guns described in this chapter it is necessary to distinguish between breech-loading cannons and muzzle-loading.

The breech-loader is loaded from the breech or rear end of the barrel and not at the muzzle. Figs. 334, 335 and 337 are examples of this kind and therefore must have a hole at each end.

Figs. 331 and 332 are examples of muzzle-loading cannons and therefore have holes only at one end.

During the sixteenth century breech-loading was gradually abandoned for muzzle-loading owing to the large escape of gas and air at the breech. It was not until 1860 that it was reverted to with great improvements.

=A Ship Cannon.= A piece of wood (about 1/4 inch thick, the side of a wooden chocolate-box or any other light box will do) is first sawn out 5-1/2 inches by 2 inches (A in Fig. 338). Another piece of wood, B, 4-1/2 inches by 2 inches, is cut and glued on the first piece. Three pieces of stripwood 1/4 inch by 1/2 inch, C, D, E, are cut to lengths 3-1/2 inches, 2-3/4 inches, 2 inches respectively. These are glued on one side as in the figure, and similar strips are cut and glued to the other side. Two pieces of stripwood, F, 1/2" × 1/2" × 1-1/2", have holes drilled half way through them, to receive the pivots of the gun, but must not be glued on to E until the gun is in position.

The cannon is made of a roll of brown paper 6 inches long; one end should be narrower than the other (the widest end say 1 inch in diameter, the narrowest end 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch).

The roll must be securely fastened together by seccotine, two layers of brown paper make a strong cannon; black paper is then pasted over it and bands of brown paper as in Fig. 339. A hole is pierced through the cannon about half-way along it, and a round stick, K M, passed through; this pivot should be just long enough to fit into blocks F when these are fixed and glued in position.

Before this is done, the wheels should be made and fastened on. This is an easy matter. Two lengths of stripwood (1/4 inch by 1/2 inch) are cut 2-1/4 inches long. The little wheels (3/4 inch in diameter) are cut from any round rod available, or if no rod can be obtained they may be cut out of cardboard. Holes are drilled in the wheels and nails with large heads passed through and driven into the stripwood. The axles are either glued or nailed to the bottom of A. Finally the pivot, K M, is fitted into its blocks, and these are glued into position. A wedge can be made to slip in under the cannon to raise and lower it. The wedge should be just wide enough to slip in between the two layers of stripwood.

=A Modern Breech-loading Field Gun= (Fig. 341). This is a simple toy to make. A piece of stripwood, A, 1/4" × 1/4" × 2", must first be cut, and the ends, B and C, rounded for about 1/2 inch (Fig. 340). Next two pieces of stripwood, D and E, 1/4" × 1/4" × 1-1/4", are cut. These must have their tops rounded as in Fig. 341, and have holes drilled through them to receive a rounded match, G. F is a piece of wood 1/2" × 1/4" × 5/8". Pieces F, D and E are glued or nailed to A. Before the pivot G is put in position the cannon must be made. This is a roll of black paper, 3-3/4 inches long, 1/2 inch in diameter at widest end, and 1/4 inch at the narrowest. Holes are made through it to receive the pivot. The ends of the match sticks that project beyond D and E can be cut off. Next the wheels are cut. These may be cardboard discs of diameter 1-3/8 inches.

A piece of wood, H, is next cut, 1/2" × 1/2" × 4-1/2", and worked to the shape shown in Fig. 341. The end L must be sawn at an angle, so that when H is glued on, D is perpendicular. The end L is glued to the piece of wood, F. K is a piece of cardboard with a hole through it for pulling the cannon along; it is glued to end M.

The wheels, etc., should be painted black or grey. The cannon itself may be made of white paper and painted grey or yellow, or else made of yellow or light brown paper.

A =Cart= must next be made to carry ammunition for the cannon. The shells for the cannon described would be about 2-1/4 inches long, so the cart must be 2-1/2 inches long, and 1-3/4 inches wide (Fig. 342). It can be made of wood or cardboard. Notice the end to which the lid is attached.

The wheels must be the same size as those used for the cannon and can be made and attached in the same way to an axle, but this axle must project some distance beyond the wheel, as in Fig. 343, and have a groove filed round it, so that short chains may be fastened on each side; ropes are attached to these chains to allow the cart to be pulled along by hand.

Fig. 344 shows the shaft. It is 1-1/2 times the length of the cart. It can be made of strips of cardboard or wood. Matches painted black make good shells.