That is really fascinating information Mark!!! I had never heard of a shot tower, nor such a method of making shot and cannon balls. While you might come in late, you do so with a bang!!!
great stuff!
Thanks for the links on the sites describing these towers too. It seems so odd to fabricate these with such an elaborate method...I always thought these were cast in molds, and it seems like dropping a blob of molten metal would produce all kinds of various shapes, like a rain or tear drop, who would have guessed this method would be effective. I cant get Galileo outa my head on this one
It seems odd in the note that the Baltimore tower was still producing shot until 1892, but although rifled guns had come in long before and were technically obsolete, I suppose the smoothbore cannon would have remained servicable ordnance as required and as on hand.
If a ball was indeed oblong or distorted in shape, how would that have effected its firing ? If the spherical shape maintained force and rotation to retain kinetic energy, would the distorted shape cause the shot to slow as discharged, and lessen its range or impact?
It really is fantastic to learn so much more on ballistics and artillery of these times, thank you guys for all this information, and please excuse my attempts at trying to describe my questions with the terminology which may or may not be correct, my exposure to physics and dynamics is limited at best!
All best regards,
Jim