Who / What / Where Game Part 2

[Catfish]

Some of the people involved (called Meister) also tried to make gold, but alchemists they were not.

They did things from trial and error, and experience. Not real chemical background known at that time.

This here has nothing to do with gold.

[Aktungbby]

anything to do with agriculture?

[Catfish]

No.

Though clay is needed, and horse pee (they say)

[Jeff-Groves]

Involves a dye?

[Catfish]

No.

[Jeff-Groves]

Was Guy Fawkes involved?

[Catfish]

No..

[Eichhörnchen]

I think you missed my post, catfish (#120)

[Catfish]

^ yes i did, sorry.
No, not about controlling the weather.

This is part of a process creating some (military) hardware in the 16th century and later. Such hardware had been produced already earlier in the 15th century, but this part of the process depicted is from the 16th.
-> the end product is bigger than a hand grenade

[Ostfriese]

Looks a bit like the preparation of a mould into which molten iron can be poured to create cast iron guns.

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

Looks a bit like the preparation of a mould into which molten iron can be poured to create cast iron guns.

^ Yes, the whole process is about casting guns. Did you read "the book" .. ? If you did you'll know which one i mean
Now what you see is part of the process to cast a Saker, or a Falconet(te), or a "Feldschlange".
Here it is not iron which will be later used for the cast.
But regardless whether it is iron or some other metal, the question is what are the people doing here, at that stage of production?

[Ostfriese]

Originally Posted by Catfish

^ Yes, the whole process is about casting guns. Did you read "the book" .. ? If you did you'll know which one i mean

I did not, so I have no idea which one you mean


Anyway, I'll risk another guess: they are inserting a small peg/rod or something like that at the place where in the final product would be a small hole which is used to ignite the gunpowder. After that they put in the molten iron, and at the end they simply remove the peg/rod.

[Aktungbby]

is it for melting the wax out of the massive clay mold which is positioned vertically with the breech end lowest (for greater breech density to prevent bursting) into which the molten bronze or iron will be poured around the bore placed centrally in the the clay mold? Otherwise known as "lost wax casting".

[Eichhörnchen]

Are they making the barrel ?

[Catfish]

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

[...]Anyway, I'll risk another guess: they are inserting a small peg/rod or something like that at the place where in the final product would be a small hole which is used to ignite the gunpowder. After that they put in the molten iron, and at the end they simply remove the peg/rod.

No, not that here.

Originally Posted by Aktungbby

is it for melting the wax out of the massive clay mold which is positioned vertically with the breech end lowest (for greater breech density to prevent bursting) into which the molten bronze or iron will be poured around the bore placed centrally in the the clay mold? Otherwise known as "lost wax casting".

Right in principle but not here, and those few candles will not melt out the wax if this was used. Wax would be used for the undercut 'dolphins' if the latter were intended to be cast on – two lugs sometimes cast to being able to later lift the gun on its carriage or wherever.

Originally Posted by Eichhörnchen

Are they making the barrel ?

They are in the process of making the barrel, yes, and what you see here is a step, but which/what are they doing here exactly?

You all are close enough, but we still need what is being done here.
Here is the whole picture.



Lots of hint(s), describing the process:

It is about casting cannons, called culverins, sakers and whatnot depending on size and purpose (and country, and some queer thinking).
This here is about casting a bronze cannon, since bronze was lighter and withstood much more pressure when casted properly than iron casting (steel not available at that time). This meant that bronze cannons could use larger quantities of gunpowder, resulting in more range and better penetration. Also they would not rust, when used by the navies.

The idea to perfect the casting and make long range cannons was brought to England by an austrian "Meister" sometime before 1588, and since the catholic Habsburg dynasty wanted to crush the english and their queen Elizabeth, England was interested.
The new cannons were much better than those produced by english casters Pitt or Brown, using other special alloys and advanced processes (for the time) of controlling the quality.

To withstand the threatening invasion by Philip IInd the idea was to not let the enemy armies reach the english coast. So captains, ship builders and weapon manufacturers brought in new ideas; the main two which had the greatest impact (literally) was Baker's new fast small galleon types (to deny the spanish boarding their ships and fight man to man), and to use ship artillery from superior distance without getting in range of the enemy cannons.
The formerly used "Feldschlangen" like Culverins etc. had superior range but had the problem that there were rings or spirals cast or added after casting around the barrels, for greater strength – bad for ships.
The protruding rings would wreak havoc on the wooden gunports during the kick/repulsion after firing, so another cannon form and technique had to be used to apply long-range land-Feldschlangen on ships. The austrian master solved the problem, and cannons looked different during and after 1588, the year of the victory over the spanish Armada.

So back to making the cannons:

What you see here is the outer clay form, long before the casting can take place. The clay will have to be baked later, before the actual casting can be done.
You see that the bottom end form of this to-be-cannon is yet missing, it is only the barrel form up to here. You can also already see the outer clay form of the trunnions.
The "Bodenstueck" or rear end form of the cannon will be formed and mounted to the lower end later.
Before the casting there will be an inner clay core mounted, which will become the "bore" and determine the caliber. Even later the cast will be bored to exact measure, the special new non-english way to do this was also secret.

So what you see here is the outer clay form around the cannon, long before the cast.

What are they doing here?