8. Gunner's Calipers

c. 1700?

  Fig. 18          Fig. 19

As ordinary dividers cannot readily measure round shot, specially shaped calipers were typically used (see figure 18). However some alternative methods were also tried. Rather than taking dimensions with points at the end of curved or straight legs, this English instrument clasps a shot between its two brass arcs. The arcs are hinged to pass freely over each other so that, when clasped around a ball, the inside edge of each arc intersects a graduated scale on the other. On one side are abbreviations for named artillery pieces, from falconet (FN) to whole cannon (WC, where the ends of the arcs meet). The other side is for guns rated by the weight of their shot, from 3 to 24-pounders.

Length: 260 mm

Inventory no. 42,060


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