
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~023r~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Such a petard is made which weighs three quintals, carries
a cannonball flat on the side on which it must exit & round on the
inside of the cannon, as if it were a cannonball cut in half. It is two
pans long. It is charged with xxv lb of
powder for at it needs to be full up to the mouth
& it needs to break. It does not have a different thickness at the
breech than at the mouth & is all of one piece. Its substance needs
to be better than that of pieces, & for 4 quintals of
fine copper there ought to be only one quintal of
metal in order that it holds the blast, &, breaking with more
force, has a greater effect. It is for putting against a door with a
large iron cross in front of the ball, and once loaded, it needs
to be covered with a well-sewn rough canvas which should be
smeared c all over with turpentine. It needs
to have four handles, made while it is founded, for thus it is easier to
place. The iron cross is joined to the mouth with the
canvas with which it is covered. To place it, it The
handles must be kept at the edge of its muzzle, as you see. To place it,
one needs three or four iron pegs one
pan long & as thick as a
finger which should have their point like a
wimblegimlet, & the entire leg as
a screw, like an auger, & a ring on the
other end to turn them with a short stick which has play within
the ring. And the pegs are placed in the door but
not straight but for they would not have any strength, but at
angle as if you wanted to fix them towards the middle of the
petard, and to do this, the hole of the handles needs to be quite large.
In this way, the firing petard pushes the pegs along &
across into the door & makes more of a breach. Once it is placed,
you need to have a buckram sausage @
made in this manner: take eight or nine canes of
buckram strip or more if the ditch is larger, and let the strip
be four or five fingers wide. Have it well sewn in
such a way that it is like a gut through which l a
stick as thick as a finger can pass. Fill it
completely with good



This one is for putting below an undermined tower with the muzzle
pointing up. One makes two large iron rings & with a
bar or two, four men carry it. They are also used for putting
in breaches but here one needs only half a charge, namely x lb,
& to fill it with flint stones & cart flint
stones
.




One needs to cover it entirely with waxed canvas & rubbed
with turpentine & combustible things. This cover is
made in order to secure the ball, such that it does not fall and in
order that when the fire takes to the cover, the primer powder
does not fail. Precisely at the fuse, you will need to put in a good
quantity of primer powder. Some put a cross of iron on the
ball which protrudes from the mouth of the petard by two
pans. Others only put the ball.

