Mortar Firing a Burst of Exploding Shells
A wheeled mortar lobbing scattering cluster projectiles that burst into fragments
A short, wide mortar mounted on a wheeled carriage is drawn at the lower right, tilted up and belching smoke as it lobs a charge of small shells. The projectiles rise, spread apart, and burst; at the left a dense star of radiating fragments shows one shell exploding into a shower of shot. The transcriber notes the sheet carries no writing, and the catalogue files it with bombards and with molds for casting.
On this page
Wheeled mortar throwing a spread of cluster shells
The mortar sits on a low wheeled bed, its short barrel elevated on a curved bracket, firing upward. A cloud of small round shells issues from the muzzle and fans out across the sheet, a scattering charge meant to burst over a wide area rather than a single ball.
Burst pattern of an exploding shell
At the left a shell is shown at the moment of detonation, throwing fragments outward along densely drawn radiating lines. The study traces how the scattered shot and splinters disperse from the point of the explosion.