Fortress ravelin and a breech-loading bombard
Rules against piercing the low walls, with a large cannon loaded from behind by one man
At the top a ravelin plan fronts a fortress, and Leonardo warns against cutting gun-embrasures or any holes in the lower walls, lest the enemy enlarge them, holding that battlemented merlons and low tower-slits for clearing the walls and ditches suffice. Below, a large breech-loading bombard is drawn at length with a detail of its crank: an endless screw (handle b) turns the gun's tail on its socket, a bronze ring (pivot a n) binds the breech so it sits almost in balance, and a wedge (coneo) is set behind the culaccio, the whole called good for a galley. A wheeled base and a tower-like frame, described as the foundation and body of the 'aforesaid castle', complete the sheet.
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No embrasures in the low walls of a fortress
Leonardo rules that gun-embrasures or other holes should never be cut in the low parts of a fortress, lest the enemy, planting his bombards opposite, more easily enlarge them into the walls; castle walls should have no hole at all, and the battlemented merlons suffice for defence. The towers are to be pierced low down only enough to clear along the walls and their ditches.
Breech-loading bombard turned by an endless screw
A large bombard that loads from behind is drawn at length with its breech detail. The handle b is an endless screw that turns the gun's tail on its socket, while the pivot a n is joined to a bronze ring girding the tail, so the breech (culaccio) sits almost in balance, weighing only four pounds more than the mouth. Turning the screw drives the tail into the barrel; a wedge (coneo) is then set behind between the breech and the abutment, and the device is called good for a galley.
Wheeled base and body of the 'aforesaid castle'
A wheeled base is captioned as the foundation of the castle figured below, and a tall tower-like frame is the aforesaid castle itself. Together they read as a mobile fortified structure paired with the fortress plan above.
