A contest of bombards and the Architronito
Judging the strongest bombard by timing, with breech- and muzzle-loading variants
At the top two bombards stand upright on trestles, with a pyramidal shelter between them for two judges. The note lays out a fair contest: fire each in turn under equal conditions and time how long the ball stays up after the blast, the piece whose ball delays longer winning the honour. Below, a series of barrels illustrates the Architronito and several loading arrangements, weighing copper against iron breeches, paper cartridges against packed copper, and concluding that a one-piece bombard loaded through the muzzle, with an iron bore, is the most useful and strongest.
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A timed contest to judge the more powerful bombard
To test which of two bombards is better, they are set upright with two judges between them, and each is fired in turn while the beats of time before the ball returns to earth are counted. The piece whose ball delays longer holds the honour. For fairness the barrels must be of equal length, the balls of equal weight, and the powder drawn from the same barrel, the breeches left to the maker's discretion.
Architronito and its breech, with loading variants
The Architronito is loaded with a copper breech and an iron bore; after the powder is well packed it may be bored with an arrow and the hole filled with fine powder. Successive figures compare weaker versions that leak or hold powder loosely in paper cartridges, and one quick to load but needing an iron wedge and housing. Each variant is judged for power, leakage and ease of loading.
The strongest form: a one-piece muzzle-loader
The lowest figure is called the most useful and strongest, because it is made of a single piece and is loaded through the mouth. Its bore is to be made of iron. It avoids the leakage and loose-packing faults of the paper-cartridge and multi-part designs above.