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Rare mortar model * in the ordinary bronze, tube with handles in the form of dolphins, light chiseled with a stylized plant motif, wooden stand monoblock painted red, chiseled brass fittings finished by a fleur de lys and maintained by studs with sides, Louis XV eighteenth century.
This mortar is in its own juice. It is of exceptional quality. A similar model is part of the collections of the Museum of the Army in Paris (collection of small models of artillery formed in the early nineteenth at the Museum of Artillery, ancestor of the Army Museum).
A note: accidents and lacks on the wooden lookout, old worm holes and lack of paint, lack a brass reinforcement (peak) on one side, wear time, look at the photos (see red arrows).
is a short-fire mouth that fires bombs, hollow spherical projectiles made of cast iron and filled with black powder. The bomb is pierced by a hole, the eye, into which is introduced a rocket which, like that of the shells, communicates the fire inside the bomb to allow its explosion. Unlike cannons that fire directly on the walls, the trajectory of the bomb pulled by the mortar is curved, which allows to go over the ramparts. Five men are enough to handle a 12-inch mortar. Four crews maneuver the tube with the help of pointing levers and load a bomb using a hook passed in the handles of the latter. The fifth man, the bomber, supervises the placement of the bomb and dictates the pointing of the mortar. Mortars are widely used during the sieges, where they allow to achieve goals entrenched (food and ammunition warehouses are particularly targeted). Mortars are also used to "bombard" strongholds. During the attack, thousands of bombs rain down on the city, causing fires and destroying the buildings.
(See website Musée de l'Armée in Paris)
