When did cannon balls first contain explosives?

Question

At first, cannon balls were just solid and the ball itself did the damage. At some point, explosives were added so that the explosion could cause more damage. When and how did this come about?

Answer 1

There is a great difference between the old-fashioned solid iron cannon-balls and the shells which guns fling among the enemy today. The cannon-ball was a very harmless thing so long as it did not hit anyone, but a shell explodes among the enemy and may kill many who are at some distance from it.

Solid cannon balls were replaced by explosive shells some four or five hundred years ago. So, in the early 1500's, solid cannon balls were replaced by explosive shells.

The early explosive shell was an empty ball of cast-iron. These early shells had a hole such as a barrel has, and through this hole the shell was filled with gunpowder and small pieces of metal. The hole was then closed by a plug of slow-burning powder, which when lighted would require a certain number of seconds to elapse before the flame could reach the gunpowder in the shell.

Answer 2

you are refering to explosive shell, as opposed to shot (solid), here is the scoop on what you are asking:The first recorded use of explosive shells was by the Venetians in 1376. Their bombs were hemispheres of stone or bronze, joined together with hoops and exploded by means of a primitive powder fuze. Shells filled with explosive or incendiary mixtures were standard for mortars after 1550. The idea of firing shells from long naval guns was not new. It had been proposed on and off since there had been shells and naval guns to combine. Probably the most serious unfruitful proposal was in 1765, by Bigot de Morogues, one of the more influential naval writers and thinkers of the 18th Century. The French did, eventually, conduct tests with shells fired from heavy 24- and 36-pounder naval cannon. These began at Toulon in 1789 and moved to Meudon in 1790.
The fact is solid shot did much more damage, it tore through ships and walls, and the explosive balls ccould not do that, until the mid 1800s, they started to make some ground that way with high explosive shells, but solid shot was prefered in combat against another ship, exsposive wa better for lobing over walls or against personell in the open,with it;s relative, the Shrapnel shot, developd by the British in the early 1800s.

Answer 3

Hmmm I'm sorry that I don't have a definitive answer any more than the previous answerers did. But I can tell you that solid shot was used well into the American Civil War. They used both solid shot or solid balls as well as shells that exploded. I'm not sure when the cannon "ball" got gun powder inside it but I would bet you that it did sooner rather than later. Solid balls were very effective at tearing holes in ships in naval battles.

Answer 4

~If you count Greek Fire as an explosive, then explosive projectiles pre-date cannon by centuries. Then you have to take into account the Chinese, who launched their exploding shells by rockets. However, the rudimentary cannon the Europeans were using would have been far less effective against land based targets had they used exploding shells, both as a condition of the targets and the type of explosive available. That's enough of your homework for tonight. My head is exploding from the effort.

Answer 5

You might want to do a search for biographies of Henry Shrapnel. The British combination of howitzers and guns gave them some advantage against the French guns during the Napoleonic Wars only a couple of decades later.

Answer 6

Lack of knowledge on your part. There were cannon balls which had internal fuses and a charge which caused them to explode after the fuse burned to the charge.

Answer 7

16th century mortars were used to fire explosive shells.
19th century explosive shells from flat trajectory cannons.

Non-explosive shells were used for years yet because mass formations would still take quite a few casualties from solid shot, as well as chain and grapeshot.

Answer 8

they didnt contain explosives its just that some stupid director of a film decided that steel hitting brick would look better if there was an explosion there

Answer 9

are you sure that they put gun powder inside of steel balls. I'm not sure that is true.

i think they just changed the cannon completely