BALANCE, Fr. a term used in the French artillery to express a machine in which stores and ammunition are weighed.
BALL, in the military art, comprehends all sorts of balls and bullets for fire-arms, from the cannon to the pistol.
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Balls of Lead, of different kinds.
Lead balls are packed in boxes containing each 1 cwt. About 4 pounds of lead in the cwt. are generally lost in casting. See Shot.
Cannon-Balls are of iron; and musket and pistol-balls are of lead. Cannon-balls are always distinguished by their respective calibres, thus,
Fire-Balls, -
Light-Balls,
of which there are various sorts, used for various purposes. Their composition is mealed powder 2, saltpetre 1¹⁄₂,
sulphur 1, rosin 1, turpentine 2¹⁄₂. Sometimes they are made of an iron shell, sometimes a stone, filled and covered with various coats of the above composition, until it conglomerates to a proper size; the last coat being of grained powder. But the best sort in our opinion, is to take thick brown paper, and make a shell the size of the mortar, and fill it with a composition of an equal quantity of sulphur, pitch, rosin, and mealed powder; which being well mixed, and put in warm, will give a clear fire, and burn a considerable time.
When they are intended to set fire to magazines, buildings, &c. the composition must be mealed powder 10, saltpetre 2, sulphur 4, and rosin 1; or rather mealed powder 48, saltpetre 32, sulphur 16, rosin 4, steel or iron filings 2, fir-tree saw-dust boiled in saltpetre ley 2, birch-wood charcoal 1, well rammed into a shell for that purpose, having various holes filled with small barrels, loaded with musket-balls; and lastly the whole immerged in melted pitch, rosin and turpentine oil.
Smoke-Balls are prepared as above, with this difference, that they contain 5 to 1 of pitch, rosin and saw-dust. This composition is put into shells made for that purpose, having 4 holes to let out the smoke. Smoke-balls are thrown out of mortars, and continue to smoke from 25 to 30 minutes.
Stink-Balls are prepared by a composition of mealed powder, rosin, saltpetre, pitch, sulphur, rasped horses and asses hoofs, burnt in the fire, assa-fœtida, seraphim gum or ferula, and bug or stinking herbs, made up into balls, as mentioned in Light-Balls, agreeably to the size of the mortar out of which you intend to throw them.