From an engineering standpoint, I was inclined to think the dish in the wheels was to cause a stress bias in the spokes that would exist in the opposite direction as what would be imposed by side loading from going around a corner. (yawn) The effect would be a wheel that may not be quite as strong in a straight line, but more durable overall because it can handle more side loading. That said, I have no desire to find the data and run the numbers on these wheels anytime soon so there is a decent window that says I'm wrong. As an engineer once said, "In God we trust, everyone else better bring your numbers."
So, that's a different dynamic than what I was describing, but the two kind of go along with each other. He's describing it as a spring, which helps in every direction. In his explanation, the dish could go either way, but facing them outward offers the advantage of stability when cornering. For something I never cared about, I'm getting way too interested .
Thanks
I'll gladly use that as my excuse to bow out of any measures to quantify!
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And more fun with numbers - from the AWI. I'd have to check my books but IIRC at least two of the carriages for the RA 3 lb gun were 10 spokes. The standard carriage for the RA light 6 lb gun was 12 spokes. For the US it should be kept in mind that it was a ways into the 19th century before the US began adopting a true system.View attachment 510448
The Cason attached to each gun carried a spare wheel & a limber pole.
On a number of occasions I have seen or participated in shrinking a tire onto a wheel. I am willing to believe that it was something analogous to mounting a modern tire.
As a child I saw my dad & his uncles mount a set of automobile tires. It involved a great deal of time & effort. If I recall correctly, the last time I replaced a set of tires at a shop it took about 45 minutes.
A battery's artificers could use spare parts to repair a wheel. However, the wheelwrights in the artillery reserve would have been the preferred method.
An artificer standing next to a battery wagon.
During a lull in the Battle of Stones River the Chicago Board of Trade Battery recovered a broken down cannon. The battery wagon carried spare parts for a carriage. During the night artificers of the CBTB repaired the captured gun. From that point onward, there were seven guns in the battery.
Artillery batteries were traveling crafts fairs. After traveling the 30 miles from Nashville to Murfreesboro TN on the MacAdamized Pike (toll road) half of the 125 (+/-) horses in a battery had to be reshod & tires replaced on some wheels. The iron horse shoes & wheel tires were, in effect, sanded away by the crushed gravel road surface.
The Union farriers had a distinct advantage over their CSA peers: manufactured horse shoes. Making shoes from bar stock a master farrier was expected to shoe 4-6 horses in a 12 hour day. Farriery is a physically taxing business. That being said, with manufactured horse shoes it takes an hour to completely re-shoe a horse.
How Horseshoes Helped Win the Civil War
While Scotsman Henry Burden was a prolific inventor and industrialist who played a major role in the Civil War, his vital contributions are generally unknown. Many of his inventions helped the North, but the design and perfection of a horseshoe-making machine was his most important one. As a...www.americanfarriers.com
CSA farriers scavenged cast off shoes or took them from dead horses.
Note: My tech department is having a sleep over with her friends. However, for a very reasonable contribution you can get a PBS Passport. That not only gets you access to NOVA, there is an entire library of PBS shows. There were dozens of links for each show when I looked them up.
Thank you, Red Bob, for your very gracious endorsement of me and The Starkville Civil War Arsenal. For those of you who are brave enough to sit through it, I have a thirty minute program on wheels if you visit the Arsenal. The program is entitled "The Anatomy, Maintenance and Repair of a Civil War Wheel".
As an engineer, I think it had something to do with reducing loads on the spokes or something.
Im glad you mentioned this fort was in Tennessee. I googled and found a "Fort Defiance" in many states: AL, VA, NY, OH and AZ.
In the 1980s, one of the curators at the Ft. Sill museum told me that the load was the reason for dished wheels. A single spoke could not bear the weight of a barrel and carriage, particularly while turning.As an engineer, I think it had something to do with reducing loads on the spokes or something.
I need to get my NASTRAN software out and build a 3-D stress model of the carriage.
Go for It. My Autodesk / NASTRAN license expired and I really don't feel like learning the new software at the moment.I need to get my NASTRAN software out and build a 3-D stress model of the carriage.
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