Mr. Clays New Breech-Loading Gun

Mr. Clay's new breech-loading gun, 1862. 'Mr. William Clay, of the Mersey Steel and Iron Works, Liverpool, has just invented a beautiful breechloading gun made by a rolling process patented by him, by means of which he is enabled to manufacture cannon at a much lower cost than has hitherto been possible. But the chief excellence of his gun consists in the method of loading, which, on account of its simplicity, admits of the greatest rapidity of firing, no less than nineteen rounds having been fired within a minute with the greatest ease...The gun represented in the illustration is a wrought-iron 12-pounder used by the brigade of Volunteer Artillery, of which Mr. Clay is Lieutenant-Colonel'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862. Creator: Unknown. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)