Illustration of Iron Models of Cannon Casting

Illustration of Iron Models of Cannon Casting is the world’s earliest monograph expounding metal mold casting. It was written by Gong Zhenlin of the Qing Dynasty in 1840–1842, and published in 1842. Later, it was included into the Illustrated Treatise on the Maritime Kingdoms, written by Wei Yuan. Gong Zhenlin was born in Changzhou, Jiangsu (today’s Wuzhong District and **angcheng District in Jiangsu) during the Jiaqing Era of the Qing Dynasty (1796–1820), and died in 1861. He was an expert on ship and cannon. He served as assistant of county magistrate of Jiaxing, Zhejiang. He used to focus on studying science and technology. During the Opium War in 1840, he was transferred to the military camp in Ningbo to supervise manufacture of armaments. To manufacture the cast iron cannon to fight the invader, he invented an iron mold for cannon casting. Then he wrote this book, which was published in the coastal regions. The book describes the process of casting cannon in iron mold. In August...