Sling Cart

 

Two Veteran Cannoneers of the Imperial Guard and an artillery workman are seen here operating a sling cart (or triqueballe in French).

This two-extra-large-wheeled device's function is to pick up cannon tubes from the ground and transport them along relatively short distances if the cart is pulled by men or even longer ones if it's hitched to horses. 

The present model operates by means of a large screw ending with a hook to grab a rope or chain attached around a cannon barrel. By turning the wheel on top of the sling cart the screw is raised and the barrel leaves the ground.

As the illustrations below show, different systems were employed to achieve the same goal, from a simpler lever to even more basic sling carts whose shaft was used as a lever to get the load off the ground.

 

A French 18th century sling cart (or triqueballe) on the left (from the 1745 book Mémoires d'Artillerie, recueillis par M. Surirey de Saint Rémy, Lieutenant du Grand-Maître de l'Artillerie de France and a British 18th century model on the right (from the 1780 A Treatise of Artillery by John Muller).

    

One advantage of the sling cart over other means (such as this heavy-duty cannon cart for example) of handling and carrying heavy artillery tubes is that the same device is able to both lift the barrel from the ground and move it around.

Larger, four-wheeled sling carts also existed.