Cannon
Cannon names 5 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Cannon JOSEPH GURNEY, an American public official
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOSEPH GURNEY, an American public official, born in Guilford, N. C., in 1836. He was educated in the public schools and after studying law was admitted to the Illinois bar in 1858. From 1861 to 1868 he was State's attorney of the 27th Judicial District of Illinois. He was elected to the 43d Congress in 1873, and was re-elected to successive Congresses until 1891, when he was defeated. From 1893 to 1913 he was successively re-elected and was defeated again in 1914, but was successful in the election of 1915. He was also re-elected in 1917 and in 1919. He was chairman of the Committee on Appropriations in the 51st, 55th, 56th, and 57th Congresses, and was speaker of the House in the 58th, 59th, 60th, and 61st Congresses. In this position he became one of the most prominent political figures in the country. He also had a large part in the formation of the most important legislation passed during his period of office. He was the oldest member of the House of Representatives in the point of years of service. In the Republican National Convention of 1908 he received 58 votes for the presidential nomination. He was a frequent contributor to magazines on political subjects.
Cannon large guns for hurling projectiles by means of explosives
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
large guns for hurling projectiles by means of explosives. Cannon were used by Edward III against the Scots in 1327; by the French against the Flemish in 1338; and by the English at the battle of Crecy and at the siege of Calais in 1346. The first cannon were built like a keg, of iron bars surrounded by hoops and iron rings. The first cannon balls were made of stone. Later a method of casting hollow canon was invented. In 1749 the French hit upon a method of casting cannon solid, and of boring them out afterward. Celebrated guns of American patterns are the Parrott, the Dahlgren, the Rodman, and the Gatling. Modern cannon are expected to throw their projectiles farther than the report can be heard. See Gun ; Rifle ; Artillery ; Armstrong ; Krupp ; Gatling ; Armor ; Battleship Armored automobile with rapid-fire gun. Cannon Krupp disappearing gun. Cannon Field gun and ammunition wagon in position. Cannon Protected rapid-fire gun. Cannon Balloon gun. Cannon
Cannon A long cylindrical tube for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder
The Encyclopedia of Founding (1892)
A long cylindrical tube for throwing projectiles by the explosion of gunpowder. The date of the invention and the name of the inventor are unknown. It is certain that King Edward employed cannon at the battle of Cressy, A.D. 1346, but records are extant showing that they were known in France as early as the year 1338; and Isaac Vossius asserts that they were used in China seventeen hundred years ago. The earliest cannon were made by hooping iron bars, or of sheets of iron rolled up and fastened together. These cumbersome machines were used for throwing large stones in the manner of the ancients. These were gradually supplanted by brass cannon of much smaller calibre, which threw iron and lead balls; they were first cast of a mixture of tin and copper, which was naturally called gun-metal, but subsequently cast-iron guns came into use on account of their being so much cheaper. See ORDNANCE.
Cannon ANNIE JUMP, an American astronomer
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
ANNIE JUMP, an American astronomer, born in Dover, Del., in 1863. She received her education at Wellesley College. In 1897 she became a staff assistant in the observatory of Harvard College and was made curator of astronomical photographs. She achieved a reputation as an observer and cataloguer, having discovered three new stars and 150 variable stars, besides a spectroscopic binary. She was the author of an extensive bibliography of variable stars. Among her publications are "Second Catalogue of Variable Stars" (1907); "Maxima and Minima of Variable Stars of Long Period" (1909); (1909); and "William Paton Fleming" (1911).
Cannon JOSEPH G., announced his retirement from Congress
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
JOSEPH G., announced his retirement from Congress, Feb. 13, 1922.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's 1910 note that "modern cannon are expected to throw their projectiles farther than the report can be heard" was quickly outdone: the German long-range gun that shelled Paris in 1918 reached about 130 km, and today's artillery fires satellite-guided shells from wheeled and self-propelled mounts, with the Parrott, Dahlgren and Rodman guns long since museum pieces. Collier's caught Joseph Gurney Cannon at the very end of a career it could not yet judge; he had already lost most of a Speaker's power in the 1910 House revolt against "Cannonism," left Congress in 1923 after nearly fifty years, and died in 1926. The briefest entry here now reads as the most consequential: Annie Jump Cannon, credited in 1921 with cataloguing variable stars, went on to classify the spectra of hundreds of thousands of stars, and the O-B-A-F-G-K-M sequence she settled is still the backbone of stellar classification taught today.
Written for this edition, 2026.