casts to (void) [considered harmful]

[VLD/VMB]

typedef	unsigned short	int16;
typedef	unsigned long	int32;

(note the bug fix, also) is equivalent to what you were trying to do,
but does not need to be rewritten for different machines.

In any case, most experienced C programmers will use "short" when 16
bits is known to suffice and "long" when 32 bits are needed.  This is
certainly not the main portability problem.