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History of catapult The history of catapult spans far from ancient time, until modern times with the basic principles remained the same. the designs became more complicated, but the intent is the same (shooting an object, such as rocks, into the air). The catapult history started when men thought of the idea of shooting a missile at a target. And then it became more advanced. For example the theory of the sling shot operated the same. For using in siege warfare, people believe that catapult history began probably in the 300s AD. These engineers that were working for Phillip of Macedonia are trusted with building the first ballista. These model of catapult are used with two wooden arms, hard wound ropes and a cord to assist in the hurling of a deadly rocket, such as spears, at an enemy. The ballista’s use of torsion need to launch …show more content…
This model was kind of the same design to the Greek version, but made with only one wooden arm. The mangonel, somehow, had some design flaw in that is called for a wooden barrier to be a concept. It is place in catapult history is nonetheless well documented as this model was still used when the trebuchet arrived on the scene. Unlike it is earlier Greek brother. The mongonel is counted as a easier design in history of catapult. Also, more incent topic in history of the catapult was believed to have opened in 12th century France with the inventions of the trebuchet. This huge train of siege is stated to have hit good fear in the hearts of the opponents. The project and this pure power have hurled this example catapult history through the history. The trebuchet is used with a long wooden arm refreshed on a hinge point, which acted as a big level. A bullet was placed on one end and soldiers in this earlier form of the trebuchet pushed on slings devoted to the other end to fundamentals swing the arm around and throw the
CATAPULTS The catapult, was invented by the Romans, and plays a large role in the siege of any castle. Besiegers could fire 100-200 pound stones up to 1,000 feet. The catapult was used to destroy buildings and walls inside and outside of the castle walls, it could also destroy an enemies moral by throwing severed heads of comrades, they could spread disease by throwing shit and dead animals in, and they could destroy wooden building by throwing bundles of fire in.
The Trebuchet was created by the Chinese in 300 BC and was known to be the most powerful of all the catapults. The Trebuchet was made of a long arm possibly up to 60 feet long, which balanced on a fulcrum, which was far from the center. A counterbalance, which is a heavy lead weight or a pivoting ballist box filled with earth, was attached to the short arm. A sling was attached to the end of the long arm and a rope was attached to the long arm, which was pulled down until the counterbalance reached its maximum height. The sling was loaded with projectiles as the rope was released and the counterbalance drops down. The potential energy is converted into kinetic energy and when the long arm is brought to an abrupt stop the projectile continue with the velocity produced by the kinetic energy
Catapults are devices used to launch items far distances. One type of catapult that uses a sling and weight to fly items is called a trebuchet. Trebuchets were heavily used in the Medieval Ages as weapons to fling stones toward enemies. A diagram of a trebuchet is shown in Figure I.
The design of the ballista was fairly simplistic. The arms were mounted into twisted ropes, which provided the tension. The ratchet was used to pull the arms back, increasing the tension. A spear or rock was loaded onto the ballista, and the release pin was pulled. The tension on the arms pulled them forward, and the spear or rock was propelled forward by the rope in between the arms.
These first trebuchets built in China were very difficult to operate and used a lot of human power, they were called traction trebuchet. The Chinese would need over 250 soldiers to be able to produce enough energy to pull the rope. There was engineers that sat at the front and loaded the throwing arm. They were able to put more power into the weapon, the trebuchet by adding different weight as the soldiers would release the rope. It was able to throw big rocks around 100 meters, however it was not consistent or accurate. Later they added a counterweight and this was a big advancement in the technology. It is much easier to pull back a huge rope to work the machine. Then they had more room to make the sling longer so the object being launched could go farther. The sling makes the weapon even more accurate and precise. The hinged counterweight took over the fixed counterweight. One of the last improvements was called the propped counterweight it gave an angle with the weight and the
It started to be used as an explosive, in 1902, by the Germans. It was difficult to detonate, but the Germans exploited it. They filled artillery shells, which can pierce through ship armor. Then, they shot at the boats. When it pierced through the boat, it exploded, thus exploiting the sciences of TNT. After they found this being effective, they began filling naval mines, bombs, depth charges and torpedoes with TNT and it has been really effective since it is used
Ancient Greece was at the forefront of military technology innovation during its time, and led the rest of the world in military advancements. From the fast and efficient triremes of Athens to the catapults of Sicilian Greeks to the massive siege engines of Alexander the Great, the Greeks were very creative in inventing advanced military technology.1 They did not merely create advanced versions of existing technology; they invented new weapons altogether. There is some debate over the origin of the catapult but most historians agree that it was invented in Greece. 1 Additionally, the triremes of Greece were considered the superlative warships of the age. 1 These super-galleys were products of masterful ancient-world engineering, and even today we are puzzled as to how such large hulls supported ships when they were made entirely of wood with no metal bands. One of these famous
“Volley Guns” (Chivers, 2010, p.26) or also known as “Organ Guns” (Ellis, 1975, p.10) were first attempts at increasing firepower by adding several barrels at the firing itself, rather than simply attempting to increase the rate of fire. “Gunsmiths had long ago learned to place barrels side by side on frames to create firearms capable of discharging projectiles in rapid succession. These unwieldy devices, or volley guns, were capable in theory of blasting a hole in a line of advancing soldiers” (Chivers, 2010, p.26). An example of such weapons can be seen on July 28, 1835 when Giuseppe Fieshi unleashed terror on King Louis-Phillipe in Paris, France. He fired his 25 barrel “volley gun”, killing 18 of the king's entourage and grazing the King's skull. The weapon was ineffective however. Four of the barrels failed and another four ruptured. Two other barrels had exploded inside, grievously wounding Giuseppe. (Chivers, 2010, p. 27)
Since the dawn of human intelligence, neanderthals have been using sticks and spears to kill animals. This method eventually transformed to the creation of catapults to launch objects such as boulders into walls, which similarly relates to our objective of launching a projectile into a desired target. The five different kinds of medieval catapults include ballista, springald, mangonel, onager, and trebuchet. Our catapult is going to be in
The author further explains how once the Romans gained knowledge of the weapon, they innovated it further by adding wheels to the catapult for easier mobility. The author describes the Ballista as “ a giant crossbow, used for shooting large arrows or darts. It was a powerful anti-personnel weapon, capable of transfixing several armoured men with a single dart”. The ballista works by the tension created by skeins of rope or animal muscles or tendons, and the wooden structure created by the manufacturer. Another important catapult used during wartime was the Perrier. In an article on “codesmiths.com”, the author describes it as “Perriers relied on simple muscle power for their action. This is a three rope example, powered by six soldiers pulling on it. There are stories of large perriers using up to two hundred soldiers.” We get an idea as to the vast variety of catapults being used during the time. Even under a subcategory of a type of catapult, we have several dozens of different types. The author goes further in detail, and shows how the Perrier, unlike the other catapults, could only fire stones weighing under 10 lbs. Although there was a weight limit on the Perrier, the catapult was known for its high rate of fire, firing about
Essentially the plan for the catapult would have been the same. Measurements for the catapult are the same just in wood. So for lumber I would have gone with an eight foot long of 1.5in x 1.5in would have saved a cent over PVC. For my swing arm I would needed something thinner to be able to swing more freely. I went with a foot and a half of 1-in x 2-in which out of an 8 foot long log that cost ninety six cents priced out to be sixteen cents. Since I didn’t need elbows for wood and elbows were the most expensive material out of the PVC catapult. Instead I’d use screws to hold the corners together. I estimated that I needed twenty screws, so two screws in every corner to make it more secure. This like the elbows ran up to be three dollars in
First the energy of conservation. The setting of the trebuchet before firing is shown in Fig 1. A heavy counterweight of mass (M) (contained in a large bucket) on the end of the short arm of a sturdy beam was raised to some height while a smaller mass (m) (the projectile), was positioned on the end of the longer arm near or on the ground. In practice the projectile was usually placed in a leather sling attached to the end of the longer arm. However for simplicity, we shall ignore the sling and compensate for this omission by increasing the assumed length of the beam on the projectile’s side. The counterweight was then allowed to fall so that the longer arm swung upward, the sling following, and the projectile was ultimately thrown from its container at some point near the top of the arc. The far end of the sling was attached to the arm by a rope in such a way that the release occurred at a launching angle near the optimum value ( most likely by repeated trials) for the launch height. The launching position is shown in fig.2 where we have assumed that the projectile is released at the moment the entire beam is vertical. In the figures: (a)=height of the pivot, (b)= length of the short arm, (c)= length of the long arm, while (v) and (V) are the velocities of (m) and (M), respectively, at the moment of launching.
middle of paper ... ... This seemingly unending search for that elusive, perfect projectile continued even after the end of the Civil War (Melton). The development of the cannon has had a large influence on society through a variety of factors. It has evoked physics theories about motion and specifically projectile motion.
The Mangonel is the catapult we built and used. The mangonel was built/invented in 400 BC. The Romans were the ones that ended up inventing this Mangonel Catapult design. These catapults were used by the Romans obviously, and they were used for battles because they could reach up to 1,300ft back then. The catapult that my group and I built has a rectangular base. On one end of the rectangle we have boards that stand straight up. These two boards that are standing up has a block, and we have a arm that you pull back that has bunge cords from the rectangle frame to the arm, and you pull back then let go of the arm and the arm swings the object. Back then the objects would have been rocks and thing like this for the Romans to hurt or kill the enemy. Now no one exactly knows where specifically the Romans built it, but it could have been in Europe, Britain, much of western Asia, northern Africa and the Mediterranean islands. ("History of Catapults - Physics of Catapults." History of Catapults - Physics of Catapults. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.)
The Chinese used gunpowder for many different inventions when they first created it. Gunpowder was not always used for bad intentions by the inventors. Gunpowder was initially used for fireworks shows in the late 1200s. The fireworks used from gunpowder was on a string like the modern day black cats. In the thirteenth century gunpowder made it way to europe, japan and other