What Is The History Of Catapults

In response to the use of castles and fortresses, siege weapons were created. Siege weapons ranged from short range weapons such as the battering ram to longer range ones like the trebuchet or the ballista. The battering ram was usually a big shed with an armored roof and wheels to protect the men inside operating a thick beam with an iron head hung from the roof that was swung into enemy walls to bring them down. The siege tower, a wheeled tower filled with men that would be used to get over the walls, also saw its use during this time. The trebuchet was used for longer range, the missiles launched by the trebuchet ranged from using dead bodies of animals or people to spread disease, a primitive example of biological warfare, to using large boulders to take down fortress walls. In response

A catapult has been used all throughout history as a siege engine. A siege engine is a device that is designed to break or circumvent city walls and other fortifications in siege warfare. A catapult was one of the approximately 10 weapons used in siege warfare during an assault on a castle or fortification. Some other weapons used in both ancient and medieval siege warfare included the well known trebuchet, the classic battering ram, and the siege tower. All of these devices and their relatives were used both in ancient and medieval times in large numbers, and to their users utter enjoyment, and they remained effective for ages, despite an opponent's usually inefficient ways of trying to impede the seige weapons

Compared to the trebuchet, the designs of other siege weapons were lacking in many respects. The most important of these other siege engines included the Greek ballista, the catapult, and variations on the catapult design, such as the Roman onager and mangonel. The ballista's design was very similar to an extremely large crossbow with a guide chute to keep the projectile on path. A large ballista could launch an eight pound stone over 450 yards. It took two men to operate a ballista (Hamper). A standard catapult used the inconsistent strength and weight of men as a source of power. Groups of men had to work to pull down the catapult bar in order to launch the objects. Such catapults could typically throw as much as a fifty pound rock. An onager was type of a catapult with a short arm that would be launched forward by many twisted sinews. Both the onager and the ballista were limited in accuracy and range, because the tightly twisted sinews and ropes continually wore out and needed to be replaced. Likewise, the standard catapult lacked accuracy because of the inconsistent strength and weight of the men who fired it. While all of these siege machines were useful, none of them had the range, or were as powerful, accurate, and widely used as the trebuchet (Gurstelle 18-22).

A trebuchet is a siege weapon most commonly used in the middle ages. It uses gravity to propel an object. There are competitions held today called "Pumpkin Chunkin '" which use trebuchets to launch pumpkins as far as possible. The common question is what the dimensions should be when making it. Should the arm be longer or shorter? Should the counterweight be heavier or lighter? These questions have been asked by competitors in trebuchet competition as well as engineers. And this is why the project is in the field of mechanical engineering.

The castles played an important role in the middle ages. The castles structure was built to fortify and maintain control over an area. The architecture that was put into building the castles, was designed to hold back any enemies with heavy weaponry and stronger armies then them. Source 1 states “The earliest medieval castles were built with mottes and baileys.” Mottes were built with wooden walls around the edges, in the process formed a ring-work fort. This sort of protective structure was used in the late twelfth century. The Motte was one of the most defensible areas, while the bailey was one of the main places where the battle took place.

The wooden towers of a motte and bailey castle were removed and replaced with stone, because the towers were hollow, it was called a shell keep. Castles with a shell keep were better than the early Norman ‘motte and bailey castles’ because it was an expensive way of strengthening the motte, the fragile wooden fence around the motte was replaced with a stone wall. The castle engineers during the Norman period of time did not trust the motte to support the enormous weight of a stone keep, but the a common solution to that problem was to replace the wooden stakes enclosing the castle with a stone wall then building wooden buildings backing onto the inside of the wall. This construction was great because it meant that the walls could be thinner and lighter. The shell keep castles were less popular and were relatively short lived, the style stopped being popular very quickly. Castles like York castle Clifford tower have a stone

Trebuchets are most commonly known as medieval weapons used in the Middle Ages. Us three were to build a smaller scale of the trebuchet and had to make sure it hit the target two out of the five times. We had to build a hinged-counter weight type of trebuchet with wheels that could throw a ping pong or golf ball. Through the paper I will explain the history throughout trebuchets and why to have wheels and to have a hinged counter weight on the trebuchet. Also the calculations on the potential energy and velocity are through this report. Our trebuchet met all of the requirements that were to be made and it hit the target three out of the five times. This report will

The trebuchet doesn’t date back to a specific person, or date. However it is seen as early as the 6th century. In the 6th century, China used a trebuchet-like idea of humans pulling ropes on one end to catapult an object on the other end. The known trebuchet design was created somewhere during the 12th period, and once created it was seen everywhere. The trebuchet was built during this medieval time period because it was extremely difficult to get over castle walls, or to break through. The purpose of the trebuchet initially was to do this. There are four basic parts to the trebuchet: the frame, the guide chute, the beam sling, and the counterweight. The trebuchet was created in a crucial time period because of its purpose. It succeeded greatly

The word trebuchet comes from the Middle French verb trebuch which means “tumble” or “fall over,” which was the intent of what the throwing arm did when it was released. The average mass of projectiles used in medieval times were around 50-100 kilograms, with a range of about 300 metres. They were extremely effective against castle walls; in fact, they were so effective that architects began to design new castles to be able to withstand the raw power and force of the trebuchet. Sometimes, corpses and carcasses were launched with trebuchets over castle walls as an early form of biological warfare. For example, in 1422 during the Hussite Wars, Prince Korybut shot men and manure into Karlstejn Castle and was apparently successful in spreading disease within the walls.

Castles were constructed strategically as military structures to defend against attackers and enemies. They were built to maximize their defense features and limit any weaknesses that the enemy could capitalize on. Around the 10th century, Normans began to build motte and bailey castles to protect themselves from any Viking invasions or attacks which depended on the element of surprise. Motte and bailey castles got their name from their motte which is a mound of earth and their bailey, a flat enclosed area that is usually surrounded by a wooden fence. On top of the motte was the keep which was a tower or structure that operated as the last line of defense. The motte was sometimes human-made and was combined with a nearby hill. The keep was also where

The Trebuchet was a weapon built during the siege age( Medieval era). This weapon was similar to the catapult or stave sling. This weapon was used to throw heavy stone to smash castle or city walls. The name trebuchet is old french word tribucher or meaning throw over. The chinese invented the trebuchet in the 4th century they started to show up by the ancient chinese by the monist

They came up with poles with hooks at the end that would hook on the rider's armor and pull them or make him fall off. They also made the halberg which was a axe, spear, and hook all in one. They would use the hook to pull riders off of there horse or stab them on the horse.("Medieval Weapons."). There was attacks that they would go for a castle. They would need special weapons, they were called siege weapons. They were the mongole, battering ram, siege tower, catapult, and trebuchet. The mongole was like the catapult in the sense it launched projectiles but they were different in their design. The mongole was a giant crossbow. The siege tower was used to cross walls of castles they would make it the same height or even taller than the wall they had to go over and it would protect anybody inside with ladders for the attack. The battering ram is simply a tree truck held up by rope or chain to a frame covered in wooden or sometimes steel in spots. It was used to protect the multiple soldiers inside that would work the trunk back and forth to hit doors or castle gates down so they could get in. The trunk would have a spike

The other being the Trebuchet or commonly known as catapult. The Trebuchet was an effective weapon to break through enemy lines, but it lacked speed of reloading, and simplicity of manufacturing. The Longbow was a six foot bow or the equivalent length of a human. The Longbow was made to increase the draw weight compared to the regular bow. Not just the combat that made the Longbow more effective but the simplicity of the bow and arrow. “The bow was an easily produced weapon needing wood string and some arrows” and combat of the bow was already present (Neumann). Using the Longbow was a weapon with no excessive movement and the archers can be kept at farther distances away from the close-fighting. All the bowman had to do was draw the string and fire the projectile. With that the Longbow had advantages over other weapons. Close-range weapons such as the ax, can be effective in some cases like fast-speed weapon and durable but it risks higher deaths than the bowman. In combat the close-range weapons were still important which kept the archers firing into opposing force without retreating. The Crossbow was also effective if not the same as the Longbow. Being a bow and a rifle it can “act as a mid-range weapon”, and does not need to be protected as much as Longbowman (DeVries). Although it takes longer to load compared to the Longbow, it can have more power than the Longbow and having the only rifle-like weapon of its time it can be more accurate than the Longbow. The bow was a “Short bow mounted perpendicular to its base” (Sider). It took the part from holding string and pointing weapon and split it so they do not have to do both at the same time (English). There were a couples versions of the Crossbow like the commonly known one is the classic pull string on trigger and direct to shoot. Like the Trebuchet it can be loaded and then fired with no stress of the

The knights want to use fireballs to demolish the castle. The fireballs are giant and very dangerous. The knights use a catapult to launch the huge fireballs. The catapult aims the harmful fireballs towards the castle. Therefore, the fireballs are destroying the gigantic castle. The knights also want to use weapons to demolish the castle. They have sharp, harmful weapons. The knights carry arrows and swords. They were two harmful weapons in the Middle Ages and. They use their weapons

The physics concepts associated with them are projectile motion, energy, momentum, forces , speeds, and distances. The kinds of catapults all use the same theme of accumulated tension, but acquire that tension in their own way, their own design. The Mangonel catapult for instance, is what most of us think of as the traditional catapult. A large wooden device with four wheels and a spoon that launches fireballs. The Mangonel stores energy much like a spring would, therefore, we use the equation PEspring = 1/2kx^2. The tension in the ropes and arms of the catapult when pulling on its long arm stores potential energy which is transformed into kinetic energy when fired upon.