2. What is a catapult?
A catapult is a weapon used to throw projectiles or
objects at a massive distance like a cannon, tank, or
mortar but without the use of explosives like other
ancient weapons. Even though the catapult has been
used since ancient times it has been the most
effective weapon used in ancient warfare. The
catapult was invented by the ancient Greeks.
3. Ancient Catapults
The Catapult and cross bow are both
alike. The ancient catapult is like a
massive crossbow invented by the
Ancient Greeks. These machines fired
arrows from a bow that were not as
strong as a man shooting with a
normal bow and arrow. Soon the
catapults were able to shoot bigger
and better arrows at a bigger distance
by the mechanisation of the Ancient
Greeks drawings. These weapons
were built of composite materials like a
wood core surmounted by a tension of
animal sinew in the front and a
compression layer of horn on the back.
4. There were heaps of different kinds
of catapults that were used in the
medieval times and here are some of
them:
Ballista: Ballista’s look and are like a
giant cross bow (see Ancient Catapults).
The ballista shot out giant arrows and
darts. Ballista’s are known for there high
degree accuracy but they don’t exceed in
firepower unlike the mangonel and
Trebuchet. Because the ballista couldn’t
get around it always had to be built on
site unless you want to try and carry it
around.
5. Mangonel: These weapons were designed to
throw and hurl large projectiles like rocks and
spiked balls and sometimes rotting carcases
from a spoon like arm with a bowl at the end.
The Mangonel was used to throw various
missiles at castles, fortresses and cities. The
Mangonel could shoot as far as 329 meters.
Mangonels were simple to make and after a
little while they added wheels so they didn’t
have to carry or rebuild.
Trebuchet: Trebuchets were probably the
strongest catapults ever used in the middle
ages. The trebuchet commonly used stones
and sometimes they used dart and sharp
wooden poles. The most useful ammunition
was fire brands and the deadly Greek fire.
There were two different types of the
Trebuchet one: Traction (which was powered
by people) and Counterpoise were the people
were replaced by weights on the short end.
6. Leonardo Da Vinci’s Catapult: Leonardo wanted to improve
the power and range of earlier catapult designs. His design
had a large wooden leaf spring as an accumulator to power
the catapult. Both ends are connected by a piece of rope,
similar to the design of a bow and arrow. The leaf spring was
not used to pull the catapult directly because the rope was
wound around a drum. The catapult arm is connected to the
drum which would be turned until there was enough potential
energy which would be stored in the deformation of the
spring. The drum would then be disengaged from the
winding mechanism and the catapult would snap around. No
records have been found yet to show that this catapult was
built.
7. The last time a catapult was used was in the trenches of world
war one. In the first stages of the war, catapults were used to
throw hand grenades across the no man’s land into the enemy’s
trenches (later on the catapults were replaced by small mortars).
There are special types of catapults used to launch air craft if
there is a short runway and off ships. Ships also use them to
launch missiles and torpedoes. Small catapults called traps are
used in clay shooting to launch the clay targets.
French troops using
catapult to throw
hand grenades
