These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads. Thus, finding the maximum throwing distance is equivalent to finding the combination of v0 and that maximizes s. Intuitively, you might think that the angle of release should be = 45. I designed the basket for 4x1 oz car wheel weights. The Chinese needed so much power for the trebuchet that they had up to 250 solders pulling on ropes to operate the machine [6]. If you want to do hand calculations to design a trebuchet with the best range, you will need to understand the physics involved. Construction . The horizontal distance the payload would travel is called the trebuchet's range. This happens when one end of the sling slips off the tip of the swinging arm. listed if standards is not an option). The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The traction trebuchet, which was a rather simple design were the force for firing was provided by men pulling down ropes. Has been printed on a MiniFactory and works almost out of the box, some filing or sanding requred. Enjoy! You can vary the weight on the back easily by putting more or fewer rocks inside. Trebuchet. Internet: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet, [Oct. 11, 2006]. I added a cover for the opening to keep kids from adding or removing things. This happened The trebuchet is the hallmark of medieval siege warfare and is synonymous. The pivoting arm would then stop and the projectile would be flung forward. In the fall of 2005, he was pursuing a B.S. Now you will build the trebuchet's arm. Internet: http://www.trebuchet.com, [Oct. 11, 2006]. Trebuchet counterweight? All of the parts required to assemble one Trebuchet counterweight. Repeat steps 4 8 for all ten settings. Enjoy! Bernhard Kast is a participant in the Amazon EU Associates Programme, an affiliate advertising programme designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.co.uk. Because we drilled the Continued The beam was divided into two arms by the axle. Press J to jump to the feed. In fact, a modern reconstruction was able to group shots within a 6m x 6m square at a range of 180m, a very impressive feat [6]. On the other hand, at the 3:1 ratio there was just the right balance and a hose clamp to hold the counterweight on. A powerful catapult had the capability to launch a 27-kilogram stone, but had little effect on walls or fortified buildings located over 160 meters away [3]. The poor prospects of surviving an assault from War Wolf prompted the Scottish garrison inside the castle to offer their surrender. (Hill, Donald R.: Trebuchets, in: France, John: Medieval Warfare, p. 277-278) Whereas another scholar notes that modern replicas suggest a range in the order of only 100-120 m, which would be about the same as the traction trebuchet. Counterweight powered trebuchet where the counterweight is directly attached to the short arm. Enjoy! The word Trebuchet comes from the old French 'Trebucher' meaning 'to throw over', and that is exactly what medieval siege weapons like trebuchets were designed to do. See gravitational potential energy. Uninterrupted action by massed forces of large machines would surely have smashed masonry in time, but the conditions in which large numbers of such machines could be gathered and operated were relatively rare, and before the end of the twelfth century there is little evidence of artillery smashing the main masses of castles and walled cities. (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 120), Another aspect in attacking walls was, that the quality of the stones was very important, because if the stone shatters on the wall, the damage is quite limited. Edward I of England, who had spent months battering the walls of the castle with massive stone and lead projectiles, was becoming sick of the siege going nowhere. When the catapult was released, the ropes would twist back into shape and swing the pivoting arm upward until it reached a vertical position and hit a cushioned pad. - History behind the trebuchet, http://www.ripcord.ws/theory.html They work great over a huge range of mass ratios. [12] J. Vaughan. Ideally a ratio of around 100/1 ballast to projectile weight should be used, this results in . But the usual weight was probably more around 45 to 90 kg (100 to 200 lbs). In this blog post, we will build a simplified model of a counterweight trebuchet using the Multibody Dynamics Module and examine some of its design features. Military History Visualized Offical Homepage for the YouTube Channel. I made a "trigger" for the catapult out of two big shackles and a rod . For example, when I first shot my trebuchet I was using a 2.26kg payload and a 22.6kg counterweight. Our team of volunteer scientists can help. Copyright 2002-2023 Science Buddies. (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 123), Lets take a short look at the main differences of the Traction and Counterweight Trebuchets: A 3D model of Counterweight used in Horizontal Striling Engine, rebuilt this Trebuchet design in Rhino, made it easier to 3d print. However, the king would not have it, as he was eager to try out his new trebuchet. The longer arm length makes the projectile go further because being longer, it multiplies the mechanical force of the counter weight dropping a longer distance, the average was 3.2 meters, then a shorter arm, the average was 2.8 meters. For an outdoor trebuchet, you can use 2 x 4-inch (5 x 10 cm) planking. The simplest trebuchet is basically a throwing arm pivoted on a fulcrum. The counterweight is raised and the trebuchet is cocked. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. As the counterweight trebuchet became more popular, engineers thickened castle walls to withstand heavier bombardment. What is your budget, and what materials do you have access to? The design originated in medieval times as a siege weapon. [Weapons 101] Trebuchet - How they work - Traction & Counterweight Trebuchets Medieval Equipment Military History Visualized 190K views 6 years ago How to Operate a Mini Trebuchet Joe Staggs. If you search online, there are many different plans and designs for building a trebuchet. (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 123). pushing it forward, or pushing it backwards. Yet, the highest given number in the records was up to 1200 men, which sounds ludicrously high. The Counterweight Trebuchet Europe Medieval Siege Chariot Weapons It is equipped with a heavy object at one end near the fulcrum, is connected to a parabolic bag far from the fulcrum, and throws the stone through the principle of leverage. This is exactly as I predicted. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc. Now, at first look, it may be quite surprising why it took so long to develop the counterweight trebuchet, after all, it seems just a simple improvement, but Hill argues that is not the case. m1 is the mass of the counterweight in kilograms (kg). We do this to improve browsing experience and to show personalized ads. We use cookies and those of third party providers to deliver the best possible web experience and to compile statistics. In order to maximize the distance the projectile flies, the trebuchet needs to have a relatively long throwing arm compared to the counterweights arm, and a relatively large weight relative to the object being thrown. Your email address will not be published. Apparently, the French name Loup de Guerre (wolf of war) proved more than a mouthful for the English soldiers, so it was condensed into Ludgar. A trebuchet is a machine where making a change in any one area has an effect on the final result: the fling. Consequently, trebuchets dominated the battlefield with their ability to fling 300 lb. The counter-weight arm of the seesaw is usually shorter than the projectile arm by a ratio of 4 to 1 or more. fit. General wisdom has a 5:1 ratio being the norm for a standard trebuchet, although 4:1 is sometimes used. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California. The beam ratio of the Counterweight Trebuchet was also around 5:1 or 6:1. 2020 by History University. Large trebuchets of this type would typically feature a counterweight roughly ten times the weight of the projectile, which would put War Wolfs counterweight in the neighborhood of 1.5 tons! The catapult operator would twist ropes that surrounded the pivoting arm, causing immense tension. This counterweight was affixed to the end of the shorter arm and, without the need for ropes and people to pull the machine, space was available for lengthening the sling, which allowed the projectile to go even farther [3]. One nonfictional and historically notable trebuchet is War Wolf (known to the English soldiers at the time as Ludgar). Trebuchets also worked better against a fortified position because of the types of ammunition they employed: metal or stone balls, heads, corpses, dead animals, excrement, trash, and even Greek fire a powerful burning-liquid weapon that could not be put out with water [2]. An Introduction to Gear Modeling in COMSOL Multiphysics, The Motions and Mechanics of a Truck-Mounted Crane, Multiscale Modeling in High-Frequency Electromagnetics, All of the components are assumed rigid (including the sling), All hinged joints are assumed frictionless, The projectile is prevented from falling through the ground using a penalty stiffness, The counterweight hangs from a beam of length, The swinging arm is 6 meters in total length with. Not only coins =) Video https://youtu.be/jpWVBItSfHg And I highly recomend to use this ajustable hook https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2554790. The floating arm trebuchet uses a counterweight held on top of a tall drop channel to transfer potential energy into kinetic energy. Your arms will float up from your sides, as if lifted by an external force. The catapult consisted of a solid base with a pivoting arm that would be pulled down and locked into place [1]. Figure 1, below, shows a modern reconstruction of a trebuchet. Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet. The Floating Everything Trebuchet (FET) - a poor man's FAT, without the vertical guides. This aspect of warfare has made tremendous advancements throughout history, with current artillery weapons having the capability of sending projectiles past the horizon and landing within a few feet of their intended targets. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Can you make a trip to the hardware store and build your trebuchet with wood, nuts, and bolts? The plot reveals that deviations of the order of 5 from this optimum only affect the throwing distance by a few meters. Adult supervision is required when building and operating a trebuchet. On a trebuchet, it's much closer to the counterweight. Kaffa was a port city, so the disease soon spread across the Mediterranean and into European ports [3]. In the Middle Ages, soldiers had to make sure their trebuchets had a long enough range to stay outside the range of defending archers on castle walls. In use for almost 1000 years, the medieval version of the Chinese trebuchet transformed the battlefield thus changing the world forever. Volleyball Design and How Volleyball Designs Affect the Game, How to Engineer a Record-Breaking Swimsuit, To the Beginning of Time: NASAs Journey to Uncovering the Past, Diverting Away from the Steel Age: Metallurgy Reimagined in the Context of the Climate Crisis. 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