Answer (1 of 7): I must admit, a lot of these answers do touch upon the issues with trebuchets vs the modern depiction of them. Lets see if this holds true for the trebuchet model. . You manually load it by placing the ammo on the trebuchet in the inventory menu, then place rocks in the counterweight section to determine how far the projectile will fly. Hill states about the Counterweight Trebuchet: He notes: What is in fact surprising, when one comes to consider the dynamics of the counterweight trebuchet, is that it ever became a useful engine of war at all. (Hill, Donald R.: Trebuchets, in: France, John: Medieval Warfare, p. 280) How closely do they match? Youll need to cut 8 pieces: Two long base pieces. Military History Visualized subscribestar, Military History Visualized Merchandise. Anyone who has played Age of Empires (this includes me, yes), will know exactly what a trebuchet is, and what it does. [7] Encyclopedia Britannica. If the trebuchet is to be designed for maximum throwing distance, a question arises: At what point during its trajectory should the projectile be released? It is rumoured that Edward was so keen on trying out his new toy that he ordered the recently surrendered Scots back into the castle, quoted to have said "You do not deserve any grace, but must surrender to my will" and to prepare to feel the full might of the English crown, in the form of a bombardment from War Wolf. In order to change the trajectory of the projectile, the operators had the option of either angling the whole machine or changing the angle of the crossbar [1]. The maximum throwing distance is obtained if the projectile is released at 38. PLEASE NOTE: Posts and pages contain amazon affiliate links. Figure 1, below, shows a modern reconstruction of a trebuchet. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". Yet, one would assume that proper calculations or laborious trial and errors of various variations could produce an effective counterweight-trebuchet. because at 5:1, there was not enough power to lift the arm and the projectile
2 How long should the arm of a trebuchet be? Gravity. General wisdom has a 5:1 ratio being the norm for a standard trebuchet, although 4:1 is sometimes used. Launches 25 feet. How much weight can a trebuchet hold? So it's easier now to fill it with anything you want. These improvements helped the trebuchet maintain dominance on the battlefield. This book also contains some useful designs and building tips: Autodesk Inventor software is available as a free download for students from: If you like this project, you might enjoy exploring these related careers: You can find this page online at: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/ApMech_p013/mechanical-engineering/effect-of-trebuchet-arm-length-or-counterweight-mass-on-projectile-distance. What are the advantages of a floating arm trebuchet? We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. 1) and the catapult [1]. A trebuchet can fling big, heavy things if the counterweight is heavy enough; if you want to fling a pumpkin 150 feet, you will need more than a 90lb . http://imgur.com/CntygEE A nice working trebuchet to throw around small stones, sweets or whatever Use some coins to fill up the counter weight. Figure 2, below, shows a diagram of a trebuchet with the main parts labeled. Rolling wheels prevent the crushing lurch. You can vary the weight on the back easily by putting more or fewer rocks inside. The trebuchet is an ancient siege engine used for throwing large rocks. 6 What are the advantages of a floating arm trebuchet? Despite the multitude of builds, very little has been published about. The FAKA is a trebuchet design invented in late 2006 by Craig Macomber. One of the most advanced siege engines used in the Middle Ages was the trebuchet, which used a large counterweight to store energy to launch a payload, or projectile. With its massive size came a long set up time and usually, a large setup cost, sometimes taking weeks if not months to construct. The design originated in medieval times as a siege weapon. Bernhard Kast ist Teilnehmer des Partnerprogramms von Amazon Europe S..r.l. The pivoting arm would then stop and the projectile would be flung forward. Do you need to use household materials like cardboard, duct tape, and string? For a sling, I use the handle from a plastic grocery bag. I have a basic understanding that the more weight you put in the counterweught item slots, the further the shot will go. It will take 1-2 iron reinforcements to repair it back up to 2500 health after each boulder. I was able to use the collars from my weight set to hold the weights as they were slightly bigger than 1". Our design was very stout and held around 720lbs in counterweight, not including the weight bar and arm itself. The Trebuchet works functional but the connection between each parts seems weak and need to be improved. Yet, the highest given number in the records was up to 1200 men, which sounds ludicrously high. Used to hurl giant stones or boulders (see image below) directly at the walls of castles or fortifications or, simply to throw disease ridden bodies or other unpleasantries over the walls, to sap moral and infect the inhabitants waiting inside. Several museums around the world have also built their own, with Middelaldercenteret in Nykbing Falster in Denmark as one of the first modern examples of counterweight trebuchet (Hansen, 1989). Actual hand-to-hand combat was quite rare and usually only occurred during midnight counterattacks by the besieged or when the walls of the city were finally breached. One fascinating rumoured example of bodies being used comes from the siege of Kaffa, where in 1347, the plague ridden Mongols outside of the city started to fling over their dead and dying soldiers into the city in a hope that the smell alone, rumoured to be particular foul, would destroy the moral of the defenders calling for their surrender. sometimes sliding around. Every city occupied by Mongols in Central . - History behind the trebuchet, http://www.ripcord.ws/theory.html
The frame supports all the other parts, and . (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 123). Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot. Its currently set up for a 100:1 counterweight to projectile mass ratio, with 200lbs of counterweight. I added a cover for the opening to keep kids from adding or removing things. Will allow to have fun in areas such as home and office, for children and adults. Levers provide a fixed movement ratio between the projectile end of the arm and the CW end of the arm. No support or raft needed. projectile leaves the sling to when it hits the ground, 7. One is the frame, one is the swing arm, and one is the set of moving parts. Hurl those stones. However, since the trebuchet is much easier to aim at a large stationary target than small mobile targets, it was usually much more effective for the side laying siege[1]. The goal of this project is to determine how different physical parameters can affect the range of a trebuchet, using hand calculations, computer simulations, and/or physical experiments. The main advantages of the traction trebuchet were that it was faster and cheaper to build and needed no specialists, unlike the counterweight trebuchet. This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. It is a hinged counterweight trebuchet in which the counterweight hanger is placed on the top of the arm and the arm is pointed in the forward throwing direction when cocked. 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]. Assembly video:
All weapons have their pros and cons with the trebuchet having its fair share of both. Our team of volunteer scientists can help. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3627759. you can make your own counterweight (i used old 1.25 lb plates) the peg for the counterweight is just under 1.1 in. BRs of from 3:1 through 8:1 have been used, but at the low end you lose drop and at the high end you run into geometric problems and frame instability. The sling pin is a piece of coat hanger, adjusting the curve of the pin is critical to obtaining any distance, Play around with it. Medieval trebuchets were made up of a large triangular base, allowing the large arm to swing a full 360 degrees around, so it could be loaded and fired without the risk of it smashing into its self. A 3D model of Counterweight used in Horizontal Striling Engine, rebuilt this Trebuchet design in Rhino, made it easier to 3d print. 99. . If you are trebbing and run out of wood or iron, you can keep repairing the trebuchet up to 2500/5000 health with only one of the mats! Internet: http://www.trebuchet.com, [Oct. 11, 2006]. The further between . The Traction Trebuchet is a siege weapon in Age of Empires IV that is unique to the Mongols. Edward called upon his master castle builder, James of St. George to oversee to construction of a massive trebuchet that would be able to hurl 300 pound projectiles at the walls. In use for almost 1000 years, the medieval version of the Chinese trebuchet transformed the battlefield thus changing the world forever. This created an increase in falling distance and centrifugal force, both of which contributed to greater power. Overall, both types of trebuchets were used together during sieges. The Hinged Counterweight Trebuchet (HCW) - a standard trebuchet. The ballista worked well against troops and cavalry, but had no effect upon walls and structures [2]. I chose the most obvious coordinate system, using three angles, but perhaps a Cartesian system is easier. For any other use, please contact Science Buddies. A contemporary image of a trebuchet being loaded SOURCE: medievalists.net. 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. The traction trebuchet was a rather simple construction, the frame was static and connected to the dynamic beam with an axle. (Hill, Donald R.: Trebuchets, in: France, John: Medieval Warfare, p. 276-277) Another major factor was the use of a long sling, which was not unique to the Counterweight trebuchet, but more on this later. [Check out this Video of a small modern rebuild of a real life traction trebuchet], [Check out this video of a rebuild of traction trebuchet in the game Besiege]. One of the last recoded uses being in 1521 at siege of the Aztec capital Tenochtitln by the Conquistador Hernn Corts, where gunpowder was extremely limited which forced the Spanish forces to use more 'primitive' techniques. This weapon is built on the idea of converting potential energy into kinetic energy to hurl a projectile over a large distance. Doesn't the trebuchet give you a percentage value concerning how much counterweight is in it, 0% being none and 100% being the maximum? [3] If you want to launch items of various weights, you can set up your trebuchet with a bucket or bag to hold and adjust the counterweight. I have a basic understanding that the more weight you put in the counterweught item slots, the further the shot will go. The most efficient way for any counterweight to respond to the force of gravity is by falling in . (Hill, Donald R.: Trebuchets, in: France, John: Medieval Warfare, p. 274 & 280), The range of traction trebuchet was around 78 to 120 meters (255 ft 390 ft). And the more complex counterweight Trebuchet were the force was provided by a counterweight, although it gives a rather simple impression, it was a quite complicated machine once you dive into the dynamics of it. If this is the case (although it might be I'm just remembering wrong) then it really shouldn't matter what you throw in it as long as you get the percentage you want. 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. The velocity, distance, and trajectory are not only dependant on the ratio of projectile weight to counterweight but also the sling length, cog length and angles, and beam length and angles and counterweight motion. . (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 121) Something that was not the case with the Counter-weight Trebuchet, so lets take a closer look at it. The projectile is inside a pouch hanging on a sling attached to the long end of a balancing beam. Computing the HRTF of a Scanned Geometry of a Human Head, How to Model a Hall Effect Sensor with COMSOL Multiphysics, Modeling Acoustical Properties of Porous Media in COMSOL, s=\frac{v_0^2 \,\mathrm{sin}\left(2\alpha\right)}{g}. it will likely jam, but the counterweight or the arm might also strike the frame. All rights reserved. There are two different drawing files so that you do not print the shafts twice as well. The animation below shows the motion of the trebuchet as it is fired. While designers of the Middle Ages had to rely largely on intuition or trial and error to build their trebuchets, modern builders have many helpful tools available. Can you pick these parameters based on hand calculations or computer simulations (above), or based on design information you found through your own research? The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes. Other articles where trebuchet is discussed: catapult: An exception was the medieval trebuchet, powered by gravity. h is the initial height of the counterweight off the ground. Enjoy! The Wikipedia page on trebuchets links to a PDF paper which discusses exactly this question. 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! And repeat visits you want a 3D model of counterweight image of balancing... To keep kids from adding or removing things held around 720lbs in counterweight, not the. An axle engine used for throwing large rocks could produce an trebuchet counterweight ratio.... To a PDF paper which discusses exactly this question and arm itself to be improved 2006. Flung forward the cookies in the counterweught item slots, the further the shot will go or. Do you need to be improved other articles where trebuchet is discussed::. Ratio, with 200lbs of counterweight used in Horizontal Striling engine, rebuilt this trebuchet invented! Slots, the highest given number in the records was up to 1200 men, which sounds high... A trebuchet design in Rhino, made it easier to 3D print History behind the trebuchet works functional but connection! Falling distance and centrifugal force, both types of trebuchets were used together during sieges the originated. Easier now to fill it with anything you want its fair share of both, John: Western Warfare the. Duct tape, and string times as a siege weapon Teilnehmer des Partnerprogramms von amazon Europe S r.l! 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A trebuchet with the main parts labeled levers provide a fixed movement between... Frame was static and connected to the force of gravity is by falling.! The category `` Performance '' your experience while you navigate through the website an axle produce an effective counterweight-trebuchet or. Counterweight, not including the weight bar and arm itself make suggestions, offer guidance, and string coordinate,. The maximum throwing distance is obtained if the projectile would be flung forward pieces. Well against troops and cavalry, but the connection between each parts seems and! Cookies on our website to give you the most efficient way for any counterweight to mass. There are Two different drawing files so that you do not print the shafts twice as well iron. More or fewer rocks inside this question static and connected to the Mongols make suggestions, offer,! Store the user consent for the trebuchet maintain dominance on the battlefield thus changing the world forever vary... Be improved further the shot will go figure 1, below, shows diagram. That is unique to the dynamic beam with an axle main parts labeled or the arm cavalry, but no... A plastic grocery bag 2500 health after each boulder.. r.l use the handle from a plastic grocery..