Bernhard Kast is a participant in the Amazon.com.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.ca. It has many of the advantages of a floating arm trebuchet, but with fewer parts, less friction, and a unique projectile launch path. Some errors that we had in measuring could have happened because we laid the meter tape on the ground in a stationary position and no matter how far to Repeat steps 4 7 to get two more trials on this arm ratio setting, 9. The Chinese needed so much power for the trebuchet that they had up to 250 solders pulling on ropes to operate the machine [6]. One of the main difference to the traction trebuchet is the fact that a lot of force is applied on the beam, when the trebuchet is readied and held in position. With this power, a trebuchet could destroy even fortified walls quite easily and quickly replaced catapults as the weapon of choice on the medieval battlefield. and still have enough energy to throw the projectile at a high velocity. This advancement, allowed more consistent fire, longer distances and thus, more destruction. The graph displays the range of projectile as the y-axis and the ratio as the x-axis. The Hinged Counterweight Trebuchet (HCW) - a standard trebuchet. In addition to unequal weights, the trebuchet uses leverage. trebuchet. What real-world things (like air resistance, or how exactly the payload is released from the sling) were difficult to account for in your calculations or simulations? Pieces: 166+ pcs Assembly Time: 4h Assembled Size: 14.9x7.8x8.2 in Recommended Age: 14+ Material Description Trebuchets were made of wood, bound together with leather straps and metal fixtures keeping the large throwing arm from becoming a projectile itself. Proudly created with Wix.com, Weapons That Changed The World: The Counterweight Trebuchet, 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. Modified counterweight to allow for other ballast other than coins. To further analyse this phenomenon I have created another graph that keeps a constant counterweight mass and but changes the ratio. Science Buddies Staff. Ancient Weapon Inspires Student.. The potential energy can be calculated by W=mgh where m=mass of counterweight being lifted, g=standard gravitation9.81 m/s 2 and h=the height to which the counterweight is lifted to (or rather, height difference). fit. If you are interested in learning more about multibody dynamics modeling, check out these additional blog posts: Wondering why War Wolf was also called Ludgar? Accuracy increased with the elimination of the major human element, but the machine still suffered from heavy jerking, keeping it from being perfect. What are the advantages of a floating arm trebuchet? The machine is generally associated with hurling boulders at a castle wall to bring it down, but trebuchets have also been used to throw Greek fire and wreak all kinds of havoc. No support or raft needed. in measurements that we had was in the timing. . http://imgur.com/CntygEE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trebuchet. He forced the Scots to remain inside the castle and restarted his siege. [4] Trebuchet.com. Traction trebuchets used human labor instead of a counterweight for power [2]. 99. . [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. Figure 3, below, shows a sketch that can help you start thinking about how to set up the problem, and the variables involved. released and stopped it when it landed, which could have been 60 M away. Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features. The easiest counterweight to attach is a small bucket. The frame supports all the other parts, and . The ratio of counterweight mass ( M = 2000 kg) to projectile mass ( m) is 100 The counterweight hangs from a beam of length L4 = 1 m The swinging arm is 6 meters in total length with L1 = 1 m The length of the sling is L3 = 3 m A schematic of the counterweight trebuchet model. The beam was divided into two arms by the axle. There are many different factors that can affect the range of a trebuchet; for example, the mass of the counterweight or the length of the lever arm. Thus, the counter-weight trebuchet had to be constructed with a stronger beam, which reduces its effectiveness quite considerably. The Chinese invented the trebuchet in 300BC, the French were . Figure 1, below, shows a modern reconstruction of a trebuchet. An important part of whipper performance is the beam ratio, the ratio of long arm to short arm. The counterweight-to-projectile weight ratio is 133-to-1, and the pivot arm is divided at its axle so the long end is 3.75 times the length of the short end. (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 119; Hill, Donald R.: Trebuchets, in: France, John: Medieval Warfare, p. 271-272) It was the dominant form of artillery in Western warfare during the period of 1000 to 1300 AD. 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 A trebuchet is a medieval stone-throwing war engine. Every city occupied by Mongols in Central . The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. Now you will build the trebuchet's arm. Adult supervision is required when building and operating a trebuchet. wind could have caused us errors by blowing our projectile off to one side, (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 121) The counterweight was filled with stone, sand, lead or other heavy material. 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 working principle of a trebuchet is simple. 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. guessed the distance. Chinese Siege Warfare: Mechanical Artillery & Siege Weapons of Antiquity An Illustrated History Internet: http://authors.historyforum.com/liang_jieming/chinesesiegewarfare>. Trebuchet Essay. By changing the relation weight-counterweight, you change the momentum, causing variations on the resulting force magnitude, being able to control the speed the stem will move, stronger or weaker shots. A 1:1 sling length to throwing arm ratio builds up the best amount of speed for the projectile. Our hypothesis was not supported because the optimum arm ratio seemed to of your trebuchet be? Enjoy! [Siege of Acre (1189-1191)]. With its massive size came a long set up time and usually, a large setup cost, sometimes taking weeks if not months to construct. where v0 and are the velocity and angle at the time of projectile release, respectively, and g is the gravitational acceleration. Hurl those stones. Your internet explorer is in compatibility mode and may not be displaying the website correctly. The design originated in medieval times as a siege weapon. Three parts. For centuries, the trebuchet was the most powerful war machine in the world. Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors. How much weight can a trebuchet hold? Despite the multitude of builds, very little has been published about. A golf ball projectile (1.62 oz) should fire best with 13.46 lbs of counterweight - and a 14 lb bowling ball should have 1862 lbs pulling on the other side of the arm to reach maximum distance. It is sometimes called a counterweight trebuchet or counterpoise trebuchet, to distinguish it from an earlier weapon called the traction trebuchet, which employed pulling men working the mechanism. As the projectile is swung around by the swinging arm, it describes a nontrivial motion of varying velocity. Below are some examples of different materials used as ballast. A f2k trebuchet has an arm that rides on wheels, which roll forward on rails, while the weight bar running through the arm falls down in a vertical groove. I created a new swing arm, but the one in the MOving parts Olympic Weight Adapter for CEM60 Counterweight Bar. The traction trebuchet, which was a rather simple design were the force for firing was provided by men pulling down ropes. 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. The pivoting arm would then stop and the projectile would be flung forward. The weight of the counterweight must be much greater than 10 times. because at 5:1, there was not enough power to lift the arm and the projectile 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}. The force that the catapult needed to launch the projectile came from the manipulation of twisted ropes [3]. The trebuchet was preferred over a catapult due to its greater range capability and greater accuracy. 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. This is why more than one wheel is used. We launched pumpkins and bowling balls around 10-15 lbs at distances of 300+ feet. This abbreviated engineering project idea will help you get started with three different ways to investigate what factors can increase the range of a trebuchet: You can decide whether you want to try just one, two, or all three of these approaches. To do better, you'll want a sling. With starting and stopping points this uncertain, there could have been Toystub Trebuchet Kit Puzzle 3D Wood Puzzle Wooden Models for Teen. Its a cheaper version of the Counterweight Trebuchet (even cheaper than a Mangonel) with lower range, attack and hit points, in return for higher rate of fire, movement speed . [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]. und Partner des Werbeprogramms, das zur Bereitstellung eines Mediums fr Websites konzipiert wurde, mittels dessen durch die Platzierung von Werbeanzeigen und Links zu amazon.de Werbekostenerstattung verdient werden knnen. Whatever you decide you want to launch with your trebuchet, your counterweight should be from 100 to 133 times the weight of your projectile. In 1304, on one of his campaigns to defeat Scotland, King Edward I besieged Stirling Castle and ordered his engineers to build a giant trebuchet. We tried 100x Ironstone ore (10.00 "weight") and Heavy Armor, but none of it seemed to work better. Before the addition of the sling, the crew had to move the entire trebuchet to change the direction of the trajectory. For any other use, please contact Science Buddies. This means that when the counterweight drops a little bit, the throwing arm and the projectile move a lot. Scrohammer happily hurls these wee glass spheres of doom a surprising distance of 40 feet. At one end of the beam, a sling is attached to hold the projectile. 2020 by History University. Doesn't the trebuchet give you a percentage value concerning how much counterweight is in it, 0% being none and 100% being the maximum? War Wolf proved its worth, and the rest is, as they say, history. Christopher Carrillo was born in Monterey Park, CA. I needed about 5 lbs so I used 2 plates and adapters and cable-tied them together. Our design was very stout and held around 720lbs in counterweight, not including the weight bar and arm itself. of the sides twice. The propped counterweight was very similar to the hinged counterweight, except the weight was forced to make an angle with the arm instead of hanging straight down. Trebuchet (My version) New axes and counterweight, new printable axes, and modified the counterweight. You can vary the weight on the back easily by putting more or fewer rocks inside. 24 dimes should be placed in the counterweight. Hill states about the Counterweight Trebuchet: The catapult consisted of a solid base with a pivoting arm that would be pulled down and locked into place [1]. Thanks. If you get stuck, you may need to consult a physics textbook, ask your physics teacher for help, or do your own internet search for "trebuchet physics." All weapons have their pros and cons with the trebuchet having its fair share of both. Launches 25 feet. Why is it a complicated design? (France, John: Western Warfare in the Age of the Crusades 1000-1300, p. 124), Note that trebuchets were not only used in the offense, quite on the contrary, there were also used effectively by defenders. 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. Press question mark to learn the rest of the keyboard shortcuts. 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 . But the usual weight was probably more around 45 to 90 kg (100 to 200 lbs). Japanese Fortifications and Defense Organization in World War 2, [Tanks 101] Armor Protection 1920-1980 Features and Characteristics. The trebuchet would eventually be the biggest catapult type weapon ever constructed and bore a name that fit such a beast. The lead attached to the NOVA-built, fixed-weight trebuchet weighed a hefty six-and-one-half tons. Our Experts won't do the work for you, but they will make suggestions, offer guidance, and help you troubleshoot. Of course, the hanging CW trebuchet sacrifices counterweight fall distance for this efficiency. Now, one drawback of the Traction Trebuchet was that the men operating the machines had a varying pull on the ropes, thus the firing range was likely changed from shot to shot even without accounting for exhaustion. that being the 1:3 ratio (a trebuchet setup where the load arm is three times greater than the effort arm). [7] Encyclopedia Britannica. John France notes: Our team of volunteer scientists can help. If you search online, there are many different plans and designs for building a trebuchet. This machine appears to have been invented somewhere in the Mediterranean area in the late twelfth century, and to have spread outward very rapidly from its point of origin into norther Europe and western Islam. This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. Although, the counterweight-trebuchet was quite a feat in engineering, its influence on warfare was limited and the balance between offense and defense was not altered significantly. 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. 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]. 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Was very stout and held around 720lbs in counterweight, not including weight. Release, respectively, and help you troubleshoot, [ Tanks 101 ] Armor Protection 1920-1980 Features Characteristics... More around 45 to 90 kg ( 100 to 200 lbs ) of your trebuchet be contact Science Buddies and! Traction trebuchets used human labor instead of a floating arm trebuchet operating a trebuchet the hanging CW sacrifices! Do better, you & # x27 ; s arm for firing was provided by pulling. An Illustrated History Internet: http: //authors.historyforum.com/liang_jieming/chinesesiegewarfare > in measurements that we had was in the...., the trebuchet in 300BC, the crew had to be constructed with a stronger beam, a sling attached! Plans and designs for building a trebuchet our design was very stout and held around 720lbs in,... To throw the projectile sling is attached to hold the projectile move a lot the... 2, [ Tanks 101 ] Armor Protection 1920-1980 Features and Characteristics in measurements that had.: Mechanical Artillery & siege Weapons of Antiquity an Illustrated History Internet: http: >. The trebuchet having its fair share of both, CA needed to launch the projectile remain! Wee glass spheres of doom a surprising distance of 40 feet where the load is! Lbs ) modified counterweight to attach is a small bucket of both 10. Seemed to of your trebuchet be pivoting arm would then stop and the projectile at a velocity. Stop and the projectile this means that when the counterweight their pros and cons with the having. ( My version ) new axes and counterweight, not including the weight on back!