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Needs a Topic. Wiki User Trebuchets work by the princible of leverage. Trebuchets are massive catapults that were used in the Middle Ages in siege warfare.

Proper war trebuchets were as big as a modern house and needed many soldiers to crew them. It is thought that the first trebuchets were invented in the 5th Century BC. They were used by the Mohists in China.

Asked in Military Equipment Who used trebuchets? People in the middle ages. Asked in Technology What are facts about counterweight trebuchets? Asked in Ancient Wars What is the trajectory weapon called that was used to fling rocks?

A ballista. Asked in Castles What weapons are used to ruin castles? Asked in Movies What movies have trebuchets? The oldest documentation of traction trebuchets date back to China in the 4th century BC. The first record of counterweight trebuchets comes from an Islamic scholar in AD.

It depends on which sort of trebuchet. Traction trebuchets, operated by men pulling ropes, appeared in ancient China centuries before Christ; they appeared in Byzantium in the sixth century and spread to Europe. Trebuchets using ballast -- the classic trebuchet -- came into use during the twelfth century in Europe. Asked in The Battle of Hastings Where were trebuchets made? They were made near forests as there would be a large supply of wood. The trebuchets would not be made at their castle as their soldiers would be tired of pushing the trebuchet to the enemies castle and by the time they would get to their enemies castle they would be too tired to fight and would most likely lose the battle.

Trebuchets are large catapults used to hurl rocks. Much used by the Roman armies and subsequently right up to the Middle ages. They were usually built in the field, and to many ingenious designs. Asked in Castles How could castles be attacked? Siege machinery; trebuchets, catapults, rams and the like.

Asked in The Battle of Hastings Why were trebuchets used? Asked in Castles Why where trebuchets made? To throw large stones and break down castle walls. Asked in Medieval Warfare What materials were used to build trebuchets in medieval times? Trees and ropes were used.Free Newsletter.

Sign up below to receive insightful physics related bonus material. It's sent about once a month. Easily unsubscribe at any time. Join me on Patreon and help support this website. The payload could be thrown a far distance and do considerable damage, either by smashing down walls or striking the enemy while inside their stronghold. The trebuchet was preferred over a catapult due to its greater range capability and greater accuracy.

A trebuchet works by using the energy of a falling and hinged counterweight to launch a projectile the payloadusing mechanical advantage to achieve a high launch speed.

For maximum launch speed the counterweight must be much heavier than the payload, since this means that it will "fall" quickly. The motion of a trebuchet during launch can become fairly complicated, and cannot be fully understood using intuition alone.

Therefore, one must analyze trebuchet physics in full in order to make accurate predictions. In some designs a guide chute is used to guide the sling along and support the payload until the speed is great enough to hold it in the pouch alone. This will be discussed in more detail in the analysis section. The beginning of the launch is illustrated in the figure below.

types of trebuchets

As you can see, the counterweight pivots around a much shorter distance than the payload end. The advantage of this is that the payload end of the beam reaches a much higher linear velocity than the counterweight end of the beam. This is the principle of mechanical advantage, and is what allows the payload to reach a high launch velocity. However, because the counterweight pivots around a much shorter distance, its weight must be much greater than the weight of the payload, to get a high launch velocity.

However, increasing the mass of the counterweight beyond a certain point will not help, since the limiting speed of the falling counterweight is free-fall speed. At this point the ring which is connected to the sling and loops around the finger for support slips off and the payload is launched. The figure below illustrates the trebuchet at the release point. As the beam rotates clockwise due to the falling counterweightthe payload experiences centripetal acceleration which causes it to move outwards since it is unrestrained.

This results in a large increase in linear velocity of the payload which far exceeds that of the end of the beam to which the sling is attached.

TREBUCHET - Historical Development

This is the heart of trebuchet physics and is the reason a trebuchet has such great launching power. However, it is worth noting that the physics of the trebuchet is not unique to the trebuchet. For example, in a golf swing the same basic physics applies. In fact, you can think of a trebuchet as an upside down golf swing.

Thus, the physics of a trebuchet is very similar to the physics of a golf swing. The optimal trebuchet design is one that launches the payload the farthest horizontal distance.

Trebuchet Physics

This makes sense intuitively since range is a key factor when staging an attack on an enemy. The challenge then, is to find the optimal design to maximize the range.

This is not a trivial task given that there are many variables one can adjust. Fortunately, such an optimization is greatly simplified given that trebuchet physics can be modeled with computers, saving a lot of time.

According to Donald B.There are three historical types of trebuchets: the traction trebuchet, the fixed counterweight trebuchet, and the swinging, or hinged, counterweight trebuchet, using two types of motive force: man power and gravity. Fixed Counterweight Trebuchet Side view of a fixed counterweight trebuchet with wheels in the cocked position ready for firing. Hinged Counterweight Trebuchet Side view of a hinged counterweight trebuchet being wound down into the cocked position using a wheel while archers provide covering fire for the trebuchet crew.

Save with Plan Multi-Packs. Trebuchet Store Main Page. Assembled Trebuchet Model. Model Trebuchet Kits. Step by Step Plans and Instructions. Medieval Trebuchet. Roman Ballista. Tennis Ball Trebuchet. Golf Ball Trebuchet. Stirling Trebuchet. Highland Trebuchet. Statistics Catapult. Repeating Crossbow. Onager Catapult. Archimedes Water Screw. Mangonel Catapult. Multi-Pack Plans Deals. How Does a Trebuchet Work? Human Powered Trebuchet. Simple Slingshot to the Trebuchet.

Hybrid Trebuchet. Human Catapult. Catapult Design Plans. Types of Catapults. Leonardo da Vinci.Trebuchet is a type of siege weapon available for use in The Elder Scrolls Online.

Trebuchets are tough and have a long range. Due to their long radius, they can shoot enemies behind walls easily and can even hit the Inner Postern Walls of keeps if they are placed correctly.

Among all the siege weapons, the Cold Stone Trebuchet does the highest damage to walls and other structures for each hit, with around 5, damage per hit, but it is somewhat rare.

Firepot and Iceball Trebuchets are better for attacking enemy players than keep walls, but they are outnumbered by Ballistae due to their faster reload time. All types of trebuchets have a long reload timer and cannot shoot targets in close range, unlike the Ballista and the Catapult. Trebuchets are ideal for attacking due to their long range and very high damage, but it is recommended for trebuchets to be accompanied by ballistae or catapults when attacking as trebuchets cannot fire in close range.

Fandom may earn an affiliate commission on sales made from links on this page. Sign In Don't have an account? Start a Wiki. Firepot Trebuchet — Deals flame damage over time to enemies.

Iceball Trebuchet — Deals cold damage to enemies and reduces their movement speed for a few seconds. Cold Stone Trebuchet — Deals extremely high damage to buildings, structures and enemies — deals the highest initial damage out of all siege weapons.

These weapons can only be obtained from Dark Anchor chests. Cold Fire Trebuchet — Deals Coldfire damage to enemies and very high damage to structures. Usefulness Edit Trebuchets are tough and have a long range. Categories :. Cancel Save. Stream the best stories. Start Your Free Trial. Try Now.I have a youtube channel with over Videos! Hi, Thanks for visiting my website. My name is Will and if you have questions or would like to contribute projects or ideas you can contact me.

The exact beginning of trebuchets is not known but we do know that they first started appearing around the 12th century. There were similar siege engines that date back as far as the 6th century but these were human powered rather than gravity powered with counterweights.

What we officially recognize as a trebuchet is powered by a counterweight, has a sling and a long pivoted throwing arm. One unusual thing abou the trebuchet is that it is wholly an invention of the medieval period rather than the ancient period.

Most other types of siege engines were invented and used in ancient times. The trebuchet first appeard in the medieval period. And it was much needed during this time because castles, castle walls, and fortifications were at this time very strong. Lesser siege engines were ineffective against them. And the trebuchet ruled supreme for a few centuries until it was eventually replaced by gunpowder and cannons.

The trebuchet were formidable against even the strongest fortressess. They could hurl larger stones over longer distances and with tremendous force.

Part of the problem with tracking down early trebuchet use is the muddying of the whole family of siege engines.

Often times chroniclers of battles and sieges didn't have any knowledge of siege engines. And this meant that they could be assigned wrong names. It is probably a fact that a chronicler of a battle might make mention of siege engines and catapults yet they were trebuchets rather than catapults and vise versa.

And another reason for difficulty in identifying the use of trebuchets in the middle ages is that they were often referred to as "slingers" because of the long sling attached. But, "Slingers" was a term that also was used to refer to soldiers with slings and it was also given to Mangonels which were catapults that had slings.

There are some possible early mentions of siege engines that could be trebuchets. He used a variety of siege engines including some machines called "Triboke" which were three armed machines thought to be trebuchets.

There are three major things about trebuchets that make them unique. The use of a long throw arm on a pivot, the use of a counterweight and the use of a sling. And the First reliable mentions of these characteristics occurred in the 12th and 13th centuries.Please note: This post contains amazon affiliate links.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There are basically two types of trebuchets, the traction trebuchet, which was operated by men pulling ropes and the counterweight trebuchet, which provided the necessary force by using a counterweight.

It is assumed that it is a Chinese invention and made its way to Europe via the Arab world around the 9th century. On one end of the beam was a nest, sling or other element for holding the payload attached and on the other end several ropes for men pulling down the beam in order to provide enough force to propel the payload.

types of trebuchets

The beam was divided into two arms by the axle. Hill, Donald R. According to Donald Hill the most detailed account for traction trebuchets are from Chinese sources and he mentions the following numbers that are also similar to Arabic sources, but take them with a large grain of salt: Hill, Donald R. Yet, the highest given number in the records was up to men, which sounds ludicrously high.

Thus, although it was a rather simple machine, the handling required quite some training and coordination. The range of traction trebuchet was around 78 to meters ft — ft. Whereas the payload was quite varied from 1 kg up to 59 kg 2 lbs to lbs. 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.

But the question of the exact provenance of the invention, whether in Europe or in Islam, is not resolved. The Counterweight Trebuchet was more complex, instead of men pulling down the beam, another axle with a counterweight was fixed on the end of the beam. Furthermore, a mechanism for pulling down and fixating the long arm was added, which was usually a winch. The beam ratio of the Counterweight Trebuchet was also around or From what we know it seems that counter-weight trebuchets were used with heavier missiles.

From a 14th century siege Tlemecen marble missiles were recovered, the largest had a weight of kilograms lbs. There are other accounts for other sieges giving a value of about kg lbs.

But the usual weight was probably more around 45 to 90 kg to lbs. 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. He notes:. 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.

Whereas the traction trebuchet had the force only applied for a short amount of time.Physicists recognize six types of simple machines: levers, pulleys, screws, wheel and axle systems, wedges and inclined planes.

A simple machine is any simple device that makes work easier, such as the wedge-end of a nail, which is easier to hammer into a board than the flat end. Depending on the trebuchet type, it may use anywhere from two to six simple machines.

[Weapons 101] Trebuchet – Traction & Counterweight – Medieval Equipment

A trebuchet is a type of catapult, which is a device that can hurl an object much farther than a human can thrown it.

The first documentation of trebuchet use dates to second century China, though catapults have been around for some time prior to the Roman Empire.

types of trebuchets

Trebuchets are best-known for their role in castle attacks during the medieval period: The attacking army could position it far enough from the castle that archers couldn't hit them, and they could hurl practically anything over the walls.

The primary component of a trebuchet is a Type-1 lever -- the same type of lever as a see-saw. On one end of the lever, called the "load arm," the trebuchet operator secures the object that he wants to hurl.

This end of the lever is tied down to the base; on the other end, the "force arm," the operator hoists a large weight. When the operator releases the tie-down holding the load-arm, the weight falls rapidly, sending the load arm flying rapidly upward and hurtling the object when it reaches the vertical position. To hoist the weight on the force arm of the lever, the operator must use a simple machine such as a pulley or a wheel and axle system.

A pulley is actually a form of a wheel and axle system, but both systems allow the operator to lift a heavy weight much more easily than he could by simply using his own two hands. While the operator does the same amount of work, these simple machines allow him to perform the work over a longer distance, thus requiring less exertion, or force, and making it feel easier.

Trebuchets could launch stones of up to pounds, but this would require a counterweight of almost 2, pounds, which required using a lot of pulleys. Most trebuchets are held together with screws or nails, which are a type of wedge. Trebuchets are almost universally constructed out of wood, and while a small trebuchet science project may hold together with glue, a larger model requires a more solidly fastened frame. Both wedges and screws are actually forms of inclined planes.

A nail's inclined plane works to separate the material, then holds it fast with the friction of its shaft. A screw is an inclined plane wrapped in a spiral, which converts rotational force into linear force and holds objects in place with its ridges. In Amanda Gronot began her professional career as a writer for a research company. She helped ghostwrite a book for a prominent CEO and has had essays and translations published in the prestigious classics journal "Helicon. About the Author.

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