Catapults: History

CATAPULTS: HISTORY

Catapults 1

The US Navy is now moving to use Electro-Magnetic Catapult System (EMCS) on their aircraft carriers. The EMCS is replacing the Steam Compulsion System (SCS) that aircraft carriers have used for over 9 decades. These catapult siege engines are a dying breed, but let us find out the history of the catapult.

Where did the word catapult come from? A catapult comes from two Greek words "kata" and "pultos". "Kata" means downward and "pultos" refers to a small circular shield which was carried in battle (Catapults, nd). This formed the word katapultos and its meaning is "shield piercer". What is a catapult? A catapult is an engine that can store energy and then can quickly release this energy to fire a projectile (A brief history of the Catapult, nd). In order for a catapult to be an effective weapon, it must be too big for a person to carry and would require more than one person to operate. As with many inventions, the catapult was developed from the idea of the Crossbow.

The crossbow was invented as a handheld weapon and as the crossbow became more superior, it went from a belly-bow to a stand crossbow. The crossbows eventually became so large that they became something in their own right, the Catapult. The Chinese are believed to be the first to use a catapult sometime during the third and fourth Century BC. The type of catapult the Chinese used was an eight foot catapult that was much like a big crossbow. Even though this is considered a catapult, the catapults that were used in the Middle Ages have a swinging arm that holds a bucket to throw projectiles at the enemy from a distance and used mostly by the Greeks and Romans.

Catapults 2

As Castles became bigger and larger, the catapult systems also became bigger and larger. Catapults were used to help tear down the walls of castles. Catapults became a way to have an object travel from a distance to hit a target. This struck fear into many enemies that had to against the catapult. Being able to cause damage from a distance helped wear down enemies and destroy areas that the enemy could take cover behind. Castle walls were the main targets for the catapults to help gain entrance into the castle. How is the catapult built to do so much damage?

There are different types of catapults that were built by different countries and empires. The names of the popular catapults during the Middle Ages are The Ballista, The Mangonel, The Trebuchet, and The Siege Tower. A brief description of these are as follows:

The Ballista- The Ballista was similar to a Giant Crossbow and worked

using tension.

The Mangonel- Missiles were launched from a bowl-shaped bucket at

the end of the one giant arm of the Mangonel.

The Trebuchet- The massive Trebuchet consisted of a lever and a sling

and was capable of hurling stones weighing 200 pounds with a range

of up to about 300 yards. (Siege Weapons, nd)

There is also the Springald which is a type of Ballista and The Onager which is a type of

Mangonel.

There were four different sources that were used by the catapults to help propel the objects toward their enemy. These four are tension, torsion, traction and gravity.

Catapults 3

Tension powered catapults used a long arm that was pulled back and secured so that