11/24/2023 0 Comments Automatic crossbow launcherOnce the string is held firm by the trigger mechanism, the windlass is then rotated clockwise pulling the mensa back and drawing the bow string with it. At the very front, a metal lug at the front trigger the latching claws into catching the drawstring. When loading a new bolt and spanning the drawstring, the windlass is rotated counterclockwise by an operator standing on the left side of the weapon this drives the mensa forward towards the bow string. ![]() The mensa itself was a sliding plank (similar to that on the gastraphetes) containing the claw latches used to pull back the drawstring and was attached to the chain link. The mechanism is unique in that it is driven by a flat-link chain connected to a windlass. The polybolos would have differed from an ordinary ballista in that it had a wooden hopper magazine, capable of holding several dozen bolts, that was positioned over the mensa (the cradle that holds the bolt prior to firing). Philo left a detailed description of the gears that powered its chain drive (the oldest known application of such a mechanism ) and that placed bolt after bolt into its firing slot. 220 BC) encountered and described a weapon similar to the polybolos, a catapult that could fire again and again without a need for manual reloading. The polybolos was not a crossbow since it used a torsion mechanism, drawing its power from twisted sinew-bundles. The polybolos (the name means "multi-thrower" in Greek ) was an ancient Greek repeating ballista, reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria (a 3rd-century BC Greek engineer at the Rhodes arsenal, ) and used in antiquity. ![]() ![]() Ancient Greek siege engine Arsenal of ancient mechanical artillery in the Saalburg, Germany left: polybolos reconstruction by the German engineer Erwin Schramm (1856–1935)
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |