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Catapults

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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 the basket could be loaded up with an object or objects to be thrown. This type of source was used to help knock down castle walls and this type of catapult had wheels to make it mobile. Torsion powered catapults used ropes that were cranked to pull back the basket. The rope would twist and get tighter to help form the energy needed to propel the objects once released. The force could do damage to castle walls and take out more than a few soldiers. Traction powered catapults would use people as the power source. The men would bring down the shorter end of the long beam or arm, causing the longer end of the arm to flip up, causing the basket to loose it’s projectile towards the intended target (Tevnane, nd). The Trebuchet used traction and the Trebuchet struck fear into many of enemies with the sheer about of weight it could throw and the distance it could throw the object. Gravity powered catapults basically use gravity to hurl projectiles. A gravity powered catapult is swiveled in the middle. A counter-weight is on one end and a basket or sling in on the other end. The basket end was pulled down and when released would cause the counter-weight to drop and the basket would fling the projectiles. Thus the gravity would bring the counter-weight down to help gain speed to fling the objects. The end of these catapults would come in the fourteenth century with the invention of gunpowder and artillery. This made these types of catapults obsolete but are there other forms of catapults still being used in 2011?
Catapults 4

Aircraft carriers have used a catapult to help get aircrafts up to speed when being launched from a ship since 1915. For decades, steam was the main source of compulsion to help generate the pistons with the power and strength to launch the plane off the carrier (How Aircraft, 2004).
The steam-driven catapult system can boost a fighter from 0 to 165 miles an hour in less than two seconds. The SCS is being replaced by the EMCS on aircraft carriers. The EMCS can go from 0 to 150 miles an hour in less than a second. The EMCS will be monitored by a computer and will know exactly when a fighter needs more speed within the launch sequence. The other forms that the author believes are forms of catapults would be cannons, missile launchers, and tanks. Today’s warfare is more advanced than it was in the Middle Ages and more destruction is capable with the type of weapons that are used. The author feels that there are other forms of modern catapults that go from bombs being dropped from planes to missiles being launched from the decks of Navy ships. The catapults might be different than from the Middle Ages but they are designed to cause destruction.

References

Rilkoff, M. (2011, march 1). Weapon History. Retrieved may 15, 2011, from ebscohost: http://web.ebscohost.com.proxy.devry.edu/ehost/delivery?sid=6aafb67b-dc92-406a-a426-0

Catapults. (nd). Retrieved May 15, 2011, from Middle Ages: http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/catapults.htm

A Brief History of the Catapult, (nd), Retrieved June 1, 2011, from http://www.ezinearticles.com/?A-Brief-History-of-the-Catapult&id=453363

Tevnane, Aimiliona, Baintighearn. (nd), Catapult History and Modern Day Construction. Retrieved June 1, 2011, from http://www.midrealm.org/mkyouth/links/catapults.htm

How Aircraft Carriers Catapults Work?, (2004), from Electronic Aviations: http://www.electronicaviation.com/articles/Military/184

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