05-11-2014, 05:59 PM
Quote:The text sounds really odd in French, it's translated from something (Arabic I guess ?)Thanks for your efforts, Tim. As I said above, it's Claude Cahen's 1948 translation of the twelfth-century al-Tarsusi text in the Bodleian MS Hunt 264.
Quote:Bottom line it seems to describe a canon-like engine that uses tension instead of gunpowder (and dart instead of cannonballs).In other words, a stand-mounted crossbow! :whistle:
Quote:Take a (hollow ?) cylinder, proportionate to the size of the arc, and twice the length of the arrow. When the cord is locked all the way back, there should be a lock there to catch the cord. That lock should be made of iron and copper, and should be proportionate to the size of the arc.The hollow cylinder is the stock of the crossbow, which has a similar name in the Greek and Roman treatises. Hollow, because there's a groove for the arrow to lie along. The "arc" is, of course, the bow, and the "cord" is the bowstring.
Quote:It (I can't tell if it's the lock or cylinder) should be pierced halfway crosswise, and a nail should be introduced through that hole, That nail should be attached on both side of the slit made into the cylinder. The hook should be able to go up or down through the cylinder. When it (not sure what) is taken away, the cord is released and that sends the arrow downrange in proportion to the tension of the cord.Visualise how the Greek/Roman arrow-shooting mechanism works, and you can see what's going on here. It's the component called the "claw" or the "hand", which grips the bowstring until it's time to release the arrow.
Quote:The arrow should be proportionate to the arc and its size. There are some that are one "coudée" long, with the thickness of a spear, and whose iron part weighs as much as one "ratl of Egypt", more or less depending on the arc. The arrow is placed into the cylinder in front of the cord.Again, imagine the Greek/Roman arrow-shooter. The arrow is always proportionate to the power of the bow (in a non-torsion device) or the torsion-frame (in a torsion device). The "coudée" is a cubit, which is half a yard or one-and-a-half feet.
Quote:If you desire to place on the median transverse (=traverse médiane ?) three arcs in the same fashion, you should allow for an opening for each to let the arrow go through. The cord is tightened with "something circular" (tour seems out of context, but it seems like some sort of a wheel), operated by a single man.The author now envisages a triple-crossbow, mounted on the same stand and spanned or drawn by a winch, presumably so that all three are primed simultaneously.
