12-10-2004, 04:30 PM
Hagen,<br>
The repeating machine was a dart-shooting catapult, not intended for knocking down walls, just men...<br>
Philon mentions as a drawback of this design that is wasteful to put a lot of darts at the same place but, like the repeating Chinese crossbow, you don't need to aim the following darts at the same point, you can quickly aim to another target while the machine reloads almost 'authomatically'.<br>
A real drawback of both the Greek repeating catapult and Chinese crossbow was lack of power when compared to similar simple machines.<br>
<br>
Theo,<br>
About the Roman arcuballista, the depicted hunting weapons show thick bows and I tend to think that they were of composite nature (you know, the wood is sandwiched between a sinew and a horn layer) but of simple curvature. Bows are expensive, even using modern fiberglass instead of sinew!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>
The repeating machine was a dart-shooting catapult, not intended for knocking down walls, just men...<br>
Philon mentions as a drawback of this design that is wasteful to put a lot of darts at the same place but, like the repeating Chinese crossbow, you don't need to aim the following darts at the same point, you can quickly aim to another target while the machine reloads almost 'authomatically'.<br>
A real drawback of both the Greek repeating catapult and Chinese crossbow was lack of power when compared to similar simple machines.<br>
<br>
Theo,<br>
About the Roman arcuballista, the depicted hunting weapons show thick bows and I tend to think that they were of composite nature (you know, the wood is sandwiched between a sinew and a horn layer) but of simple curvature. Bows are expensive, even using modern fiberglass instead of sinew!<br>
<br>
Aitor <p></p><i></i>
It\'s all an accident, an accident of hands. Mine, others, all without mind, from one extreme to another, but neither works nor will ever.
Rolf Steiner
Rolf Steiner
