Repeating crossbow

Repeating crossbow

A repeating crossbow is a crossbow where the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the bolt and shooting it can be accomplished with a simple one-handed movement while keeping the crossbow stationary. This allows a higher rate of fire than a normal crossbow. More complex ancient designs worked with a chain drive instead: there is a magazine containing a number of bolts on top of the bow, and the mechanism is worked by moving a rectangular lever forward and backward.

Contents

History

Chinese repeating crossbow (non-recurve version; ones used for war would be recurved)

The Chinese repeating crossbow (Chinese: 諸葛弩; pinyin: zhūgě nǔ; Wade–Giles: chu-ke nu; literally "Zhuge crossbow"; sometimes romanized as "chu-ko-nu") is a device with a simple design. Also known as the lián nǔ (simplified Chinese: 连弩; traditional Chinese: 連弩; literally "continuous crossbow"), the invention is commonly attributed to the strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD) of the Three Kingdoms period, but those found in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei Province have been dated to the 4th century BC.[1] Zhuge Liang improved the design of the repeating crossbow, and made a version which shot two to three bolts at once and was used in massed formations. For this reason, it was named after him.[citation needed] Other repeating crossbows fired as many as 10 bolts before exhausting the magazine.[2] The bolts of one magazine are fired and reloaded by simply pushing and pulling the lever back and forth.[3] Such action could fire 10 bolts in 15 seconds, after which the magazine would be reloaded.[4] The weapon used by the ancient militaries was developed into a composite-recurve variety for more power. The recurved repeating crossbow is generally still weaker than the regular recurved crossbow, and was mainly used for sieges or behind shield cover. Non-recurved versions of the repeating crossbow were often used for home defense. The repeating crossbow saw its last serious action in the China-Japan war of 1894–1895, where photographs show repeating crossbows as common weapons among Qing Dynasty troops. The basic construction of this weapon has remained very much unchanged since its invention, making it one of the longest-lived mechanical weapons.

The repeating crossbow was introduced into Korea by King Sejong (1418–1450), who during a trip to China saw the weapon and was impressed by its mechanism. In Korean it was called sunogung (Hangul: 수노궁; Hanja: 手弩弓).[5]

A more complex device was described in the works of the Greek engineer Philon of Byzantium. This siege engine, a repeating ballista, was called a Polybolos and was reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. Two flat-linked chains were connected to a windlass, which by winding back and forth would automatically fire the machine's arrows until its magazine was empty. The machine features the earliest recorded chain drive in the history of technology.[6]

In 2007, Chad Houseknecht made a modern-day repeating crossbow. The crossbow was made for a Discovery Channel-program, and was based on the Cho-ko-nu.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Lin, Yun. "History of the Crossbow," in Chinese Classics & Culture, 1993, No. 4: p. 33–37.
  2. ^ http://www.arco-iris.com/George/chu-ko-nu.htm
  3. ^ http://www.atarn.org/chinese/rept_xbow.htm
  4. ^ http://www.atarn.org/chinese/rept_xbow.htm
  5. ^ "쇠뇌 1.수노궁" (in Korean). 조선의 무기와 갑옷. 2004. p. 98. ISBN 89-8435-207-1. http://book.naver.com/bookdb/book_detail.php?where=pvidx_xml&bknu=0410035500&secnum=7&bid=1462421&menu=cview&query=. 
  6. ^ Werner Soedel, Vernard Foley: Ancient Catapults, Scientific American, Vol. 240, No. 3 (March 1979), pp. 124–125.
  7. ^ Chad Houseknecht's repeating crossbow

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Crossbow — This article is about the weapon. For other uses, see Crossbow (disambiguation). Sketch by Leonardo da Vinci, c. 1500 A crossbow is a weapon consisting of a bow mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, often called bolts or quarrels. The… …   Wikipedia

  • Military history of China before 1911 — Chinese military before 1911 Participant in wars involving China Active 2200 BCE – 1911 CE Leaders Chinese Emperor Area of operations China, Southeast Asia, Central Asia, and …   Wikipedia

  • Ballesta de repetición — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Funcionamiento de la ballesta …   Wikipedia Español

  • List of Berserk characters — The Berserk manga and anime series features a cast of characters designed by Kentaro Miura. The series takes place in a fictional version of medieval Europe. It centers around the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior, and Griffith, the… …   Wikipedia

  • History of crossbows — This history of crossbows documents the historical development and use of the crossbow.It is not clear exactly where and when the crossbow originated, but there is undoubted evidence that it was used for military purposes from the second half of… …   Wikipedia

  • Machine gun — [ thumb|200px|An illustration of later model 19th century Gatling gun. It was a multi barreled rotary machine gun fired via a manual crank, which mechanically loaded and primed cartridges from the hopper above the gun] : For other uses of the… …   Wikipedia

  • Zhuge Liang — Chancellor of Shu Han Born 181 Yangdu, Langya Commandery (present day Yinan County, Shandong) …   Wikipedia

  • List of characters in Berserk — This is a listing of characters in the Berserk universe.All subsequent names should be taken from the Dark Horse Comics translation when the relevant volumes are available.The Hawks (Original) =Guts= anime voices|Nobutoshi Hayashi|Marc Diraison,… …   Wikipedia

  • List of premodern combat weapons — Premodern combat weapons include include both ranged weapons and mêlée weapons weapons which, in general, existed before the invention of the true flintlock gun around 1610, or until the 1700 s for incendiary weaponscite book | title=Weapon: A… …   Wikipedia

  • Deadliest Warrior: Legends — is a fighting game developed by Pipeworks Software and published by 345 Games Spike Games. Based on the Spike documentary TV series Deadliest Warrior and the sequel to Deadliest Warrior: The Game, Deadliest Warrior: Legends allows players to take …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”