Thursday, November 01, 2012

 

Where Did That Go?

My Da Vinci catapult is ready for action. It is a slightly modified version of the one designed by my engineering idol, Leonardo Da Vinci, back in the 15th century. The big difference between the Da Vinci catapult and earlier ones is that Leo used the energy of bent wooden beams to power the beast. My small model uses bamboo beams. Here's some photos of the first test shot. Naturally, Scruffy, Milky, Blu and Darcy had to be there to see how it worked. Scruff was the loader because he is the biggest of the others. His ammunition for this test was plasticine balls. Blu and Milky were the plasticine packers and passers-to-the-loader. Darcy and I cranked the beams to max and then I pulled the string that released the ratchet gear. The catapult arm swooshed over, faster than the eye could follow, and from somewhere near the top of the glass doors to the courtyard came a "thunk". Just as well it wasn't a ball bearing or one of Dad's fishing sinkers..... I thought we might get a range of a few metres, but instead the beast throws a 1cm ball of plasticine around 10 metres! Mum has banished catapult practice to the outdoors. Swooping magpies beware!

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