[CHAPTER VIII]
WAR ENGINES PAST AND PRESENT
A War Engine (Plate XIII). This piece of artillery was used at the time of the crusade of Richard I. It is a simple and interesting model to make. The sides (A B C D in Fig. 325) are built up of pieces of stripwood ¼ inch by ¼ inch, length about 3 inches, or the sides may be pieces of cigar-box. If made of stripwood, grooves can be filed in the two bottom pieces to make holes, E, when these pieces are glued together. A round rod passes through these holes to form a windlass. Two posts, F and G, ¼" × ½" × 3¼", are glued to the sides about 1½ inches from end, A C, as in figure; these must either have holes drilled through them for a rod of wood (or thick wire) or have circular grooves filed in the tops into which a rod can be glued.
Fig. 325
The sides a b c d and A B C D should be about 2½ inches apart, and are kept together by pieces of stripwood glued across the bottom. Make struts as in the figure to support posts F and G.
The beam H K may be made from a piece of stripwood, ½ × ½ × 5", filed to a round shape. Two pieces of wire, L L, are bent to form a fork and two hooks, M and N are bound firmly to one end with thread. The other end, K, has a small screw-eye screwed into it through which passes a wooden bolt to keep the rings of lead, O, from slipping off. These rings of lead are easily made from strips cut from a piece of sheet lead and bent round the beam. (A pair of old scissors should be kept for cutting lead, or a knife and hammer may be used.)
Now the beam H K must be fastened to rod P Q. This may be done in different ways. The simplest but least effective way is to bind the beam firmly in the middle to the rod with thread or elastic.