A summary of the history, construction and effects in warfare of the projectile-throwing engines of the ancients, with a treatise on the structure, power and management of Turkish and other Oriental bows of mediæval and later times

by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey

This spindle passes through the centre of the roller and through the sides of the frame.

The small cogged wheels, with their checks, which are fitted to the ends of the spindle GG, prevent the roller from reversing as the arm is being wound down. ([Fig. 6], p. 12.)

HH. The hollows in the sides of the frame which receive the lower tenons of the two uprights. Between the tops of these uprights the cross-beam is fixed against which the arm of the catapult strikes when it is released. ([Fig. 6], p. 12.)

KK. The hollows for the lower tenons of the two sloping supports which prevent the uprights, and the cross-beam between them, from giving way when the arm recoils. ([Fig. 6], p. 12.)

Fig. 9.—One of the Pair of Winches of a Catapult. Scale: 1/16 in. = 1 in.

I. Surface view of one of the winches and of the thick iron plate in which the socket of the large winding wheel of the winch revolves.

II. View of a winch (from above) as fitted into one of the sides of the frame of the catapult. One end of the twisted skein may be seen turned round the cross-bar of the large wheel.

III. Side view of the large wheel of a winch.

IV. The cross-bar of one of the large wheels. These pieces fit like wedges into tapering slots cut down the barrels, or inside surfaces, of their respective wheels.