Huntington — World history teacher Chris Mosher recently had some help illustrating a lesson on medieval warfare when freshman Tim Basak and his father Dennis volunteered to bring their handmade trebuchet to Gateway Regional High School for a live demonstration.
Mosher agreed and one day ealier this month the duo assembled the floating-arm trebuchet that they designed and built for a competition at the Middlefield Fairgrounds.
As they set up the device, the two described the research, math and science calculations they needed in the design process. After Googling “floating arm trebuchet,” watching videos and reading articles, they loaded their ideas into a CAD (computer aided design) program and worked from there.
They selected the floating arm design for its efficiency and were able to test their calculations on a virtual trebuchet website. Their device is built to project up to 160 pounds, although Dennis reported that they had seen video of steel trebuchets that could throw cars.
Most of the time, they send small items — such as potatoes and a small pumpkin — flying from a sling made from the leg of an old pair of blue jeans.
As students gathered, the team loaded their weights (which had to be loaded and reloaded for each and every launch) and sent the first potato onto Booster Field, after lining up the trebuchet to launch between the far right flag pole and the scoreboard. The first potato hit the fence but precisely on target. In the second launch, Dennis and Tim adjusted the device to arc higher and clear the fence, which it did (hitting the stand of the scoreboard).
Trebuchets were used during the Middle Ages as siege engines. They were originally designed as traction machines with men pulling ropes to provide the force needed to send a projectile towards a target.
The design was later improved to use counterweights to provide the force needed to propel boulders and other heavy items into walls and forts. More commonly seen in Christian and Muslim areas of the Mediterranean during the 12th century, the use of trebuchets continued for 300 years — even after the discovery and use of gunpowder in weaponry.
So far, the Basak trebuchet remains undefeated in two years of competition at the Middlefield Fair, although it has been the Fair’s only entrant since the competition started