Crossbow

[1] The stock (a modern term derived from the equivalent concept in firearms) is the wooden body on which the bow is mounted, although the medieval tiller is also used.

When the trigger blade is pulled, its notch disengages from the sear and allows the latter to drop downwards, which in turn frees up the nuts to pivot forward and release the bowstring.

These roller nuts were either free-floating in their close-fitting hole across the stock, tied in with a binding of sinew or other strong cording; or mounted on a metal axle or pins.

[1] Composite bows started appearing in Europe during the 13th century and could be made from layers of different material, often wood, horn, and sinew glued together and bound with animal tendon.

There is an optimum weight for bolts to achieve maximum kinetic energy, which varies depending on the strength and characteristics of the crossbow, but most could pass through common mail.

[14] Bronze crossbow bolts dating from the mid-5th century BC have been found at a Chu burial site in Yutaishan, Jiangling County, Hubei Province.

A Western Han mathematician and music theorist, Jing Fang (78–37 BC), compared the moon to the shape of a round crossbow bullet.

The trigger nut also had a long vertical spine that could be used like a primitive rear sight for elevation adjustment, which allowed precision shooting over longer distances.

The trigger mechanism from one crossbow can be installed into another simply by dropping into a tiller slot of the same specifications and secured with dowel pins.

[8] Around the third century BC, King An Dương of Âu Lạc (modern-day northern Vietnam) and (modern-day southern China) commissioned a man named Cao Lỗ (or Cao Thông) to construct a crossbow and christened it "Saintly Crossbow of the Supernaturally Luminous Golden Claw" (nỏ thần), which could kill 300 men in one shot.

[37][38] According to historian Keith Taylor, the crossbow, along with the word for it, seems to have been introduced into China from Austroasiatic peoples in the south around the fourth century BC.

[42] The Khmer also had double-bow crossbows mounted on elephants, which Michel Jacq-Hergoualc'h suggests were elements of Cham mercenaries in Jayavarman VII's army.

[45] The earliest crossbow-like weapons in Europe probably emerged around the late 5th century BC when the gastraphetes, an ancient Greek crossbow, appeared.

[47] The device was described by the Greek author Heron of Alexandria in his Belopoeica ("On Catapult-making"), which draws on an earlier account of his compatriot engineer Ctesibius (fl.

[55] At the same time, Greek fortifications began to feature high towers with shuttered windows in the top, presumably to house anti-personnel arrow shooters, as in Aigosthena.

Joseph Needham argues against the existence of Roman crossbowmen:[57] On the textual side, there is almost nothing but passing references in the military historian Vegetius (fl.

Perhaps the best supposition is that the crossbow was primarily known in late European antiquity as a hunting weapon, and received only local use in certain units of the armies of Theodosius I, with which Vegetius happened to be acquainted.

Later crossbows (sometimes referred to as arbalests), utilizing all-steel prods, were able to achieve power close (and sometime superior) to longbows but were more expensive to produce and slower to reload because they required the aid of mechanical devices such as the cranequin or windlass to draw back their extremely heavy bows.

Usually these could shoot only two bolts per minute versus twelve or more with a skilled archer, often necessitating the use of a pavise (shield) to protect the operator from enemy fire.

Genoese crossbowmen were famous mercenaries hired throughout medieval Europe, whilst the crossbow also played an important role in anti-personnel defense of ships.

Later, similar competing tactics would feature harquebusiers or musketeers in formation with pikemen, pitted against cavalry firing pistols or carbines.

[63] The accuracy of late 15th century crossbows compares well with modern handguns, based on records of shooting competitions in German cities.

[66] In West and Central Africa,[69] crossbows served as a scouting weapon and for hunting, with African slaves bringing this technology to natives in America.

[70] In the Southern United States, the crossbow was used for hunting and warfare when firearms or gunpowder were unavailable because of economic hardships or isolation.

[74] Early in the war, actual crossbows were pressed into service in small numbers by both French and German troops to launch grenades.

[75] A range of crossbows were developed by the Allied powers during the Second World War for assassinations and covert operations, but none appear to have ever been used in the field.

[79] In the United States, SAA International Ltd manufacture a 200 J (150 ft⋅lbf) crossbow-launched version of the U.S. Army type classified Launched Grapnel Hook (LGH), among other mine countermeasure solutions designed for the Middle Eastern theatre.

[83] Whitehall launched an investigation, though the Department of Trade and Industry established that not being "on the military list", crossbows were not covered by export restrictions.

[89] The Indian Navy's Marine Commando Force were equipped until the late 1980s with crossbows with cyanide-tipped bolts, as an alternative to suppressed handguns.

[91] The disadvantage is the greater weight and clumsiness to reload compared to a bow, as well as the slower rate of shooting and the lower efficiency of the acceleration system, but there would be reduced elastic hysteresis, making the crossbow a more accurate weapon.