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They were made of timber. There were two sources of energy for the mangonel; cantilever spring and torsion spring. The torsion spring was more effective than the cantilever spring, as it provided more energy. The torsion spring was located in the axle, i.e. the bottom of the arm and crossbar, and was basically a bundle of twisted ropes. The arm was put in the middle. When the rope that held the arm down was released, the sides of the ropes were twisted, pulling the arm up at a great speed and launching the projectile. Projectiles launched from a mangonel could cover up about 1,300 ft of ground.

A cantilever spring was a plank of wood perched at the crossbar. A short rope was slung around the arm, and the ends knotted around the ends of the plank of wood. However, the restraining rope held down the rope, and the plank of wooden was fixed around the crossbar, and so when the restraining rope was released, the cantilever spring would snap back into place and the force of it would spread the second rope, rotating the arm and launching the projectile.

Mangonels were made by the Romans, and introduced to England in the year 1216, in a siege.

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13y ago

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