The ballista, plural ballistae, sometimes called a bolt thrower, was an ancient projectile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target. Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it worked by using two levers with torsion springs, made of twisted skeins of cord, rather than the tension bow of a crossbow. Early ballistae projected heavy darts or stone projectiles for siege warfare, and the design later developed into a smaller precision weapon called the scorpio. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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Ballista (Wikipedia)
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The ballista (Latin, from Greek βαλλίστρα ballistra and that from βάλλω ballō, "throw"), plural ballistae or ballistas, sometimes called a bolt thrower, was an ancient projectile weapon that launched either bolts or stones at a distant target.
In Field: Mechanical Engineering, Introduction
Developed from earlier Greek weapons, it relied on different mechanics, using two levers with torsion springs instead of a tension prod (the bow part of a modern crossbow).
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