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Chapter III
The General Dimensions of Crossbows
The formidable Siege Crossbow of about 18 lbs. weight,
which was only employed in the attack or defence of a fortress, though
it could be supported and aimed by a man of very strong physique, was usually
discharged either as it rested on a parapet, or when pivoted on a small
tripod.
Not long since I was fortunate in obtaining from Nuremberg
a fine example of one of these large weapons.
The woodwork of its stock was naturally much damaged by
age and neglect, and this, and the lock and other fittings, I found it
necessary to renew ; all of which I had carefully done by mechanics in
my workshop. The steel bow is, however, the original one and of as good
temper as ever, though it was made in Genoa over four hundred years ago.
The bow is 3 ft. 2 in. long, and at its centre 2 1/2 in.
wide and I in. thick.
Shooting this crossbow from the shoulder, with a bolt
3 oz. in weight and 14 in. in length, I have attained a range of 460 yards,
and at 60 yards I have sent a bolt right through a deal plank 3/4 in. thick.
By suspending the crossbow in a perpendicular position
from a beam, and then attaching heavy weights to a rope fastened to the
centre of its bowstring, I was able to determine its strength of pull.
The total weight required to draw the string of its bow 7 in., or from
a state of rest to the catch of the lock, is 1,200 Lbs. or over half a
ton. This, of course, gives the power of the crossbow in question, just
as 50 Lbs. represents the strength of an ordinary longbow, or the weight
required to draw its string the length of its arrow.
Notwithstanding its immense strength of pull, by the aid
of its portable little fifteenth-century windlass, the string of this crossbow
can be stretched to the catch of its lock by the fingers of one hand, showing
the great power and cleverly designed efficiency of the windlass of a mediaeval
crossbow.
It is, perhaps, worth recording here, that in the autumn
of 1901 I shot several bolts with this weapon across the Menai Straits,
from the battery of Fort Belan to Abermenai Point; this was done in the
presence of a number of
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