When was the chinese repeating crossbow invented

Repeating crossbow. Edit source History Talk 0. ISBN The Holland Press, Ninth Impression, p. Categories Articles to be split from February Articles to be split Articles containing traditional Chinese-language text Articles containing simplified Chinese-language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from November Articles containing Korean-language text Weapons of China Articles incorporating text from Wikipedia Crossbows Chinese inventions Add category.

Cancel Save. Fan Feed. Universal Conquest Wiki. It has been suggested that this article be split into multiple articles. February This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia view authors. Its basic design has remained relatively unchanged until it fell out of use around in the early 20th century.

While Zhuge Liang made use of them, archaeological finds date back the invention at least 6 centuries before his time to the period of Chu. These military versions tend to be on the large side. Many of these smaller ones that have survived appear to be more suited for civilian self-defense. Some of these arrows were poisoned with the very potent aconite poison, making it a formidable weapon against intruders.

A bottle of aconite poison for a tiger trap type crossbow, collected in Ningbo, China, in Pitt Rivers Museum , accession number: Many a replica has been tested, and they often show that the weapon is neither very strong or accurate. While obviously lacking the accuracy of other archery gear, the lack of strength in these replicas is partly due to the abrasion of the mechanism but can also be contributed to the use of a somewhat light bow.

The bow of two slats of very thick-walled bamboo on this example, while I do not dare pull it all the way, surely exceeds 70 pounds in draw. This where most replicas are made with bows not more than 40 pounds. The heavy bow on this one gives credit to the claim by eyewitnesses that some examples used in the 's shot up to meters. Still, it wasn't hailed for its range, nor power.

In the Ming, they wrote:. To compensate for the latter, crossbowmen generally tipped the bolt heads with poison. Chris McNab is a military historian based in the United Kingdom. His latest work is Weapons of the U. Special Operations Command Osprey Publishing, This article appears in the Winter issue Vol.