Meet the true test of geekdom. The item in the back is a floating arm trebuchet. Yes, a siege engine (albeit a modern design). You can click on the thumbnail to open a larger version of the picture.
Just in case we ever need to wage war on the neighbors, lol.
Mr. Maura is on the left and the Morganator on the right. They have dubbed the trebuchet “The Maltby Flinger.” It’s actually been living in the garage for several years but Mr. Maura took it out in the last few weeks after hearing about a pumpkin tossing contest not far from us. He stole the 550 line I had bought in Ft. Benning for the Joes to make a sling with and bought it a few new accessories since it was not originally designed to hurl an 8lb pumpkin.
The mad scientist expression is, I believe, deliberate. Either that or the help of the seven year old Morganator has finally stolen any brain cells remaining.
Come on, doesn’t everyone have a siege engine in their garage? Or driveway?
I will point out that I have so far managed to convince Mr. Maura that using it to launch fireworks would be a Very Bad Idea. Whether that continues to be the case, I cannot promise.
Mr. Maura insists I put up a picture of the sling he made as well.
Loading ...
DUCK!!! Sorry, that contraption just compels me to yell that… LOL
They are going to have so much fun. You have plenty of band-aids, right?
by Jennifer A. Ray October 1st, 2008 at 7:25 pmI love it!
by Erin the Innocent October 1st, 2008 at 7:38 pmI can soooo see Mr. Maura and M figuring out how to toss fireworks using that. LOL
You will have to tell me if my prediction comes true.
by Jo October 1st, 2008 at 9:14 pmPlease take pictures of this when they compete in the punkin chunkin.
by Lena Austin October 2nd, 2008 at 4:47 amI love it ! And am NOT going to show the DH. Boys and toys is too right.
Peggy
by Peggy October 2nd, 2008 at 5:32 amI love it! Looks like those two keep you hopping. We have pumpkin throws here too; guess there is an over supply.
What I really want to know is if those two have costumes to go with their machine…something fitting the time period of the invention…
Sandra
by Sandra October 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 amhttp://www.AspenMountainPress.com
LOL, Jennifer — you may not be too far off with them. One of the reasons I forbade testing in the road was that this is a sort of off-the-cuff sling pattern and may or may not actually work. I don’t want to be the victim of a failed experiment.
Jo - I’m sure you’ll be one of the first to find out. You’ll notice that being sick yesterday did NOT prevent work on the treb.
Lena - I’ll try to :)
Peggy - Be sure not to show your DH. I can only guess this is infectious.
Sandra - PLEASE don’t suggest that to them. Since I’m the household sewer (albeit only sometimes) I’d get roped in and not only don’t I think cranking costumes out by Saturday would be nearly impossible but I need to write, lol.
by Maura Anderson October 2nd, 2008 at 6:19 amOh good God in Heaven! I’m torn as to show this to Hubby or not. We’ve been working on inventions and inventors with the children this semester and I can see horrible, horrible things happening if I showed this to any of the males in the house……. But then, it’s so freaking cool, would be fun to try and make, a good lesson for the boys…
As for costumes, yeah, hubby would have insisted on those to begin with, lol.
by Alana October 2nd, 2008 at 6:36 amAlana - you can search the internet for “Floating Arm Trebuchet” and find some designs. I think at one point I found a design for a desktop one. That’s probably quite a bit easier to store, lol.
The interesting thing about this design is that it’s a modern design on an old kind of siege engine. Maybe the kids want to know the difference between ballistas, trebuchets, catabults, onagers, etc :) Think of the homework! Maybe duck while you think of it…
A friend of mine bought me a little desktop onager (sorta like a catapult) that I use to shoot M&Ms at my co-workers on occasion.
by Maura Anderson October 2nd, 2008 at 6:40 amOhhh, launching fireworks sounds cool…but then you have to get timing down so they explode in the air, right design…a Catherine wheel would be awesome in the air LOLOL!! Come on Maura, ya gotta let them try it
So, what kind of distance do you think an 8lb pumpkin will get? Has Mr. Maura and the Morganator done any testing yet?
by Nikita October 2nd, 2008 at 8:21 amSherrilyn Kenyon needs to see this one. A couple of years ago her boys wanted to build one of these things. Don’t know if they ever got around to it. Bet they’d be green with envy if they got a load of your boys’ toy!
by Robin Snodgrass October 2nd, 2008 at 10:27 amOoooo! I want one.
by Rob Graham October 2nd, 2008 at 6:47 pmEveryone needs a trebuchet. Personally, I want a desk-sized one to hurl things at my co-workers. Watermelons make great projectiles too.
by suzanne lazear October 3rd, 2008 at 7:27 amLMAO! that’s awesome
by Jet Mykles October 4th, 2008 at 9:45 am