Trebuchet: An ancient siege engine used for hurling
large rocks (and occasionally more macabre items like dead animals
and POW's). Invented in China around the 4th century B.C. and
introduced to Europe around the 6th century A.D. Considered
the ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction during its day, it was
still in use up through the 16th century A.D., long after the
introduction of gunpowder.
My son accompanied me to Roaring Camp in order to do a little
research and some test firing for an upcoming
Cache Event. Things were going pretty well, and I had
even included a .30 cal ammo box for a new cache for the
Event. Our little Trebuchet was performing admirably, but a
few minor adjustments were still needed. I left my son to
stand watch over our belongings while a made a short run back to
the car for some additional water balloon supplies.
When I returned to the launch site, I was horrified to see my
son loading up the basket of the counterweight with every available
stone, brick, and piece of heavy looking debris available on the
ground. I was just about ready to stop him when, to my
surprise, he let loose on the trigger. In a clean graceful
arc, I could see a greenish black box hurtling through the air
towards the dense trees in the distance. It only took me a
second to realize that what he had launched was the .30 cal ammo
box that I had intended to hide for the Event. I tried to
follow the path of the ammo box's flight, but it soon receded into
the distance.
My first thought was to run into the
woods and see if I could find the box by just following the
path of the flight, but my son suggested that I climb into the
sling of the Trebuchet and follow the path in a more literal
sense. To humor him, I climbed aboard with a predictable
disastrous conclusion.
A little shaken, but none the worse for wear, I hobbled my way
back to the car to call my wife for help. Now I must say at
this point that anybody that has read my DNF's on
Black Box will already know how inept I am at math. My
wife, on the other hand, is astonishingly good at it. I
figured that she would be able to find an elegant solution to the
problem. Sure enough, in a matter of minutes she had
calculated the trajectory and I was able to map a projection on my
GPS. Below is a list of the information about the Trebuchet
and the bearing that the ammo can took in its flight.
I eventually found the ammo can, half submerged in the
soft receiving earth. I liked the area so much, that I left
it where it was. Hopefully you can find it too.
Trebuchet Construction:
Main launching arm is six feet in length and weighs five
pounds. The axis is five feet from the projectile side, and
one foot from the counterweighted end. A 440 lb. weight hangs
down from the short end by a one foot length of metal on a
pivot. The sling that holds the projectile is four feet
in length. The ammo can weighs one pound. The stand for
the pivot arm is three feet high.
Release of the ammo can:
The projectile leaves at an angle with the ground = 43 deg .
It leaves the sling 0.7000 s after the trigger is pulled.
When last seen, the ammo can was heading on a bearing of 140
degrees from true North.
Brief Suspension of Reality:
There is no friction in the Trebuchet and the ammo can lands at
the same elevation as the take off . The ammo can
miraculously has no air resistance, and does not roll, bounce or
richocet when it lands.
Now a word from our sponsors:
The area in which you'll be searching for this cache has some
fairly dense tree cover. In other words, your GPS may act
pretty flaky. My best EPE was in the 20-30 foot range.
I'd just like to point out here that the cache is a couple of steps
off of a trail. There's no need to tear up the landscape, and
in fact, if your calculations are within 100 ft of my calculations
I'd just as soon give you more details about the hiding place than
have the area trashed. Feel free to email me with your best
guess.