Outdoor Hockey....

Following the lead of Michigan and Michigan State, the Canadiens and Oilers have agreed to play an outdoor hockey game at Commonwealth Stadium, in Edmonton, in November... The game has been approved by the NHL and the head of the Players' Association has also indicated that the game can go on...

[espn.go.com]

Since reading about the Michigan - Michigan State game two years ago I have occasionally wondered how a Cornell-Harvard game at Schoellkopf Field would fare.

Well, for one thing, you'd need an impressive array of slinghots, trebuchets, catapults, and potato guns to get any sort of aquatic creatures onto the ice...

Only in the freakin' Ivy League would you get a post on a hockey forum that refers to "trebuchets", not to mention have people who even know what it is.

It makes one proud.

JH

ummmm...I know I can just look it up...but I feel the need to post this...

uhhhh...what's a trebuchet?

It's one of those lovely machines that was used to hurl stones (and, I suspect, other heavy or burning objects) into and against the doors and walls of fortified positions. There was a show on NOVA that talked about these, among other "ancient" weapons. Fish would probably have to be weighted to get the appropriate distance. THAT would be interesting....

Oops. If I remember, historians puzzle over the exact design. Maybe the engineers here know about this....

Basically a big counter-weighted arm that flings things when released.

It can't move without being disassembled and is only available in the Imperial... oh wait. That's in Age of Kings.

[Q]It can't move without being disassembled and is only available in the Imperial... oh wait. That's in Age of Kings.[/Q]

Yeah, but get a few and it destroys a castle in like 10 seconds.

I always was a bit confused about the difference between a trebuchet and a catapult. At some point I had the impression the thing you usually see in the movies as a catapult was actually a trebuchet. (Incidentally, it also looked rather inefficient, since firing it always seemed to involve cutting a rope with your sword, which seems like it would make it difficult to fire a second time.)

Actually, if you're a fan of Junkyard Wars on The Learning Channel you may have seen one in action. I believe that a trebuchet uses a counterweight where a catapult just uses the tension in the rope, but don't quote me on that.

You don't cut the rope, you release it with some sort of latch. The wheel you see on the bottom of the picture is used to take the slack out of the rope and pull the counterweight to the raised position. Release the latch, the weight drops, firing the projectile.

JH

Pretty sure that distinction is right Jeff.

As for cutting the rope in a movie... would it be dramatic to show a guy releasing a latch?

Yep - a catapult uses a spring of some kind (wound rope is pretty typical) and a trebuchet uses a counterweight. I have no idea which was developed first or which was ultimately more effective - there would definitely be benefits and detriments to both.

Jeff Hopkins '82 wrote:

Only in the freakin' Ivy League would you get a post on a hockey forum that refers to "trebuchets", not to mention have people who even know what it is.

It makes one proud.

JH

Fuck. At MIT, they could probably build one for you the same day....

Oh wait. MIT. Hockey Fora. Never gonna happen. Nevermind.

[Q]Oh wait. MIT. Hockey Fora. Never gonna happen. Nevermind.[/Q]

Is that supposed to be an uncalled-for shot at Kyle?

Actually, I read a web page which said that the trebuchet was developed later and pretty much made the catapult obsolete. The heavy counterweights could impart more energy to the projectile than a tensioned rope, allowing them to fire heavier objects from further away.

"We can build this giant badger, and..."

JH

A ballista would probably be more efficient for the weight we're talking about. Think giant crossbow...

CUlater '89 wrote:

[Q]Oh wait. MIT. Hockey Fora. Never gonna happen. Nevermind.[/Q]

Is that supposed to be an uncalled-for shot at Kyle?

No. Not at all. It was a uncalled for shot at the Beaver's athletic prowess.