![]() The strings for a crossbow are typically made of strong fibers that would not tend to fray. Traditionally the prod was often lashed to the stock with rope, whipcord, or other strong cording. ![]() Furthermore the thick prods are a bit less efficient at releasing energy, but more energy can be stored by a crossbow. This leads to a higher draw weight in order to store the same amount of energy. The crossbow prod is very short compared to ordinary bows, resulting in a short draw length. As steel became more widely available in Europe around the 14th century, steel prods came into use. These composite bows, made of several layers, are much stronger and more efficient in releasing energy than simple wooden bows. Composite bows are made from layers of different material-often wood, horn and sinew-glued together and bound with animal tendon. The bow (called the "prod" or "lath" on a crossbow) of early crossbows was made of a single piece of wood, usually ash or yew. Bows could be kept and ready to shoot for some time with little effort, allowing crossbowmen to aim better. Nuts were made of antler, bone, or metal. Removable or integral plates of wood, ivory or metal on the sides of the stock kept the nut in place laterally. These "roller nuts" were either free-floating in their close-fitting hole across the stock, tied in with a binding of sinew or other strong cording, or mounted on a metal axle or pins. They often also have some form of strengthening internal "sear" or trigger face, usually of metal. This nut has a perpendicular center slot for the bolt, and an intersecting axial slot for the string, along with a lower face or slot against which the internal trigger sits. A later design implemented a rolling cylindrical pawl called a "nut" to retain the string. This rod is usually attached perpendicular to a rear-facing lever called a trigger or "tickler". To shoot this design, a vertical rod is thrust up through a hole in the bottom of the notch, forcing the string out. The earliest designs featured a slot in the stock, down into which the string was placed. ![]() 3.2 Modern military and paramilitary useĪ crossbow is a bow mounted on a stick (called a tiller or stock) with a mechanism in it which holds the drawn bow string.In modern times, although largely supplanted by firearms in most roles, crossbows are still widely used for shooting sports, hunting, and when shooting in relative silence is an important consideration. This led to the ascendancy of large mercenary armies of crossbowmen (best exemplified by the Genoese crossbowmen), and the eventual death of the heavily armored aristocratic knight as armies became progressively dominated by conscripts equipped with increasingly-powerful ranged projectile weapons. In contrast, the crossbow was the first projectile weapon to be simple, cheap and physically-undemanding enough to be operated by large numbers of conscript soldiers, thus enabling virtually any nation with sufficient coin to field a potent force of ranged crossbowmen with little expense beyond the cost of the weapons themselves. The invention of the crossbow caused a major shift in the role of ranged weaponry among armies, as the traditional bow and arrow had long been a specialized weapons system which required a considerable degree of lifetime training, physical strength and expertise to operate with any degree of efficiency in many cultures, despite being usually drawn from the common class, bowmen were considered a separate and superior caste, as their archery skill-set (similar to many horseman cultures) was essentially developed from birth and impossible to reproduce outside a pre-established cultural tradition, which many nations lacked. Historically, crossbows played a significant role in the warfare of East Asia, Europe and the Mediterranean. The medieval crossbow was called by many names, most of which derived from the word ballista, a torsion engine resembling a crossbow in appearance. A crossbow is a type of bow consisting of a horizontal limb assembly mounted on a stock that shoots projectiles, called bolts or quarrels. ![]()
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