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Description
In the case of the catapult, da Vinci didn’t invent the catapult, he came up with a way to make it better. Where catapults typically involve putting tension on the catapult arm so when it is released, it throws whatever is in its basket off toward’s its target. da Vinci came up with a method of putting tension on a leaf spring mounted around a drum. The ends of the spring arms were tied with lengths of rope to the drum so that as the drum is turned, the springs tightened. The catapult arm is attached to one end of the drum and when the tenion is released, the drum spins whipping the catapult arm over and sending its projectile downrange.
Academy has released this educational kit of Leonardo Da Vinci’s catapult design though it was made to look like the leaf spring design without as much danger in playing with the catapult. More on this later.
Assembly of the is completely snap-together – no glue, paint, or batteries required. This project literally took a few minutes though a careful eye to the instructions is required to ensure that the various parts are properly oriented so that the catapult will work as intended.
Instead of leaf springs for tension and ropes (or string) wrapped around the drum, Academy designed the leaf springs to be fixed and the tension for the catapult comes from rubber bands that replace the ropes. The principal is similar, but the device is safer as it doesn’t achieve the projectile velocities that might injure someone. Nevertheless, don’t shoot this at anyone!
