From: | Sebastian Wiers m0ng005e@*********.com |
---|---|
Subject: | bow and other details |
Date: | Tue, 25 Apr 2000 11:31:28 -0500 |
:> > Tell you all they want, I am NOT dealing in recurve bows here
:> > Alfredo which
:> > apparently you are (English Longbows are Recurve ... Bows as
:> > outlined in the
:> > books currently are NOT recurve, they are Compound style....massive
:> > engineering difference).
:>
:> I'm pretty sure English longbows are not recurve. I'll have to check. I
:> believe Turkish bows (IIRC, about the size of a short bow) are recurve
:> and out shoot English Longbows. It's been a while and I really don't
have
:> a source to look it up in anymore ...
:
:One last thing, and then the whole topic goes into the Kill File for me
here.
As it should have for the rest of us long ago...
But anyhow, I changed the thread title, so I hope you get this.
I did some research on catapults and other mechanical siege engines a
while back, and this really cool book form U Chicago I read was written in
1850 I came across detailed various types of bows as well as various siege
engines.
A bow with re-curve is any bow that, when unstrung, curves FORWARDS of
its handle. This is uncommon with wooden bows, because wood just isn't that
flexible, but is common with middle Eastern (including Turkish) bows. The
bows detailed in the book looked like a "C" when not strung, and a more like
a "D" (with the top and bottom left edges curling back forwards a bit) when
strung. English longbows were more or less straight when not strung,
according to this book- they may have curved forwards a bit, but at most
only enough to look like a "(", not a "C".
The middle eastern recurved bows detailed in the book generally have a
back (the part that faces the user) made of horn and a belly (the part that
faces the target) made sinew laid into layers of glue, rather like a modern
composite. Horn is very compressible and sinew is very elastic, so in order
to store the maximum possible energy, the "ends" of the bow are made to work
in the fashion of coil springs- they are relatively flat and thin, and
"unwind" their curve as the string is pulled back. The handle of the bow is
deep, and it does not flex- it could theoretically be made from any
material, as long as it was strong enough to take the strain of the two big
springy levers it had attached at its top and bottom. In the book, I
believe it was generally hardwood covered with sinew, but in Shadowrun, it
could be a hollow composite shell.
:Compound bows (pulleys and wheels and axles) are a recent invention
You right about compound bows being modern, but that is mostly because
its only modern materials and engineering that makes them practical.
Compound bows apply a lot of stress to a material that flexes only slightly
(in bow terms), and uses pulleys and cams to magnify that flex and apply it
as bowstring motion. Siege engines sometimes used similar principals.
Napoleon built siege engines- the technology is not that long obsolete.
:... ALL
:BOWS prior to them are basically recurve, included in this is the English
:Longbow.
Not according to this English guy in 1850 who collected bows form around
the world. He seemed quite impressed with these middle eastern bows as
being based on a concept that the English had not really taken advantage of.
:Remember, Recurve are single piece items and putting something into
:*THEIR* handle would alter their structural integrity, as the all portions
of
:that design are part of the flexation power involved.
Not really, no. From what I read, and the diagrams the book had, the
handle of a recurve bow doesn't flex any more than that of a compound bow,
an in fact looks rather similar (at least for the grip portion and a few
inches on either side there of). It needed to be a contiguous part to avoid
introducing concentrations of stress (the wood then tapered into the bulk of
the bow), but that can be dealt with with modern materials. OTOH, with the
invention of compound bows, recurve bows are obsolete- their performance is
better, and they offer better "user feel" because they can achieve that
performance with shorter draws and use cams to reduce "resting pull". The
force applied by a recurve bow when it was at full pull was HUGE, and
archers who used them used thumb rings to retain the string (which also
benefits range by giving a cleaner release, but again, is not really needed
with compound bows due to camming).
: Compound Bows (such as
:those used in SR at this point) have a multi-jointed structure in which the
:central hand grip does NOT flexate at all.
I wouldn't say " jointed", but I agree with your point. The metal or
fiberglass or whatever "arms" of the compound bow are the only part that
should flex and store energy. Their is a fair bit of stress on the middle
portion, but it is a static load.
Mongoose
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