catapult

A catapult is a device used to throw or hurl a projectile a great distance without the aid of explosive devices—particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines.We typically think of a catapult as something that was used in the Middle Ages to destroy the walls of a castle although it has been used much before that, designed in many different ways over centuries.  Various types of catapults were used by the Chinese, Greeks and Romans.  The Catapult was a large military machine that was used to hurl objects such as rocks and spears. These catapults could generate tremendous force and hurl large objects over long distances. The earliest writings of catapults were that they originated in China around the 3rd and 4th Century BC and this type of early catapult was much like a big crossbow. They stood around 8 feet tall. True that these are catapults but the thing that makes a catapult into the machine we generally consider to be authentic is the development of the swinging arm. This is the arm that holds the bucket and projectile.