A repeating crossbow is a crossbow where the separate actions of stringing the bow, placing the bolt and shooting it can be accomplished with a simple one-handed movement while keeping the crossbow stationary. This allows a higher rate of fire than a normal crossbow. More complex ancient designs worked with a chain drive instead: there is a magazine containing a number of bolts on top of the bow, and the mechanism is worked by moving a rectangular lever forward and backward.
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The Chinese repeating crossbow (Chinese: 諸葛弩; pinyin: zhūgě nǔ; Wade–Giles: chu-ke nu; literally "Zhuge crossbow"; sometimes romanized as "chu-ko-nu") is a device with a simple design. Also known as the lián nǔ (simplified Chinese: 连弩; traditional Chinese: 連弩; literally "continuous crossbow"), the invention is commonly attributed to the strategist Zhuge Liang (181–234 AD) of the Three Kingdoms period, but those found in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei Province have been dated to the 4th century BC.[1] Zhuge Liang improved the design of the repeating crossbow, and made a version which shot two to three bolts at once and was used in massed formations. For this reason, it was named after him. Other repeating crossbows fired as many as 10 bolts before exhausting the magazine.[2] The bolts of one magazine are fired and reloaded by simply pushing and pulling the lever back and forth.[3] Such action could fire 10 bolts in 15 seconds, after which the magazine would be reloaded.[4] The weapon used by the ancient militaries was developed into a composite-recurve variety for more power. The recurved repeating crossbow is generally still weaker than the regular recurved crossbow, and was mainly used for sieges or behind shield cover. Non-recurved versions of the repeating crossbow were often used for home defense. The repeating crossbow saw its last serious action in the China-Japan war of 1894–1895, where photographs show repeating crossbows as common weapons among Qing Dynasty troops. The basic construction of this weapon has remained very much unchanged since its invention, making it one of the longest-lived mechanical weapons.
The repeating crossbow was introduced into Korea by King Sejong (1418–1450), who during a trip to China saw the weapon and was impressed by its mechanism. In Korean it was called sunogung (Hangul: 수노궁; Hanja: 手弩弓).[5]
A more complex device was described in the works of the Greek engineer Philon of Byzantium. This siege engine, a repeating ballista, was called a Polybolos and was reputedly invented by Dionysius of Alexandria in the 3rd century BC. Two flat-linked chains were connected to a windlass, which by winding back and forth would automatically fire the machine's arrows until its magazine was empty. The machine features the earliest recorded chain drive in the history of technology.[6] The Chinese Repeating Crossbow was somewhat weak compared to other crossbows, so the arrows were often dipped in poison to cause death from even mild wounds.[7]
In 2007, Chad Houseknecht made a modern-day repeating crossbow. The crossbow was made for the Discovery Channel-program "Weapon Masters", and was based on the Cho-ko-nu.[8]
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