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Pumpkin Chucker (Trebuchet)
The Trebuchet (pronounced treb-yuh-shay) was first constructed 12th century in Europe as a war siege engine that could throw boulders at castle walls. A huge arm with counter weights on one end was set on a large wooden frame and could throw boulders hundreds of feet. The advantage was that they could demolish the castle wall, outside the enemy's bow and arrow range. These engines were very accurate and powerful. Trebuchets became obsolete when gun powder and other larger, more deadly machines were invented.
At the Nelson Farm, our Trebuchet has a huge 20 foot arm and a 1000 pound counter weight. We call it the PUMPKIN CHUCKER FLINGER THINGER. We have lots of fun flinging pumpkins over a large oak tree and into the lake.
Come and see the Trebuchet in action. Who knows? Maybe you'll want to build your own! (It seems that after seeing our Trebuchet, some schools are constructing their own scale models to learn more about physics.)
