Repeating crossbow

Repeating crossbow
A repeating crossbow excavated from a Chu Tomb
Traditional Chinese	諸葛弩
Simplified Chinese	诸葛弩
Literal meaning	"Zhuge [Liang] crossbow"
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Zhūgě nǔ Wade–Giles Chu1-ko2 nu3 IPA [ʈʂúkɤ̌ nù] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Jyū-got nóuh Jyutping Zyu1-got3 nou5 Southern Min Hokkien POJ Chu-kat ló͘ Tâi-lô Tsu-kat lóo

The repeating crossbow (Chinese: 連弩; pinyin: Lián Nŭ), also known as the Zhuge crossbow (Chinese: 諸葛弩; pinyin: Zhūgé nǔ, previously romanized Chu-ko-nu) due to the design upgrade contributed by Three Kingdoms-era strategist Zhuge Liang (181—234 AD), is an ancient Chinese 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: there is a top-mounted magazine containing a reservoir of bolts that are fed by gravity, and the mechanism is worked by simply moving a rectangular lever forward and backward.

The repeating crossbow has a very simple and rugged design. The basic construction of the weapon has remained very much unchanged since its invention, making it one of the longest-lived mechanical weapons. The bolts of one magazine are fired and reloaded by simply pushing and pulling the lever back and forth. In that one movement, a bolt would be dropped into place, the string tensioned, and then the bolt released. Another bolt would then be ready to take its place from the magazine above. This action however put the weapon's string under heavy wear since it had forces straining it from both above and below. The lifting of the magazine especially, put severe pressure on the string. The bow string consists of animal sinew twisted into a cord of suitable strength, often reinforced with quills from bird feathers, preferably those from swans or ducks.

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. The Chinese repeating crossbow had a maximum range of 120 meters, with an effective range of 80 metres (260 ft). Non-recurved versions of the repeating crossbow were often used for home defense.