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Petraria Arcatinus

Petraria Arcatinus: Bow Powered Rock Thrower

Roughly translated, Petratria Arcatinus means “bow powered rock hurler” and at the Siege of Acre during the Third Crusade the King of France had a Petraria nicknamed Malvoisin or “Bad Neighbour” which succeeded in demolishing a long section of the city wall (the siege lasted from August 28, 1189 until July 12, 1191).

The Companions of the Longbow built one to take part in one of Channel 4’s 2006 Scrapheap Challenge Roadshows.  Instead of rocks though the machine was supposed to hurl, or to use the correct term, wang, a Wellington boot as part of a sixteen team competition.

Swap the Wellington boot for something a bit more aerodynamically rock-like, say a cabbage, and the Petraria should really shows it’s stuff.

After chatting to the Scrapheap technical experts we’re hoping to modify our Petraria so it can lob even heavier missiles...

The official name for the Companions of the Longbow Petraria Arcatinus is Bad Neighbour 2.  The unofficial name during the build though was Big Bob.

Click here to see more pictures of Bad Neighbour 2

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Vital Statistics

9 feet / 2.74 meters

4  feet / 1.23 meters

7 feet 6 inches / 2.29 meters

estimated 2200 pounds / 1 metric tonne

estimated 2000 pounds / 907 kilograms

7 feet 5 inches / 2.26 meters

58 inches / 1.47 meters