If you live in Western WA state, or BC, you are cordially invited to the fourth annual Harvest Festival and Pumpkin Pitch in Burlington, WA on Saturday, Oct 14. Public viewing at 10:00 A.M., hurling starts at 11:00. World records were set the past two years.

http://www.burlington-chamber.com/harvestfestival/

Actually if you're free tomorrow, (Friday the 13th!), come on by for setup and test day. If you'd been there last year you'd have seen my machine collapse on it's one and only attempt of the day. (It was fixed and got 3rd place the next day.) Also on Friday last year a sixty foot monster treubuchet managed to hit a warehouse about 1/4 mile downrange! Come one, come all!

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

I'd love to, but I don't have a car, and I shudder to think how long the bus ride would be.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Oh. . . .that's what pumpkins are for. . .

Well, some folks like to carve them or even eat them. But we know they have a higher purpose!

Gillianren, sorry you can't make it. You'd enjoy it; lots of SCA folks show up in costume.

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

The east coast equivalent:

http://www.punkinchunkin.com/

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

I tend to look at the air-powered cannons as cheating. The appeal of the trebuchet is that folks actually used them prior to the Compressed-Air Age.

But....if you're gonna go that route, I like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxlFoZhOC4

__________________
"It was a crime of passion! Not premeditated dentistry!"

I've seen those. It's hard to believe the distance they can get without destroying the pumpkin.

Around here; we just roll-em down hills. Although, it has gotten out of hand.

__________________
Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Probably people I know, at that. Oh, well. Maybe by next year, I'll have transportation.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

Hey! I *will* be flying on that night!!!

Airplane or catapult?

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Paling by comparison, ToSeek...

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright

We're just small potatoes in comparison with the WCPC. Only six machines this year. We do, however, have a world-class trebuchet present (58-1/2 feet tall) which beat the existing world records the last two years.

Our day went well, no collapses like we had last year. We should be throwing 600 feet or so tomorrow.

Air cannons blow, by the way. I mean that literally of course!

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

Given the right sling and trajectory, there's no reason that a pumpkin can't survive a 400-kt launch, which would put it several miles downrange...

__________________
I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

"A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort." - Herm Albright

Man, I'm tired! We got 515 feet, good for 3rd overall and 2nd in class. Time to start working on next year! We did win the "spirit" award for costumes and engineering award for best distance with the least counterweight.

The big boy at the pitch had some problems this year and only ("only") threw 1380 or so. They've figured their pumpkin hits 240 mph.

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

Well, I would bet that a pumpkin would suffer a catastrophic structural failure if you pushed transonic, which would probably be the true limit. Wonder how far that would put you downrange (Mach 0.85)

I know this thread is a few weeks old, but I thought I'd clear my lurker flag and at the same time let everyone know that I went to this punkin chunkin competition. Most of the designs were amazing. The largest trebuchet was at least 100 feet high but unfortunately, I didn't get there in time to see it being fired. The air cannons were awesome as well. Some of the others were a bit underwhelming, but overall it was a very interesting day trip. I was rather disappointed with the amount of public drunkenness among the spectators and frustrated because I had to keep a much closer eye on my kids that I normally have to, but I digress. My kids have already started thinking about building a trebuchet to enter into next year's competition. The winning distance for the "youth trebuchet" category was IIRC 953 feet. That's a rather difficult number to beat, but we're gonna try. I'm thinking that a 300 pound counterweight should provide enough energy to exceed 1000 feet. I'll know better when I've done some calculations. First order of business is to find the density and cross-sectional area of a 2 pound pumpkin. I can't find any pumpkins at the store and the only online source I can find only tells the volume and weight. It appears that a 14-20 pound pumpkin has a specific density of about 0.85, but I'm not sure if this is true of smaller pumpkins and in any case I still don't know the area of the cross-section. Can anybody help me here?

__________________
True is the question
Derived from the Shakespeare Postulate (2b)|| !(2b)

Glad you enjoyed the pitch. I'd love to go some day but it's about 3000 miles....

Head to http://www.thehurl.org/ and join the message board. Lots of folks there eager to help, including the builder of that youth trebuchet. You'll find it's easy to throw stuff reasonable distances, but gets very hard to be competetive.

That huge trebuchet, "Yankee Siege" is around 60 feet tall, by the way. There's one out here about the same.

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

Thanks for the info. I just registered. BTW, I did find a 2 pound pumpkin last night. It has a rather lower specific gravity of 0.65 and an area of 0.15m^2. When I get a chance, I'll calculate out how fast my pumpkin has to be to make it 1000 feet and then decide whether to lower our expectations.

Yankee Siege looked a lot taller than 60 feet. Could be an optical illusion with the arm sticking high into the air making it appear taller than it really is.

__________________
True is the question
Derived from the Shakespeare Postulate (2b)|| !(2b)