This requires redesign of both the atlatl and the projectile it shoots. First off, the atlatl itself will be made of a long tube with a cutaway (about 6 inches) near the top. The cutaway is merely half the pipe removed just before the notch that the spear locks into. There is a sliding cover over this cutaway attached to a trigger on the handle of the atlatl. The handle also has a ramped finger guard. There is also a spring-loaded ramp inside the tube under the cutaway. The projectiles will be spring-loaded telescoping spears. A 6-inch spear should be able to telescope out to at least 3 feet with a nice pointy tip.

Atlatl could be carried loaded at warrior's side, when ready to throw, simply hold over shoulder, depress trigger, projectile will pop out, telescope, and fling away. The finger guard will keep the projectile from impaling your hand. It should also be noted that the notch that holds the spear in place will keep it from launching off the atlatl under its own spring loaded power. Kind of like a trebuchet hook, it wont let go until the proper angle is reached. There will be 6 of them on a rotating spindle so they lock each spear in when they pop out.
-- bleh, Dec 01 2006

international atlatal society http://www.internat...latlatlsociety.org/
[bleh, Dec 01 2006]

Atlatl, with just a little t & a it'd be positively palindromic.
-- 2 fries shy of a happy meal, Dec 01 2006


spelling fixed, thanks
-- bleh, Dec 01 2006


why the bones? flawed design or just a stupid idea?
-- bleh, Dec 04 2006


+ for any type of weapon. :D
-- MoreCowbell, Dec 04 2006


I have enough experience with the atlatl to see that this is a dramatic disimprovement.

For the atlatl to work, the spear must be able to swivel upwards away from the atlatl body while throwing. With the cover design as explained, this would be impossible, and you are left with a spring-loaded spear launcher.

Weight requirements on the spear, which now contains the spring, will limit the available force of the launching spring, as well as making the spear unnecessarily complex.
-- ye_river_xiv, Nov 02 2008


Bun for interesting idea, but I also don't think it would work as designed. I'm not worried about the cover and stuff; that's easy to solve. My concerns are about the reliability of spring-loaded telescoping spears, and the fact that the mass and moment of inertia of the atlatl will change as spears leave it, throwing off the thrower's accuracy.

I guess you could use regular spears on a rotating frame, kinda like a revolver, instead of telescoping spears. That would allow you to use regular spears, and the moment arm will be roughly constant. But that still doesn't solve the problem of the mass of the whole assembly changing, and it makes the whole assembly wider.
-- notexactly, Nov 27 2015



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