Texas Castle with Trebuchet

If you own your own private medieval castle then you must have a trebuchet to go along with it. That is exactly what Michael Newman has done in his Texas hometown of Bellville. Tiny (pop 4,000) Bellville is about halfway between Austin and Houston. There Michael has created his own medieval world, which he shares with the public. So if you are passing through south Texas check it out.

click2Houston.com:
Tour this Texas castle boasting a drawbridge, moat, and trebuchet --

Longtime resident Michael Newman could have gone down in history as the owner of Bellville’s much-loved Newman’s Bakery, which for 34 years has drawn a loyal patronage for breakfast specials like made-from-scratch donuts, sugar-dusted French toast, and over-easy eggs paired with buttery house-made croissants. But these days, visitors stop by the bakery for more than pastries and breakfast; it’s the first stop on a tour of a whimsical edifice outside of town known as Newman’s Castle, a full-scale replica of a medieval castle replete with five corner turrets, a 3,000-pound drawbridge, moat, and trebuchet.

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Here is his website with many great pictures:

Newman's Castle -- Welcome to Newman’s Castle and Newman’s Bakery.

Mike Newman is the creative force behind both the castle and the bakery bearing his name.

Since exploring Europe in his early 20’s, he had the dream to build his own castle, and has made that a reality in the Bellville countryside. Exhibiting the same hard work and determination that built his successful bakery of nearly three decades, Mike broke ground on his mighty fortress in 1998.

“In the beginning…people thought I was crazy,” Mike revealed in an interview with Texas Live Magazine. Ten years later, and Mike could truly say that he is king of his own castle. “It makes people happy. They leave with restored faith that they can do anything.”

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Here is a story that goes into the details about the construction of the castle.

Roundtop.com:
A King And His Castle --

In the context of history, a castle is useless if it is indefensible, so Newman turned his attention to that challenge first. Austin County has hills but no mountains. Yaupons and oak trees offered little in the way of defense, but the presence of a pond and a couple of gullies on Newman’s property opened the possibility of a moat. Newman enlisted professionals to help build the moat and pour the castle’s foundation.

“When you build a big house on an island, you don’t want it to sink,” he said.

Newman, along with a single assistant, completed the rest of the construction...

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Final Hurl:
There are other castles in Texas. Check them out:

wideopencountry.com:
Exploring the Regal Castles of Texas

Amazon's Modern Take on the Trebuchet

Amazon has patented a launch system that looks somewhat like a modern version of a trebuchet.

Amazon "Whip" Launch System

The patent is entitled: Energy-efficient launch system for aerial vehicles

The application says:

An energy-efficient launch system that utilizes the principles of whip dynamics to launch payloads at high speeds is described. The launch system may include a marine vehicle having an onboard power source. A tapered, superconducting cable may be retractably connected to the marine vehicle via a winch and electrically connected to the power source. One or more aerial vehicles may be coupled to and receive power via the cable. To launch a payload at the end of the cable, the marine vehicle, winch, and/or aerial vehicles may be operated in coordination to create, propagate, and accelerate a whip waveform along the cable toward the payload...

Existing methods of launching aerial vehicles generally rely on energy-inefficient processes. For example, in order to launch a payload at high speed, conventional processes utilize fuel, e.g., rocket fuel, to launch aerial vehicles. In addition, the fuel must be carried by the aerial vehicle that is being launched, thereby increasing the weight of the aerial vehicle and requiring correspondingly more energy to complete such a launch. Accordingly, it may be desirous to launch aerial vehicles and/or their payloads at high speed using energy-efficient, controlled and repeatable processes.

reference:
Geekwire.com:
Whip it good! Amazon patents a launch system for snapping payloads into the air — or even into orbit