Mass-Produced Pre-Han Chinese Bronze Crossbow Triggers: Unparalleled Manufacturing Technology in the Ancient World

Abstract

After an introduction to pre-Han and Han bronze crossbow triggers and bronze casting in China, these ancient mechanisms are examined from an engineering and manufacturing perspective. These triggers have been identified (Yates 2007) as the first mass-produced interchangeable military artefact. This examination shows that the sophisticated design of the mechanism clearly took manufacture into account and leads to the hypothesis that the key component of the mechanism, the nut, was specifically designed to be made by the stack moulding process identified by Barnard and Tamotsu 1975 as a technique ‘unparalleled in the ancient world’.