Category:Goat's foot lever

This is a subcategory for images of goat's foot levers, a form of crossbow spanning mechanism used for spanning medieval and Renaissance era forms of crossbows.

A member of a family of lever-based crossbow spanning tools known as gaffles, this crossbow spanning mechanism was manufactured entirely from steel and used for both civilian (e.g. hunting) and military crossbows. It became particularly popular throughout Europe after the spread of crossbows equipped with composite bows and steel bows, during the 14th-16th century. The goat's foot lever used a pair of hooked implements to draw and span the crossbow's bowstring, while a pair of curved rails that are part of the lever slid against two steel pegs jutting out of the sides of the crossbow's tiller. The curved rail implements of the lever provided a smooth spanning motion for the mechanism, and minimised the risk of the user injuring themselves while spanning the crossbow's bowstring by slowly pulling the lever.

A later relative of the goat's foot lever was the gaffe lever, manufactured mostly from wood and used primarily for early modern era civilian crossbows (e.g. hunting crossbows). The main mechanical difference between the two is the pulling motion used for the goat's foot lever and the pushing motion used for the gaffe lever.

Detailed video demonstration of a goat's foot lever's functionality (1)

Detailed video demonstration of a goat's foot lever's functionality (2)

Detailed video demonstration of a crossbow with goat's foot lever spanning (1)

Detailed video demonstration of a crossbow with goat's foot lever spanning (2)