Vintage Catapult/slingshot

[Flying10uk]

While sorting through some of my late farther's belongings, recently, I rediscovered, this vintage catapult which dates to the 1940's and is believed to have been made by an uncle of my farther. The chap who I believe made it was a real "countryman" and handyman who could make something useful from a little discarded odds and ends. Just look at how well it's been made.

One of his specialties which he made for friends and family was an extra loud alarm clock. He would screw a traditional wind-up alarm clock to a piece of wood which he modified/arranged so that when the alarm clock went off in the normal way, as the winder unwound on the back it pulled out a packing piece from a clothes peg also mounted to the wood base. He had modified the clothes peg into an electrical switch and as the packing was pulled out the circuit was closed which set off a very loud battery operated electric bell. The racket at the side of one's bed was stopped by the flick of an old house light switch. I'll always remember him demonstrating his modified alarm clock to me; I thought it hilarious but one of his grand daughters, also present, was not amused. He was also a qualified pilot.

It is believed that my father gained some practical experience in the use of a catapult with the help of the windows on his grandfather's pigeon loft.

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