(obsolete) A child's hornbook for learning the alphabet. 1802, William Hutton, The History of the Roman Wall, preface You will also pardon the errors of the Work, for you know I was not bred to letters; but, that the battledore, at an age not exceeding six, was the last book I used at school. (obsolete) A bat or beetle used in washing clothes.
The parachute, like the helicopter and the hang glider, dates back to the drawings of mankind's greatest public genius, Leonardo da Vinci.
Quick Answer. The catapult was invented by engineers working under Dionysios of Syracuse in approximately 399 B.C. The first catapult design was small and closely resembled an early Medieval crossbow that used a released trigger to launch missiles.