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A modern replica of Hero's aeolipile. It is not known whether the aeolipile was put to any practical use in ancient times, and if it was seen as a pragmatic device, a whimsical novelty, an object of reverence, or some other thing. A source described it as a mere curiosity for the ancient Greeks, or a "party trick". [7]
Hero published a well-recognized description of a steam-powered device called an aeolipile, also known as "Hero's engine". Among his most famous inventions was a windwheel, constituting the earliest instance of wind harnessing on land. [3] [4] In his work Mechanics, he described pantographs. [5] Some of his ideas were derived from the works of ...
The 1698 Savery Steam Pump - the first commercially successful steam powered device, built by Thomas Savery [1] The first recorded rudimentary steam engine was the aeolipile mentioned by Vitruvius between 30 and 15 BC and, described by Heron of Alexandria in 1st-century Roman Egypt. [2]
1st century AD – Hero of Alexandria describes the Aeolipile, as an example of the power of heated air or water.The device consists of a rotating ball spun by steam jets; it produced little power and had no practical application, but is nevertheless the first known device moved by steam pressure.
The timeline of historic inventions is a chronological list of particularly significant technological inventions and their inventors, where known. [ a ] The dates in this article make frequent use of the units mya and kya , which refer to millions and thousands of years ago, respectively.
Jet engines can be dated back to the invention of the aeolipile around 150 BC. This device used steam power directed through two nozzles so as to cause a sphere to spin rapidly on its axis. [ 1 ] So far as is known, it was not used for supplying mechanical power, and the potential practical applications of this invention were not recognized.
A big size reconstruction of Heron's aeolipile in Kotsanas Museum of Ancient Greek Technology, Athens, Greece. As noted, one recorded rudimentary steam-powered engine was the aeolipile described by Hero of Alexandria , a Hellenistic mathematician and engineer in Roman Egypt during the first century AD. [ 8 ]
With the crank and connecting rod system, all elements for constructing a steam engine (invented in 1712) — Hero's aeolipile (generating steam power), the cylinder and piston (in metal force pumps), non-return valves (in water pumps), gearing (in water mills and clocks) — were known in Roman times. [9]