Aeolipile and Heron's automata

What it is

A sphere that spins from the reaction of steam escaping through two nozzles, alongside automatic temple doors, a holy-water vending machine, and a theatre of automata programmed with cords. A demonstration of the power of steam and of mechanical programming.

Vitruvius already mentions the aeolipile c. 25 BCE; Heron applied it to no useful work.

What it led to

• The idea that steam can produce motion, revisited in the 17th century
• The first programmable device (an automatic theatre with cams and cords)
• Coin-operated machines and feedback mechanisms in temples
• The tradition of Islamic automata (Banu Musa, al-Jazari)

Built on

• Force pump and fire engine (Ctesibius)c. 270 BCE
• Toothed gearc. 270 BCE
• Advanced water clock (Ctesibius' clepsydra)c. 270 BCE
• Ctesibius's piston pump
• Advanced water clock
• Bronze boiler

Made possible

• Hero's wind-powered organc. 60 CE (discutido)
• Crankshaft, double-acting pump and automata (al-Jazari)1206
• Jerónimo de Ayanz's steam pump1606
• Branca's steam impulse turbine1629
• Verbiest's steam carriagec. 1672
• Separate-condenser steam engine1765-1769
• Vending machine
• Reaction turbine

Links