Water-powered sawmill with crank and connecting rod (Hierapolis)
Aserradero hidráulico con biela y manivela (Hierápolis)
- Date
- century III · confidence medium
- Place
- Hierapolis (Pamukkale), Denizli, Turkey
- Credited to
- Roman craftsmen of Asia Minor
- Field
- Matter & energy
What it is
A relief on a sarcophagus at Hierapolis shows a water wheel driving two stone saws through a crank and connecting rod. It is the earliest evidence of turning continuous rotation into reciprocating motion with a connecting rod.
Ausonius describes around 370 a stone-sawing mill on the Ruwer near Trier, another early mention. The Hierapolis relief is usually dated to the mid-3rd century.
What it led to
- mechanised stone and wood cutting
- medieval water-powered sawmills
- the introduction of the crank-and-rod mechanism in machinery