Archimedes Water Screw
How to Design and Build Archimedes Water Screw
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Invented in Egypt by the ancient Greek mathematician
Archimedes, the Archimedes Screw , or |
Archimedes water screw , as it is commonly known, was used
for irrigation and lifting water from mines and ship bilges. It is still
used today, unchanged from its ancient Egyptian form, for irrigation and
forms the basis for many modern industrial pumps.
In his De Architectura, Book X, Chapter 6 ,The
Water Screw , the ancient Roman engineer and historian, Vitruvius,
explains the design and construction of the Archimedes Screw .
There is also the method of the water screw, which raises
a great quantity of water, but does not carry it as high as does the wheel.
The method of building the water screw is as follows.
1. A beam is selected, the thickness of which in
digits is equivalent to its length in feet. This is made perfectly round.
The ends are to be divided off on their circumference with the compass
into eight parts, by quadrants and octants, and let the lines be so placed
that, if the beam is laid in a horizontal position, the lines on the two
ends may perfectly correspond with each other, and intervals of the size
of one eighth part of the circumference of the beam may be laid off on
the length of it. Then, placing the beam in a horizontal position, let
perfectly straight lines be drawn from one end to the other. So the intervals
will be equal in the directions both of the periphery and of the length.
Where the lines are drawn along the length, the cutting circles will make
intersections, and definite points at the intersections. |
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2. When
these lines have been correctly drawn, a slender withe of willow, or a
straight piece cut from
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the agnus castus tree, is
taken, smeared with liquid pitch, and fastened at the first point of intersection.
Then it is carried across obliquely to the succeeding intersections of
longitudinal lines and circles, and as it advances, passing each of the
points in due order and winding round, it is fastened at each intersection;
and so, withdrawing from the first to the eighth point, it reaches and
is fastened to the line to which its first part was fastened. Thus it makes
as much progress in its longitudinal advance to the eighth point as in
its oblique advance over eight points. In the same manner, withes for the
eight divisions of the diameter, fastened obliquely at the intersections
on the entire longitudinal and peripheral surface, make spiral channels
which naturally look just like those of a snail shell.
3. Other withes are fastened on
the line of the first, and on these still others, all smeared with liquid
pitch, and built up until the total diameter is equal to one eighth of
the length. These are covered and surrounded with boards, fastened on to
protect the spiral. Then these boards are soaked with pitch, and bound
together with strips of iron, so that they may not be separated by the
pressure of the water. The ends of the shaft are covered with iron. To
the right and left of the water screw are beams, with crosspieces fastening
them together at both ends. In these crosspieces are holes sheathed with
iron, and into them pivots are introduced, and thus the water screw is
turned by the treading of men.
4. It is
to be set up at the inclination corresponding to that which is produced
in drawing the Pythagorean right-angled triangle: that is, let its length
be divided into five parts; let three of them denote the height of the
head of the screw; thus the distance from the base of the perpendicular
to the nozzle of the water screw at the bottom will be equal to four of
those parts. A figure showing how this ought to be has been drawn at the
end of the book, right on the back. I have now described as clearly as
I could, to make them better known, the principles on which wooden engines
for raising water are constructed, and how they get their motion so that
they may be of unlimited usefulness. |
Plan Number WS1-TSM
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Water Screw Plans
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Archimedes Water Screw Pump Plans
Build an Archimedes Water Screw in just one night with
these easy, step by step water screw plans and instructions.
Great Project
Invented in Egypt by the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes,
the Archimedes Screw, or Archimedes Water Screw, as it is commonly known,
was used for irrigation and lifting water from mines and ship bilges.
The water screw works wonderfully for science and history
class assignments and science fair projects.
Easy to Build
These water screw plans use common, inexpensive and easy
to find building materials, available at your local hardware store or home
center. Basic skills and tools are required, but the straightforward water
screw design require no complicated layout or joinery.
These water screw plans come complete with:
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Parts Shopping List
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Measured Drawings and Dimensions for all parts
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Assembly Drawings
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Step by step Assembly Instructions
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Step by step Operating Instructions
All the information you need to complete your water
screw project quickly and easily.
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