Archimedes screw is a brilliant invention

The point in this article is not about the great conqueror or destroyer, but about the man who greatly contributed to the development of civilization. He is an ancient Greek scientist Archimedes. His ingenious invention is the Archimedes screw.

The great scientist lived and worked at a very remote time, his year of birth - 287 BC. He made many discoveries. The basics of hydrostatics and the famous law of Archimedes, improvements in the system of levers, pulley block, worm reducer, and finally Archimedes screw - we all owe this to the great Greek. It is enough just to recall his saying, which reached us through the dividing abyss of time: "Give me a point of support, and I will turn the whole world".

What is the famous Archimedes screw? A spiral placed in a cylinder is what it is. When rotating, she grabbed the liquid and carried her along. The gaps between the edges of the spiral and the walls of the cylinder allowed the shaft to rotate freely. As a result, water poured out through the upper open end. Thus, by placing one end of the cylinder in the water, and the other having positioned higher at an angle and rotating the shaft, the liquid was fed upward. Rotate it was possible as the shaft itself with a spiral inside the cylinder, and the cylinder along with the shaft.

A similar archimedean spiral was used to raise water during irrigation of territories and to drain mines, ship holds, lowlands and wetlands. The efficiency of such a device was higher than the existing water-lifting wheel. An important advantage was that a similar method was used to raise both pure liquid and its mixture with ground, a suspension.

As already mentioned, initially the Archimedes screw was used to lift water from lowlands, from the river upwards, to irrigated fields. Thanks to a similar system, the fields were flooded in Egypt, Greece, and other places. Subsequently, this method was used to pump water from mines. The sloping structure just fit into the system of mountain drifts. Thanks to the use of a water pumping system with the use of a spiral, many previously submerged sections of the mines were accessible. Among Spanish miners, according to historians, this method of drainage was extremely popular.

With no less success, the Dutch acted on a similar method of dehumidification. They surrounded the dams with a section of the sea and then pumped water out of it. Thus, they increased their territory, reclaiming the land by the sea.

As technology advances, ideas related to the Archimedes screw found new applications. Virtually there is not a single industry that does not use self-tapping screws. But in fact they are based on the same principle.

In many other cases, this technical solution was used with the same success. Worm reducer - prototype of it was created by a great scientist. The screw mechanism can also be considered the development of the idea of the Syracusan. How many screw presses were subsequently created, it is impossible to imagine. For many centuries mankind received oil and wine using such devices.

The auger is also a modified Archimedes screw. Apply it in a variety of areas, from the usual meat grinder to the engines of transport. To overcome marshy places where it is impossible to use a wheel or a track, use ATVs with auger motors.

The auger is used both for the creation of wells on personal plots and for wells in industry. And the ships move due to the propeller, which is part of the Archimedes' spiral. At the heart of all this lies the discovery of a genius Greek.

In this material, the invention of the Greek scientist from Syracuse, the Archimedes screw, was considered, its practical application in the past and its use in modern technology was shown.