Episode 1
Hero of Alexandria stepped back. Well, he thought, it wasn't the most beutiful of his works, but it could work.[1] He called to a servant: "Some wine, please. Oh, and could I have a bucket of water and some firewood?" The servant hurried off, and returned quarter of an hour later.
"We couldn't find the wine, sir, but the water and the firewood we did find."
"Good. Light a fire under the big dish, pour the water in, and put the lid on. Don't knock the pipes!"
The servant did so, muttering to himself "You can't trust those kitchen workers, give 'em some indoors work in a nice warm room and they get lax. 'We've lost the wine,' indeed."
Hero stepped back. "Come back. The steam will be coming out soon, and you won't want to get burned."
The servant stepped back hurriedly, just as a funny whistling noise came from the globe, and steam started jetting out from the nozzles.The globe went round and round, faster and faster. "Well, sir,it'svery good, but what is it?"
Hero coudn't remember what the contraption was, so he rushed to his desk [2], shuffled through the papers [3], grabbed one, scanned through it and called "It's my aeolipile!" [4]
He then hurried back over, to watch the aeolipile. "Hmm... If it were possible to harness that..."
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[1]: Well, obviously he didn't think exactly that, as he thought it in ancient Greek, and translation errors are bound to come in, not to mention it probably wasn't what he thought, as nobody wrote down what he thought, and even if they did, they probably took liberties. All things considered, it's probably a pretty good estimation.
[2]: Yeah, yeah, he didn't have a desk and all that crap. Come on, people, he probably used a slab of marble or something. Honestly, do I have to "correct" for everything?
[3]: See above, but substitute "desk" for "papers" and "slab of marble" for "wax tablet or piece of parchment".
[4]: Aeolipile
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Basically, this is a thread devoted to an idea I had: "What if Hero of Alexandria didn't think of his steam engine as a toy? What if he thought of it as a potential power source?"
Hero of Alexandria stepped back. Well, he thought, it wasn't the most beutiful of his works, but it could work.[1] He called to a servant: "Some wine, please. Oh, and could I have a bucket of water and some firewood?" The servant hurried off, and returned quarter of an hour later.
"We couldn't find the wine, sir, but the water and the firewood we did find."
"Good. Light a fire under the big dish, pour the water in, and put the lid on. Don't knock the pipes!"
The servant did so, muttering to himself "You can't trust those kitchen workers, give 'em some indoors work in a nice warm room and they get lax. 'We've lost the wine,' indeed."
Hero stepped back. "Come back. The steam will be coming out soon, and you won't want to get burned."
The servant stepped back hurriedly, just as a funny whistling noise came from the globe, and steam started jetting out from the nozzles.The globe went round and round, faster and faster. "Well, sir,it'svery good, but what is it?"
Hero coudn't remember what the contraption was, so he rushed to his desk [2], shuffled through the papers [3], grabbed one, scanned through it and called "It's my aeolipile!" [4]
He then hurried back over, to watch the aeolipile. "Hmm... If it were possible to harness that..."
________________________________________________________________
[1]: Well, obviously he didn't think exactly that, as he thought it in ancient Greek, and translation errors are bound to come in, not to mention it probably wasn't what he thought, as nobody wrote down what he thought, and even if they did, they probably took liberties. All things considered, it's probably a pretty good estimation.
[2]: Yeah, yeah, he didn't have a desk and all that crap. Come on, people, he probably used a slab of marble or something. Honestly, do I have to "correct" for everything?
[3]: See above, but substitute "desk" for "papers" and "slab of marble" for "wax tablet or piece of parchment".
[4]: Aeolipile
________________________________________________________________
Basically, this is a thread devoted to an idea I had: "What if Hero of Alexandria didn't think of his steam engine as a toy? What if he thought of it as a potential power source?"