The Hierapolis sawmill was a Roman water-powered stone sawmill at

Hierapolis Hierapolis (; grc, Ἱεράπολις, lit. "Holy City") was originally a Phrygian cult centre of the Anatolian mother goddess of Cybele and later a Greek city. Its location was centred upon the remarkable and copious hot springs in classica ...

, Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). Dating to the second half of the 3rd century AD, the sawmill is considered the earliest known machine to combine a

crank Crank may refer to: Mechanisms * Crank (mechanism), in mechanical engineering, a bent portion of an axle or shaft, or an arm keyed at right angles to the end of a shaft, by which motion is imparted to or received from it * Crankset, the compone ...

with a

connecting rod A connecting rod, also called a 'con rod', is the part of a piston engine which connects the piston to the crankshaft. Together with the crank, the connecting rod converts the reciprocating motion of the piston into the rotation of the cranksh ...

to form a crank slider mechanism.; ; The watermill is evidenced by a raised relief on the

sarcophagus A sarcophagus (plural sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a box-like funeral receptacle for a corpse, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek ...

of a certain Marcus Aurelius Ammianos, a local miller. On the pediment a

waterwheel A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of flowing or falling water into useful forms of power, often in a watermill. A water wheel consists of a wheel (usually constructed from wood or metal), with a number of blades or buckets ...

fed by a mill race is shown powering via a gear train two frame saws cutting rectangular blocks by the way of connecting rods and, through mechanical necessity, cranks (see diagram). The accompanying inscription is in Greek and attributes the mechanism to Ammianos' "skills with wheels".

Other sawmills

Further Roman crank and connecting rod mechanisms, without gear train, are archaeologically attested for the 6th century AD water-powered stone sawmills at Gerasa, Jordan, and

Ephesus Ephesus (; grc-gre, Ἔφεσος, Éphesos; tr, Efes; may ultimately derive from hit, 𒀀𒉺𒊭, Apaša) was a city in ancient Greece on the coast of Ionia, southwest of present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in t ...

, Turkey. A fourth sawmill possibly existed at Augusta Raurica, Switzerland, where a metal

crankshaft A crankshaft is a mechanical component used in a piston engine to convert the reciprocating motion into rotational motion. The crankshaft is a rotating shaft containing one or more crankpins, that are driven by the pistons via the connecting ...

from the 2nd century AD has been excavated. Literary references to water-powered marble saws in Trier, Germany, can be found in Ausonius' late 4th century AD poem '' Mosella''. About the same time, they also seem to be indicated by the Christian saint Gregory of Nyssa from Anatolia, demonstrating a diversified use of water-power in many parts of the Roman Empire. The three finds push back the date of the invention of the crank and connecting rod mechanism by a full millennium; for the first time, all essential components of the much later

steam engine A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

were assembled by one technological culture:

References

Sources

; Roman sawmill at Hierapolis * * * ; Roman sawmill at Gerasa * * * ; Roman sawmill at Ephesos * ; Possible Roman sawmill at Augusta Raurica *

External links

Traianus – The European Portal of Roman Engineering
to download "La máquina de serrar piedras", Klaus Grewe's article translated into Spanish, one needs to register at the site for free
Reconstruction of the water-powered sawmill at Ephesos (pictures, videoclips, 3D simulation)
{{in lang, de Ancient Roman watermills Watermills in Turkey Ancient inventions

Other sawmills

See also

References

Sources

Further reading

External links