Hero of Alexandria (10 A.D. - 70 A.D.) was a native of his home city and a mathematician and engineer. One of his inventions was the aeliopile, a steam powered engine that revolved a shaft...by utilizing the principles of jet propulsion: Another invention, and perhaps more interesting for coin enthusiasts was his coin-operated vending machine, one of the first examples of automation in the ancient world, that dispensed a specific amount of holy water. When the coin was deposited, it fell upon a pan attached to a lever. The lever opened up a valve which let some water flow out. The pan continued to tilt with the weight of the coin until it fell off, at which point a counter-weight would snap the lever back up and turn off the valve! Here's one of the coins that may have been used by worshipers in the time of Hero: One wonders what god was being worshiped by the adorants, perhaps Serapis! Anyway, I thought this would be an interesting little snippet of information on a Thanksgiving Day!!! Enjoy the turkey and trimmings all!
There was a TV show called Ancient Inventions (I think?) that had reproductions of a number of these devices, including the steam turbine and the coin operated holy water dispenser. They also had automatic temple doors, a coin operated fortune dispenser, and the Antikythera mechanism. Fascinating stuff.
Some time ago I bought this book from @Valentinian. I haven't read it cover to cover. It is amenable to pick-and-choose browsing. Heron of Alexandria's writings and inventions are discussed in chapter 7, The Later Roman Engineers. Heron's writings include mechanics, pneumatics, weigecraft, automaton-making, the surveyor's transit, measurement, and mirrors. Here's the page showing that holy water dispenser: It sounds like Heron was quite a creative character!
yeah, i watched the show @Silverlock is talking about. i remember the device @ancient coin hunter is showing. they also had it where the doors would open on a temple.. very inventive those bally machine makers of old, i like the one that had a little bird that whistled when a coin was dropped into it.. Heron was kool!..kool book @TIF
