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1 Ctesibius
Ctēsĭbĭus, i, m., a mechanic of Alexandria, distinguished for his inventions in hydraulics, Vitr. 9, 6 (al. 9), p. 280 Bip.—Hence,II. -
2 Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
[br]fl. c.270 BC Alexandria[br]Alexandrian mechanician and inventor.[br]Ctesibius made a number of inventions of great importance, which he described in his book Pneumatics, now lost. The Roman engineer and architect Vitruvius quoted extracts from Ctesibius' work in his De Architectura and tells us that Ctesibius was the son of a barber and that he arranged an adjustable mirror controlled by a lead counterweight descending in a cylinder. He noticed that the weight compressed the air, which could be released with a loud noise. That led him to realize that the air was a body or substance: by means of a cylinder and plunger, he went on to invent an air pump with valves. This he connected to the keyboard and rows of pipes of an organ. He also invented a force pump for water.Ctesibius also improved the clepsydra or water clock, which measured time by the fall of water level in a vessel as the water escaped through a hole in the bottom. The rate of flow varied as the level dropped, so Ctesibius interposed a cistern with an overflow pipe, enabling the water level to be maintained; there was thus a constant flow into a cylinder and the passage of time was indicated by a float with a pointer. He fitted a rack to the float which turned a toothed wheel, to activate bells, singing birds or other "toys". This is probably the first known use of toothed gearing.Ctesibius is credited with some other inventions of a military nature, such as a catapult, but it was his pumps that established a tradition in antiquity for mechanical invention using the pressure of the air and other fluids, stretching through Philo of Byzantium (c.150 BC) and Hero of Alexandria (c.62 AD) and on through Islam into medieval Western Europe.[br]Further ReadingA.G.Drachmann, 1948, Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics, Copenhagen: Munksgaard (Acta Hist. Sci. Nat. Med. 4).LRDBiographical history of technology > Ctesibius (Ktesibios) of Alexandria
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3 Alexandria, Ctesibius of
See: Ctesibius of AlexandriaBiographical history of technology > Alexandria, Ctesibius of
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4 Ctesibicus
Ctēsĭbĭus, i, m., a mechanic of Alexandria, distinguished for his inventions in hydraulics, Vitr. 9, 6 (al. 9), p. 280 Bip.—Hence,II. -
5 pneumaticus
pneumătĭcus, a, um, adj., = pneumatikos, of or belonging to air or to wind, air-, wind-, pneumatic; of machines that are driven by the force of air:Ctesibius, qui pneumaticas res invenit,
Vitr. 9, 9:organa,
Plin. 19, 4, 20, § 60:ratio,
id. 7, 37, 38, § 125. -
6 ὕδραυλις
A hydraulic organ, invented by Ctesibius, Ath.4.174b, cf. Aristocl.ib.c, Ph.Bel.77.43 (- ὴν codd.), Hero Spir.1.28, Simp. in Ph. 681.7; described by Hero Spir.1.42:—so τὸ ὑδραυλικὸνGreek-English dictionary (Αγγλικά Ελληνικά-λεξικό) > ὕδραυλις
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7 Hero of Alexandria
SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building, Mechanical, pneumatic and hydraulic engineering, Photography, film and optics, Steam and internal combustion engines[br]fl. c.62 AD Alexandria[br]Alexandrian mathematician and mechanician.[br]Nothing is known of Hero, or Heron, apart from what can be gleaned from the books he wrote. Their scope and style suggest that he was a teacher at the museum or the university of Alexandria, writing textbooks for his students. The longest book, and the one with the greatest technological interest, is Pneumatics. Some of its material is derived from the works of the earlier writers Ctesibius of Alexandria and Philo of Byzantium, but many of the devices described were invented by Hero himself. The introduction recognizes that the air is a body and demonstrates the effects of air pressure, as when air must be allowed to escape from a closed vessel before water can enter. There follow clear descriptions of a variety of mechanical contrivances depending on the effects of either air pressure or heated gases. Most of the devices seem trivial, but such toys or gadgets were popular at the time and Hero is concerned to show how they work. Inventions with a more serious purpose are a fire pump and a water organ. One celebrated gadget is a sphere that is set spinning by jets of steam—an early illustration of the reaction principle on which modern jet propulsion depends.M echanics, known only in an Arabic version, is a textbook expounding the theory and practical skills required by the architect. It deals with a variety of questions of mechanics, such as the statics of a horizontal beam resting on vertical posts, the theory of the centre of gravity and equilibrium, largely derived from Archimedes, and the five ways of applying a relatively small force to exert a much larger one: the lever, winch, pulley, wedge and screw. Practical devices described include sledges for transporting heavy loads, cranes and a screw cutter.Hero's Dioptra describes instruments used in surveying, together with an odometer or device to indicate the distance travelled by a wheeled vehicle. Catoptrics, known only in Latin, deals with the principles of mirrors, plane and curved, enunciating that the angle of incidence is equal to that of reflection. Automata describes two forms of puppet theatre, operated by strings and drums driven by a falling lead weight attached to a rope wound round an axle. Hero's mathematical work lies in the tradition of practical mathematics stretching from the Babylonians through Islam to Renaissance Europe. It is seen most clearly in his Metrica, a treatise on mensuration.Of all his works, Pneumatics was the best known and most influential. It was one of the works of Greek science and technology assimilated by the Arabs, notably Banu Musa ibn Shakir, and was transmitted to medieval Western Europe.[br]BibliographyAll Hero's works have been printed with a German translation in Heronis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt omnia, 1899–1914, 5 vols, Leipzig. The book on pneumatics has been published as The Pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria, 1851, trans. and ed. Bennet Wood-croft, London (facs. repr. 1971, introd. Marie Boas Hall, London and New York).Further ReadingA.G.Drachmann, 1948, "Ktesibios, Philon and Heron: A Study in Ancient Pneumatics", Acta Hist. Sci. Nat. Med. 4, Copenhagen: Munksgaard.T.L.Heath, 1921, A History of Greek Mathematics, Oxford (still useful for his mathematical work).LRD -
8 Horology
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Ctesibius of AlexandriaGrimthorpe, Edmund Beckett, BaronSu SongYi-XingZhang Sixun -
9 Ktesibios of Alexandria
See: Ctesibius of AlexandriaBiographical history of technology > Ktesibios of Alexandria
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10 Vitruvius Pollio
SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building[br]b. early first century BCd. c. 25 BC[br]Roman writer on architecture and engineering subjects.[br]Nothing is known of Vitruvius apart from what can be gleaned from his only known work, the treatise De architectura. He seems to have been employed in some capacity by Julius Caesar and continued to serve under his heir, Octavianus, later Emperor Augustus, to whom he dedicated his book. It was written towards the end of his life, after Octavianus became undisputed ruler of the Empire by his victory at Actium in 31 BC, and was based partly on his own experience and partly on earlier, Hellenistic, writers.The De architectura is divided into ten books. The first seven books expound the general principles of architecture and the planning, design and construction of various types of building, public and domestic, including a consideration of techniques and materials. Book 7 deals with interior decoration, including stucco work and painting, while Book 8 treats water supply, from the location of sources to the transport of water by aqueducts, tunnels and pipes. Book 9, after a long and somewhat confused account of the astronomical theories of the day, describes various forms of clock and sundial. Finally, Book 10 deals with mechanical devices for handling building materials and raising and pumping water, for which Vitruvius draws on the earlier Greek authors Ctesibius and Hero.Although this may seem a motley assembly of subjects, to the Roman architect and builder it was a logical compendium of the subjects he was expected to know about. At the time, Vitruvius' rigid rules for the design of buildings such as temples seem to have had little influence, but his accounts of more practical matters of building materials and techniques were widely used. His illustrations to the original work were lost in antiquity, for no later manuscript includes them. Through the Middle Ages, manuscript copies were made in monastic scriptoria, although the architectural style in vogue had little relevance to those in Vitruvius: these came into their own with the Italian Renaissance. Alberti, writing the first great Renaissance treatise on architecture from 1452 to 1467, drew heavily on De architectura; those who sought to revive the styles of antiquity were bound to regard the only surviving text on the subject as authoritative. The appearance of the first printed edition in 1486 only served to extend its influence.During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Vitruvius was used as a handbook for constructing machines and instruments. For the modern historian of technology and architecture the work is a source of prime importance, although it must be remembered that the illustrations in the early printed editions are of contemporary reproductions of ancient devices using the techniques of the time, rather than authentic representations of ancient technology.[br]BibliographyOf the several critical editions of De architectura there are the Teubner edition, 1899. ed. V.Rose, Leipzig; the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1962, ed. F.Granger, London: Heinemann, (with English trans. and notes); and the Collection Guillaume Budé with French trans. and full commentary, 10 vols, Paris (in progress).Further ReadingApart from the notes to the printed editions, see also: H.Plommer, 1973, Vitruvius and Later Roman Building Manuals, London. A.G.Drachmann, 1963, The Mechanical Technology of Greek and Roman Antiquity Copenhagen and London.S.L.Gibbs, 1976, Greek and Roman Sundials, New Haven and London.LRD -
11 Weapons and armour
See also: INDEX BY SUBJECT AREA[br]Armstrong, Sir William GeorgeCtesibius of AlexandriaZeng Gonglian -
12 Ktesibios
m[griechischer Erfinder im 3. Jh. v. Chr.]Ctesibius [Greek inventor of the 3rd cent. B.C.]
См. также в других словарях:
Ctesibius — For the lunar crater, see Ctesibius (crater). Ctesibius or Ktesibios or Tesibius (Greek: Κτησίβιος) (fl. 285–222 BC) was a Greek[1] inventor and mathematician in Alexandria, Ptolemaic Egypt. He wrote the first treatises on the science of… … Wikipedia
CTESIBIUS — I. CTESIBIUS Atheniensis parasitus, qui aliquando interrogatus, quid illi ex philosophia superesset, respondit ἀσύμβολος δειπνεῖν, sine symbolo cenare; nam cum iocis scateret, saepius vocabatur. Cael. Rhodig. l. 27. c. 24. II. CTESIBIUS… … Hofmann J. Lexicon universale
Ctesibius (crater) — Coordinates 0°48′N 118°42′E / 0.8°N 118.7°E / … Wikipedia
Ctesibius of Alexandria — or Ktesibios of Alexandria flourished с 270 BC Greek physicist and inventor. He was the first great figure of the ancient engineering tradition of Alexandria, Egypt, which culminated with Heron of Alexandria and Philo of Byzantium. He discovered… … Universalium
Ctésibius — Ctésibios Ctésibios d Alexandrie (en grec Κτησίϐιος / Ktêsíbios), parfois orthographié Ktésibios, était un ingénieur né au IIIe siècle av. J. C. à Alexandrie. Il est considéré comme le fondateur de l école des mécaniciens grecs d Alexandrie… … Wikipédia en Français
КТЕСИБИЙ — • Ctesibius, Κτησίβιος, жил ок. 230 г. до Р. X. в Александрии при Птолемее Евергете; оказал большие услуги разработке механики и особенно знаменит своими изобретениями, основанными на приложении силы давления воздуха. Так, вместе с… … Реальный словарь классических древностей
Water clock — For the individual water clock at The Children s Museum of Indianapolis, see Water clock (Indianapolis). A display of two outflow water clocks from the Ancient Agora Museum in Athens. The top is an original from the late 5th century BC. The… … Wikipedia
Organ — • A musical instrument which consists of one or several sets of pipes, each pipe giving only one tone, and which is blown and played by mechanical means. Catholic Encyclopedia. Kevin Knight. 2006. Organ Organ … Catholic encyclopedia
Cuckoo clock — Cuckoo clock, a so called Jagdstück (Hunt piece), Black Forest, ca. 1900, Deutsches Uhrenmuseum, Inv. 2006 013 A cuckoo clock is a clock, typically pendulum regulated, that strikes the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo s call and typically… … Wikipedia
De architectura — (English: On architecture, published as Ten Books on Architecture) is a treatise on architecture written by the Roman architect Vitruvius and dedicated to his patron, the emperor Caesar Augustus, as a guide for building projects. The work is one… … Wikipedia
Hydromechanics — (Gr. ubpops avuca ) is the science of the mechanics of water and fluids in general, including hydrostatics or the mathematical theory of fluids in equilibrium, and hydrodynamics, the theory of fluids in motion. The practical application of… … Wikipedia
