3 ms·

Our ancestors were certainly not stupid ;-) Gears were already used in India as early as 2600 BC, Aristotle described gears in his lifetime - about 400 BC, and

by Luyt 17y ago

Our ancestors were certainly not stupid ;-) Gears were already used in India as early as 2600 BC, Aristotle described gears in his lifetime - about 400 BC, and Archimedes' worm wheel dates from about 200 BC. In 40 BC Vitruvius described a grain mill powered by a water wheel and gear transmission, and in 28 BC someone equipped a carriage with an odometer. Brian Dunning devoted an episode of Skeptoid to the Antikythera Mechanism: http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4184 http://skeptoid.com/episodes/4184

volida 17y ago
Could you please supply more information about the gears being used since 2600 BC in India? Wikipedia's extensive reference doesn't seem to have any http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears. Also, your initial statement is sine dicendo, therefore useless and rather questions the reason of your comment. Obviously the Antikythera mechanism is impressive because of the size and detail of the gears and their usage for computation.
- Luyt 17y ago
  I got the interesting information about gears from this document: http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Machine_Design_II/pdf/2_1.pdf http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Machine_Desig... The reason for my comment that our ancestors were not as stupid as some contemporary people think, was in reaction on another post which stated that the Antikythera Mechanism was probably just a hundred-year old clock thrown overboard in recent times (I should have quoted that comment for clarity). Some people cannot fathom that ancient people could realize impressive feats, just like we can. Take for example the pyramids: "the old Egyptians could never have build themselves, they must have gotten extraterrestrial help". This condescending view is also propagated by Von Daniken in his 'Chariots of the Gods' books.
  - jacquesm 17y ago
    > Von Daniken in his 'Chariots of the Gods' It's a contender in the list of 'biggest pseudo scientific bs', runner up is the scientology junk.
Luc 17y ago
Another interesting one from China, from (supposedly) 2600 BC: the South Pointing Chariot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pointing_Chariot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pointing_Chariot
qw 17y ago
http://science.discovery.com/videos/what-the-ancients-knew-roman-mass-production.html http://science.discovery.com/videos/what-the-ancients-knew-r... "Romans were the first to invent mass production. They figured out how to use water wheels to create a factory flour mill."

by Luyt 17y ago

volida 17y ago

Could you please supply more information about the gears being used since 2600 BC in India? Wikipedia's extensive reference doesn't seem to have any http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gears. Also, your initial statement is sine dicendo, therefore useless and rather questions the reason of your comment. Obviously the Antikythera mechanism is impressive because of the size and detail of the gears and their usage for computation.

Luyt 17y ago
I got the interesting information about gears from this document: http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Machine_Design_II/pdf/2_1.pdf http://www.nptel.iitm.ac.in/courses/IIT-MADRAS/Machine_Desig... The reason for my comment that our ancestors were not as stupid as some contemporary people think, was in reaction on another post which stated that the Antikythera Mechanism was probably just a hundred-year old clock thrown overboard in recent times (I should have quoted that comment for clarity). Some people cannot fathom that ancient people could realize impressive feats, just like we can. Take for example the pyramids: "the old Egyptians could never have build themselves, they must have gotten extraterrestrial help". This condescending view is also propagated by Von Daniken in his 'Chariots of the Gods' books.
- jacquesm 17y ago
  > Von Daniken in his 'Chariots of the Gods' It's a contender in the list of 'biggest pseudo scientific bs', runner up is the scientology junk.

Luc 17y ago

Another interesting one from China, from (supposedly) 2600 BC: the South Pointing Chariot. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pointing_Chariot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_Pointing_Chariot

qw 17y ago

http://science.discovery.com/videos/what-the-ancients-knew-roman-mass-production.html http://science.discovery.com/videos/what-the-ancients-knew-r... "Romans were the first to invent mass production. They figured out how to use water wheels to create a factory flour mill."