The Claw of Archimedes

Published by Achilles Heel on

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  • #1924
    Achilles Heel
    Participant

    The Claw of Archimedes is a weapon that he is said to have designed in order to defend the city of Syracuse. Also known as “the ship shaker”, the claw consisted of a crane-like arm from which a large metal grappling hook was suspended. When the claw was dropped onto an attacking ship the arm would swing upwards, lifting the ship out of the water and possibly sinking it. There have been modern experiments to test the feasibility of the claw and in 2005 a television documentary entitled Superweapons of the Ancient World built a version of the claw and concluded that it was a workable device.

    #1926
    Linda Lee
    Participant

    Nice one Achilles!

    Here is a video about it functioning:

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