Celino, Ma. Shairine G.

February 4,2020

BSIT ADT 1B Mrs. Tanyang

Archimedes Screw

In today’s age, people living in tall buildings seldom worry about how
ground water is lifted to their apartments. However, in ancient times, lifting up
water to great heights was a matter of concern. A device known as Archimedes’
Screw came to aid in this hour of need.

Archimedes’ screw consists of a screw, which is nothing but a helical

surface wound around a cylindrical shaft, fitted inside a hollow pipe. On setting it
up at an angle with the water level and turning the shaft manually or by a
windmill, the water raises up the helical structure of the screw to the top end. 
Finally, the water pours out of the tube from its upper opening. The contact
surface or the contact points between the screw and the hollow pipe need not be
airtight if the amount of water to be drawn out is much larger than the amount of
water leaking out from the contact points. Although Archimedes is credited with
the invention of this apparatus, there are references of such water screws in the
inscriptions of ancient kings some 350 years earlier. The great classical author,
Strabo, in his writings, also mentions the use of the same device in watering the
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, at around the same time. In 1405, a German
Engineer by the name of Konrad Kyeser wrote about a theory of improvising it by
using a crank to turn it. This mechanism, first written by the aforementioned in his
book Bellifortis, found wide use thereafter, and subsequently replaced working
the screw by the ancient treading mechanism. In ancient times, it found its use
mainly in irrigating fields and as a water pump. They were drawn by oxen or by
humans. However, in modern times, it has wider applications in the sectors of
hydro-electric power generation and renewable sources of energy.

It can help to lift water irrigation by pumping the water and by the use of
Archimedes screw can make the work easier by pumping itself.