Design and Reconstruction of an Ancient Roman Crane

Advances in Historical Studies, 2020, 9, 261-283 https://www.scirp.org/journal/ahs ISSN Online: 2327-0446 ISSN Print: 2327-0438 Design and Reconstruction of an Ancient Roman Crane Marco Ceccarelli Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy How to cite this paper: Ceccarelli, M. Abstract (2020). Design and Reconstruction of an Ancient Roman Crane. Advances in His- Archeological remains and literature sources are used to work out design torical Studies, 9, 261-283. considerations and reconstruction activities on an ancient Roman crane. De- https://doi.org/10.4236/ahs.2020.95021 sign requirements have been elaborated by looking at the Vitruvius work as Received: October 30, 2020 republished during Renaissance and considering practical aspects of material Accepted: December 5, 2020 and manufacturing both in ancient time and today possibilities. Results are Published: December 8, 2020 reported in terms of design developments and experiences for prototype reconstructions that have been exhibited in a museum. Copyright © 2020 by author(s) and Scientific Research Publishing Inc. This work is licensed under the Creative Keywords Commons Attribution International License (CC BY 4.0). History of Machines, Ancient Roman Cranes, Historical Analysis, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Reconstruction Design Open Access 1. Introduction Ancient Roman machines attract great attention not only for their specific designs of relevant interest for the History of Engineering and Technology, but also for the surprising levels of technology that can be identified in those solutions. Historical literature has been elaborated to track machinery evolution with analysis of designs and products as part of the mankind history in which Roman machine engineering and technology are recognized of relevant importance and impact even as a basis for modern western world, in encyclopedic works like for example in (Capocaccia 1973), (Singer et al. 2012) and in monographic works like for example in (Burstall 1963), (Galli & Pisani Sartoro, 2009), (Russo & Russo, 2009), (Rossi et al., 2009), (Di Pasquale, 2019). Specific attention has been also addressed to specific Roman machine technology by looking at specific machines with details on mechanical design and usage, like for example in (Meighorner-Schardt & Blumenthal, 1989), (Martines, 1999), (Ceccarelli & De DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2020.95021 Dec. 8, 2020 261 Advances in Historical Studies M. Ceccarelli Paolis, 2008), (Molari et al., 2016). A direct of experience by the author with a multidisciplinary teamwork is reported in (Ceccarelli et al., 2019) referring to an investigation of ancient Roman ball bearings looking at their design, manufacturing, and usage. Nevertheless, there are still aspects to be discovered or better investigated on Roman machines as indicated also in exhibitions of machine reconstructions like those illustrated in (Galli & Pisani Sartoro, 2009), (Di Pasquale, 2019). The significance of an investigation for reconstruction purposes on ancient Roman cranes can be understood not only for a specific historical interest on their design and operation but even for better understanding of the level of ancient technology both from theoretical and practical expertise. It is well understood that thanks to a high machinery technology the Roman engineers could design and operate complex machines successfully as outlined for example in (Rossi et al., 2009). Specific attempts are still proposed to better understand and then to give design reconstructions of Roman cranes, like for example in (Meighorn- er-Schardt & Blumenthal, 1989) and (Molari et al., 2016). This paper is an expanded version of a paper (Ceccarelli, 2020) that was presented in September 2020 at the IFIT2020 Conference of IFToMM Italy in tele-conference mode with outlines of activities for a new reconstruction of a general Roman crane with a calcatoria (treadmill) wheel. In this paper, results are presented from activity with investigations, design, and prototype construction on ancient Roman cranes by looking at archeological sources and literature on ancient machines with the aim to develop a design reconstruction with practical solutions for a prototype to be exhibited and in future to be used in perfor- mance experimental characterizations. Main literature references are considered from Vitruvius work, as reported in in (Fra’ Giocondo, 1513), (Cesariano, 1521), (Fleury, 1993) also with modern interpretation as in (Cigola & Ceccarelli, 2014, 2016). The rest of this paper is organized as follows: Section 2 presents an out- line to discuss historical sources on Roman cranes; Section 3 outlines arguments for requirements and design solution for a practical design in modern time repre- senting a Roman crane; and Section 5 shows the results with a built prototype with main characteristics to be further investigated in future testing activity. 2. Archeological and Literature Sources Since ancient Roman machines were made at the most of perishable wood mate- rials, there are no remains of ancient Roman cranes and only small parts of com- ponents have been found in archeological explorations like pulleys, cable pieces, and iron reinforcements and nails as coming even not only from crane machines. Main direct sources of Roman times on design of ancient Roman cranes can be found in artistic representations and other information can be extracted from a literature that has been rediscovered and reinterpreted in the Renais- sance, mainly referring to Vitruvius work. All of them have been used in this work as references for the analysis and reconstruction activity of an ancient Ro- DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2020.95021 262 Advances in Historical Studies M. Ceccarelli man crane and the used ones are discussed in the following. Those crane machines can be considered basic tools for the ancient Roman engineers to design and operate large cranes that were used to build buildings also of considerable size all around the Roman empire, like for example the Colosseum and Pantheon temple in Rome. Figure 1 and Figure 2 show the main archeological artistic references for this work as artistic representations of ancient Roman cranes, namely the so-called Haterii crane, Capua basso-relievo (bas-relief), Terracina basso-relievo (bas-relief), and so-called Neron tomb terracotta. Those artistic representations do not seem to have specific aims of disseminating technical solutions, also in consideration of the several other information that is reported in them as being part of tomb artistic furniture. They can therefore be more appropriately interpreted as cele- brations in memory of how the referenced person in the representation has achieved a social-political success. But they can be also evaluated in giving, somehow in secondary way, light and importance to the technique of machines, despite the fact that in the ancient world the technique was not generally considered for social political reputation, as pointed out in the humanistic literature on the His- tory of ancient technology and for example in (Ceccarelli & De Paolis, 2008). In fact, in the Haterii tomb in Figure 1(a) the crane is placed at the edge of the representation somehow as a decorative but impressive part of the overall scenario, likewise also in the Capua basso-relievo in Figure 1(b) and in the Neron tomb terracotta in Figure 2(b), whereas in the Terracina basso-relievo in Figure 2(a) the crane is even in the back of the scenario. In particular, the so-called Haterii crane in Figure 1(a) is from the tomb of Haterii family that Quintius Haterius Tychicus committed about in 100 - 120 A.D. along the ancient labicana road in Rome with information summarized in (Di Pasquale, 2019). The represented crane of large size with several hoists, a large turning head, and a large driving (calcatoria-treadmill) wheel with several humans is very likely a memory of the cranes that the commitment used for the works in the construction of the Colosseum in Rome. The basso-relievo is today archived and exhibited at the Vatican Museum in Vatican City. The crane design is characterized by a calcatoria wheel of a size permitting the operation several calcators (operators) simultaneously with a design showing 8 spokes of the 13 ones that very likely are the supporting structures. In addition, several pulley blocks are represented that show several cables coming in and out for the pres- ence of several pulleys as per the high loads the crane could lift as very likely with stone blocks up to 8 tons. The Capua basso-relievo Relief in Figure 1(b) is a commemorative plate of Luccesius Pecularis, who committed it to record his commitment for the works repairing the Capua theater vey likely between 112 and 94 B.C., (Di Pasquale, 2019). Today it is preserved at the Provincial Museum of Campania in Capua. The representation shows aside a calcatoria wheel with 11 spokes hosting two slaves for actuating the cables in the crane beam that is in the back lifting a column. DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2020.95021 263 Advances in Historical Studies M. Ceccarelli (a) (b) Figure 1. Archeological sources of ancient Roma cranes with calcatoria wheel in: (a) Haterii tomb of I B.C.; (b) Capua basso-rilevo of II A.D. DOI: 10.4236/ahs.2020.95021 264 Advances in Historical Studies M. Ceccarelli (a) (b) Figure 2. Archeological sources of ancient Roma cranes with simple structure in: (a) Terracina basso-rilevo of I B.C.; (b) Terracotta from so-called Nerontomb of I B.C. The Terracina basso-rilievo in Figure 2(a) is from a plate discovered near the port of Terracina (100 km south of Rome) with information summarized in (Di Pasquale, 2019). It is dated around 41 - 36 B.C as referring to the memory of a magistrate (at the center of the scenario on a seat), who was responsible for the constructions of a new colony. The represented crane looks to be a simple one with portable features to move and precisely locate not very large stone blocks as shown to be operated by negroid slaves in different operation with it.

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