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The pneumatics of Hero of Alexandria

Chapter 22: 17. Sounds produced on the opening of a Temple Door.
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About This Book

A systematic practical handbook of machines and demonstrations that uses air, steam, heat, and water to produce mechanical effects. The text gives clear descriptions, construction details, and diagrams for siphons, valves, pumps, fountains, jets, self‑acting mechanisms, and ritual or theatrical contrivances driven by pressure and temperature changes. Explanations focus on the mechanical principles behind pneumatic and hydraulic behaviors and on ways to control flow and timing, with numbered propositions that pair instructional steps with illustrative figures for building and operating each apparatus.

17. Sounds produced on the opening of a Temple Door.

The sound of a trumpet may be produced on the opening of the doors of a temple. The following is the construction. Behind the door let there be a vessel, A B C D (fig. 17), containing water. In this invert a narrow-necked vessel, shaped like an extinguisher, F, with which, at its lower extremity, let a trumpet, H K, communicate, provided with bell and mouthpiece. Parallel with the tube of the trumpet, and attached to it, let the rod L M run, fastened, at the lower end, to the vessel F, and having at the other extremity a loop, M: through this loop let the beam N X pass, thus supporting the vessel F, at a sufficient height above the water. The beam N X must turn on the pivot O, and a chain or cord, attached to the extremity X, be fastened, by means of the pulley, P, to the hinder part of the door. When the door is opened, the cord will be stretched, and draw upwards the extremity X of the beam, so that the beam N X no longer supports the loop M; and when the loop changes its position in consequence, the vessel F will descend into the water, and give forth the sound of a trumpet by the expulsion of the air contained in it through the mouthpiece and bell.