Heron's steam ball:

I made this for a film about greek inventors shown on the discovery channel.

It is a steam jet powered sculpture about 3 feet tall and is powered by lighting a fire underneath the hemispherical tank at the bottom. The steam rises up the two arms and out the jets on the side of the central copper ball. It is an exact copy of the steam ball made by heron in the Athens Museum.

It is fabulously exciting to watch - especially when I started it for the first time. I had no idea if it would work and I was jumping up and down and dancing around the room when it started to move. It makes a quiet hissing noise that turns into a chuffing noise when it gets going.

Heron behind his ball to show size		click on this image to see a quicktime movie
in my kitchen on the gas cooker	more steam powered sculptures	this bears a striking resemblance to a sculpture I made earlier: