Historical Engineering Challenge

Just for fun, suppose you somehow ended back in time in ancient Rome, outside of Constantinople, around 300 AD. You speak the language and are trusted by the local academics, engineers and Emperor, lets not forget him, and you have lived there ten years amassing a comfortable living as a scholar.

But you want to have an impact on society for that time by building something that is of considerable value. It doesnt have to be money, but you are limited to the technology of the time.

The Romans could do a lot of things by the 4th century like saw mills, aqueducts and roadways, as is well known. A good amount of it is described here.

What would you do to improve the lives of your local citizens in Byzantium and derive whatever benefit for yourself as well?

One thing I think I would do is try to introduce the stirrup for saddles. That one is kind of obvious it might seem, but you have to have a saddle that stays in place, a treed saddle which distributes the riders weight around and makes the use of a stirrup possible.


The second thing I would do is try to develop a printing press using wood blocks as a concept and then move to lead blocks later. They had cheap papyrus back then that when beaten down and flattened was much like paper, so cheaper books would be feasible. Vellum parchment was so expensive back then. I would hire copyists to put together a public library but the reading would have to be done inside the building as theft would be a severe problem, methinks if you let people take them out.

Thirdly a means of doing refrigeration to store and make ice would be huge. Constructing a Yakhchal would not be too difficult once the formula for the Sarooj is known, or one that is workable. Using underground water storage tanks to further cool incoming air from outside vents that let the air out through vents above the Yakhchal, copper pipes could be used to further cool the water flowing inside them. The gravitational force of the height difference int he water would make the transfer of heat out of the piping for the refrigerated rooms more efficient.

Yakhchal_of_Yazd_province.jpg



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This would be built on a high hill or low mountain and the building would have three circulatory systems.
1. The traditional air flow system of the Yakhchal would be kept and enhanced with below ground water storage as referred to in Iran as 'ab anbar'.

Yakhchāl - Wikipedia
By 400 BC, Persian engineers had mastered the technique of using yakhchāls to create ice in the winter and store it in the summer in the desert. In most yakhchāls, the ice is created by itself during the cold seasons of the year; the water is channeled from the qanat (Iranian aqueduct) to the yakhchāl and it freezes upon resting inside the structure. Usually a wall is also made along an east-west direction close to the yakhchāl and the water is channeled from the north side of the wall so that the shadow of the wall keeps the water cool to make it freeze more quickly. In some yakhchāls, ice is also brought in from nearby mountains for storage or to seed the icing process.

The building allows cold air to pour in from entries at the base of the structure and descend to the lowest part of the yakhchāl, large underground spaces up to 5,000 m3 (180,000 cu ft) in volume. At the same time, the tall conical shape of the building guides any remaining heat upward and outside through openings at the very top of the building, and through this active process the air inside the yakhchāl remains cooler than the outside. The yakhchāl is built of a unique water resistant mortar called sarooj, composed of sand, clay, egg whites, lime, goat hair, and ash in specific proportions, that is resistant to heat transfer and is thought to be completely water impenetrable, this material acts as an effective insulation all year round. The sarooj walls are at least two meters thick at the base.[2]

More commonly, yakhchāls have access to a qanat, and sometimes equipped with a system of bĆ¢dgirs (ancient design of windcatchers or wind towers) that could easily bring temperatures inside the space down to frigid levels even in summer days. Built of mud or mud brick, in square or round shapes, bĆ¢dgirs catch the slightest breeze by the vents at the top and funnel the cooling air down through internal, vertically-placed wooded slats to the water or structure below. Alternately, the bĆ¢dgir can function as a chimney, expelling warm air upward to pull cool air in from a base opening or a connected qanat (the qanat air is cooled by the underground stream). Many of the homes in the desert towns are also equipped with the bĆ¢dgir system.

The ice created and stored in yakhchāl is used throughout the year especially during hot summer days for various purposes, including preservation of food, to chill treats, or to make faloodeh, the traditional Persian frozen dessert.​


2. The second circulatory system is brine water piped around in the cistern area. Air is drawn in as normal for the wind catching system, but it evaporates the moisture that accumulates on the brine carrying ceramic piping lowering the temperature of the brine inside. The central area at the base of the main wind vent would have a lattice of vertical ceramic pipes supported with ceramic brace shaped to cause accumulated moisture to flow onto the vertical piping. This cools the brine considerably and the ceramic pipes then go through the ice storage area lowering the air temperature int he vaults to help keep the ice frozen.

3. The third system is a natural air temperature moderating system to keep the structure habitable by the crew that wold maintain the system of pipes and service the ice. It catches some heat from the south facing side of the building with ceramic brine filled pipes that cool when they go to the north face of the structure. It would warm the building in the winter, with deciduous trees being bare letting in sunlight on all sides, while in the summer the trees would cover the north side in cool shade.

Anyway, those are a few examples of what I am talking about with this 'challenge'.'

What would you do with your knowledge of what can be done today to make it work with ancient tech of the Roman period?
Antibiotics. The Plague killed over 25 million people during Emperor Justinian's reign .
 

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