Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885 — John Shaqi
Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 520, December 19, 1885
Various
Science -- Periodicals
From this reservoir, which was 77 ft. long and 51 ft. wide, pipes of lead
conveyed the water to the imperial palace and to the other buildings near
the top of the hill. Some of these lead pipes were found in a vineyard
near the top of Fourvieres at the beginning of the eighteenth century,
and were described by Colonia in his history of Lyons. They are made of
thick sheet lead rolled round so as to form a tube, with the edges of the
sheet turned upward, and applied to one another in such a way as to leave
a small space, which was probably filled with some kind of cement. These
pipes, of which it is said that twenty or thirty, each from 15 ft. to 20
ft. long, were found, were marked with the initial letters TI. CL. CAES.
(Tiberius Claudius Cæsar), and afford positive evidence that the work was
carried out under the emperor Claudius. Lead pipes, constructed in a
similar manner, have also been found at Bath, in this country, in
connection with the Roman baths. The great difference between this
aqueduct and those near Rome arises from the fact that, instead of being
carried across a nearly flat country, it was carried across one
intersected with deep ravines, and that it was therefore necessary to
have recourse to the system of inverted siphons. There can be no doubt
that the inverted siphons were made of lead, although no remains of them
have been found; for we know that the Romans used lead largely, and, as
we have seen, pieces of the lead distribution pipes have been found. It
is possible, and even likely, that strong cords of hemp were wound round
the pipes forming the siphons, as is related by Delorme in describing a
similar Roman aqueduct siphon near Constantinople; Delorme also
describes, in the aqueduct last mentioned, a pipe for the escape of air
from the lowest part of the siphon carried up against a tower, which was
higher than the aqueduct, and it is certain that there must have been
some such contrivance on the siphons of the aqueduct constructed at
Lyons.
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