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**richsc** · 10-30-2002, 12:37 PM

I just got a book on ancient technologies, and there is an illustration the author says is a brass and wooden roller bearing for a wagon axle, dated 100BC. He goes on to say that it appears the invention died with the inventor, which I assume means that there weren't any other examples found. I'd never heard of this invention before, and it hasn't shown up in any other finds that I've seen. Did this roller bearing really exist or is the book (Technology In the Ancient World 
by Henry Hodges) stretching a point? 
 
 
Richard Campbell, Legio XX

10-30-2002, 02:12 PM

Salve, 
 
well, I try to keep up on local (I'm Danish) stuff/archeology, and I've never heard about this. 
I'd guess that the author's probably reaching... 
(But I'm by no means an expert, just for the record)

Catiline · 10-30-2002, 05:35 PM

I did a bit of surfing for info on this... 
 
What it did come up with though was a name for what Rich is talking about - the Dejbjerg wagon. It had grooves cut into the wheel hubs that it is proposed contained roller bearings. What i can't find is a decent reference to is that really explains what is going on, perhaps someone with access to Danish sources will have more luck. Most of the sites I can come up with aren't worth linking to, mainly because they're only superficial references or have less information than Rich has given. 
 
There is a bit of the wagon shown here under the section about conservation in Alum of waterlogged wood - www.natmus.dk/cons/x/ww/ww1.htm 
 
Whether this is the wheel hub is impossible to tell, we aren't told. As an aside this was preserved in 1883, so regardless of how up to date you're keeping Quintus i think that's probably outside your time frame 
 
The only site other site with images is this one, about 1/5th of the way down the page. I warn you though that it seems to be part of an obnoxious white suporemacist site, so tread carefully and take everything with a hefty pinch of salt 
 
www.fortunecity.com/marin.../index.htm

**richsc** · 10-30-2002, 05:53 PM

I'll make an unobtrusive scan of the image, which in this book appears to be/must be a reconstruction. 
<img src="http:// 
http://www.geocities.com/richsc53/pics/danishroller.jpg 
"/> 
 
http://www.geocities.com/richsc53/pics/danishroller.jpg
Richard Campbell, Legio XX 
 
Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=richsc@romanarmytalk>RichSC</A> at: 10/31/02 2:17:40 pm

10-31-2002, 10:11 PM

Salve, 
 
I just look up the site (Dejbjerg Museum) witch has a reconstruction of the cart/wagon. They describe the process of reconstruction over something like 25 lines, and make no mention of ball bearings or anything similar. I should think that they would mention it, if they thought ball bearings were present, as it's a major find in Denmark. From what I could tell it appears to be (perhaps) some form of decoration, I guess. 
But again, I'm no expert on this.

Daniel S Peterson · 12-04-2002, 05:54 PM

Don't know about the Danish wagon axel, but far more intiguing is H. Viereck's belief (Die Romische Flotte), that remains of two platforms each with the differnt bearings above, were from the rotating catapult "turrets" found in the lake Nemi wrecks which some people believe were originally the captured battleships of Octavian lost at Actium. 
 
There were also bronze cylindicral bearings found in association with the Hatra ballista. 
 
Dan

***Praefectusclassis*** · 12-04-2002, 06:18 PM

H.D.L.Viereck's work is not exactly a prototype of scholarly research, but then again, who knows in the case of the Lake Nemi ships. The suggestion that they were Antony's ships sounds very unlikely to me. Several sources do say that Antony's ships were bigger, up till 'tens', than Octavian's, but not this big. Besides, the ships Octavian captured ended up in the Actian monument and the fleet in Forum Iulii, southern France, according to Tacitus. Greets 
 
Jasper

Daniel S Peterson · 12-05-2002, 04:57 PM

Jasper, 
Although they are only ashes now, (thanks to the Wehrmacht or Waffen SS if the story of their destruction is true), the interpretation that these rotating platforms were for catapults seems a plausible explanation. Some wood from the ships still survives though. It would be interesting to get an accurate date and source of the timber through denrochronology. If it "fits" for Actium, then who knows? 
 
Dan

***Praefectusclassis*** · 12-05-2002, 05:40 PM

It sure would be very interesting to get a date on these ships. I believe they're usually dated to Caligula's reign. But I sincerely doubt these ships belong to Actium. For one thing, Lake Nemi is just that, a lake, in the center of the Italian peninsula. Now the Romans were certainly not sqeamish of toiling or hard labour, but it's unlikely they lugged two ships of 70 meters in length over land to a lake in a crater 300 meters above sea level. Secondly, the shape of these ships does not remind me of an ancient battleship. Their oval shape wouldn't make them fit to be rowed. Greets 
 
Jasper

**richsc** · 12-05-2002, 11:27 PM

Reaching way back in my memory, back in the days of 1/24 scale slot cars (anyone remember those?) the low end ones shipped with nylon points that substituted for the balls in the bearing races. These were just like an inward pointing star that reduced friction of the axle just by reducing surface area. Could this be how the axle is designed? 
Of course, the slot car weighs a lot less than an ox cart. Richard Campbell, Legio XX

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