The Artificio de Juanelo was the name of two devices built in Toledo

Toledo, Spain

Toledo's Alcázar became renowned in the 19th and 20th centuries as a military academy. At the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936 its garrison was famously besieged by Republican forces.-Economy:...

 in the 16th century by Juanelo Turriano

Juanelo Turriano

Juanelo Turriano was an Italo-Spanish clockmaker, engineer and mathematician. He was born in Cremona.Called to Spain in 1529 by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, he was appointed Court Clock Master and built the Cristalino, an astronomical clock that made him famous in his time. Philip II of Spain...

. They were designed to supply the city with a source of readily available water by lifting it from the Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

 (Tajo) river to the Alcázar

Alcázar of Toledo

The Alcázar of Toledo is a stone fortification located in the highest part of Toledo, Spain. Once used as a Roman palace in the 3rd century, it was restored under Charles I and Philip II of Spain in the 1540's...

. Now in ruins, the precise details of the operation of the devices are unknown, but at the time they were considered engineering wonders.

History

Juanelo Turriano, an Italian-Spanish clock maker, engineer

Engineer

An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...

 and mathematician

Mathematician

A mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....

, was called to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 in 1529 and appointed Court Clock Master by the Holy Roman Emperor

Holy Roman Emperor

The Holy Roman Emperor is a term used by historians to denote a medieval ruler who, as German King, had also received the title of "Emperor of the Romans" from the Pope...

, Charles V

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I, of the Spanish Empire from 1516 until his voluntary retirement and abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I and his son Philip II in 1556.As...

. By 1534 he was working in Toledo, then the capital of the Spanish Empire. Both the Roman aqueduct

Aqueduct

An aqueduct is a water supply or navigable channel constructed to convey water. In modern engineering, the term is used for any system of pipes, ditches, canals, tunnels, and other structures used for this purpose....

 that had originally supplied the city with water and a giant water wheel

Water wheel

A water wheel is a machine for converting the energy of free-flowing or falling water into useful forms of power. A water wheel consists of a large wooden or metal wheel, with a number of blades or buckets arranged on the outside rim forming the driving surface...

 constructed by the Moors

Moors

The description Moors has referred to several historic and modern populations of the Maghreb region who are predominately of Berber and Arab descent. They came to conquer and rule the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. At that time they were Muslim, although earlier the people had followed...

 during the time of the Caliphate of Córdoba had been destroyed and various attempts to supply the demands of the growing city with water by employing the technologies of the time had failed. When Turriano arrived in Toledo, asses

Donkey

The donkey or ass, Equus africanus asinus, is a domesticated member of the Equidae or horse family. The wild ancestor of the donkey is the African Wild Ass, E...

 were being used to transport pitcher

Pitcher (container)

A pitcher is a container with a spout used for storing and pouring contents which are liquid in form. Generally a pitcher also has a handle, which makes pouring easier.A ewer is a vase-shaped pitcher, often decorated, with a base and a flaring spout...

s of water from the river to the city. This involved a climb of about 100 metres (330 ft) over uneven ground and was highly inefficient.

Sometime after his arrival in Toledo, Turriano was challenged by Alfonso de Avalos, Marqués de Vasto, to provide a method of transporting water from the Tagus to supply the city. Turriano produced detailed plans for the device but various stoppages and obstacles hindered the construction, among which was the death of Charles V in 1558. Although his successor, Philip II

Philip II of Spain

Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....

 was not as interested in engineering as his father had been and the prestige that Turriano had enjoyed under Charles diminished under his son, Philip nevertheless recognized the value of Turriano, named him Matemático Mayor and employed him on various engineering projects. Although it appears that at times the construction of the water lifting device may have been abandoned, by 1565 Turriano had managed to re-exert his control over the project and contracted with the city council to provide water to the amount of 1,600 pitchers daily (which amounted to around 12,400 litres (3,275 US gallons)) to the city on a permanent basis within three years.

The exact start date of operation is unknown, but by 1568 the machine was delivering around 14,100 litres (3,725 US gallons) a day, well over the agreed levels. However, the city refused to pay Turriano the agreed price, arguing that since the water was stored at the Alcázar it was for the exclusive use of the royal palace, rather than the town. Frustrated by the council's refusal to pay, and in debt from the costs of the device's construction, Turriano entered into another agreement, underwritten by the Crown, to build a second device for the supply of the city. However, it was agreed that this time he and his heirs would retain the rights for the operation. This second version was completed in 1581, and although the Crown paid the costs of construction, Turriano was unable to cover the costs of maintenance and was forced to give up control of the machine to the city. He died shortly afterwards in 1585.

The machines continued to operate until around 1639 when thefts of parts and lack of maintenance led to both machines falling into disrepair. The first machine was disassembled and the second left standing as a symbol of the city, but operation ceased and water once again had to be transported in pitchers on the backs of asses. Further theft of parts reduced the second machine to ruins, and nowadays little of it remains.

Operation

The device caused a great sensation as the height to which the water was raised was more than double what had been previously achieved. Various waterwheel constructions had previously managed modest lifts, but before the construction of the Artificio, the highest lift had been just under 40 metres (130 ft) at Augsburg

Augsburg

Augsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria, Germany. It is a university town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...

 using an Archimedean screw

Archimedes' screw

The Archimedes' screw, also called the Archimedean screw or screwpump, is a machine historically used for transferring water from a low-lying body of water into irrigation ditches...

.

The details of the construction are the subject of debate, but the most widely accepted design is that proposed by Ladislao Reti, based on fragments of contemporary descriptions. A large water wheel powered a revolving belt with buckets or amphora

Amphora

An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...

 that transported water to the top of a tower. When the buckets reached the top of the tower they would upend pouring the water into a small tank from where it would to travel down to a smaller tower via a pipe. A second water wheel provided mechanical power

Mechanical energy

In physics, mechanical energy is the sum of potential energy and kinetic energy present in the components of a mechanical system. It is the energy associated with the motion and position of an object. The law of conservation of energy states that in an isolated system that is only subject to...

to pumps that drove a series of cups mounted on arms inside the second tower. The arms of the cups were hollow with an opening at the end which allowed water to run down inside the arm and out of the opposite end. A see-sawing motion of the arms lifted the water to successive levels in the cups. Once the final level was reached the water flowed down a second pipe to a third tower which contained further cups on arms and was also activated by the mechanical power derived from the second water wheel. This final tower raised the water high enough to allow it to flow into the storage tanks at the Alcázar.