section_path: Discoveries and inventions/Archimedes' claw
section_name: Archimedes' claw
paragraph_text: Archimedes' claw
  
  Archimedes is said to have designed a claw as a weapon to defend the city of Syracuse. Also known as " the ship shaker ", the claw consisted of a crane-like arm from which a large metal grappling hook was suspended. When the claw was dropped onto an attacking ship the arm would swing upwards, lifting the ship out of the water and possibly sinking it.
  
  There have been modern experiments to test the feasibility of the claw, and in 2005 a television documentary entitled Superweapons of the Ancient World built a version of the claw and concluded that it was a workable device. Archimedes has also been credited with improving the power and accuracy of the catapult, and with inventing the odometer during the First Punic War. The odometer was described as a cart with a gear mechanism that dropped a ball into a container after each mile traveled.