Archimedes' screw a crank mechanism in his "Bellifortis" (1405). This mechanism quickly replaced the ancient practice of working the pipe by treading. The Archimedes screw consists of a screw (a helical surface surrounding a central cylindrical shaft) inside a hollow pipe. The screw is usually turned by windmill, manual labor, cattle, or by modern means, such as a motor. As the shaft turns the bottom end scoops up a volume of water. This water is then pushed up the tube by the rotating helicoid until it pours out from the top of the tube. The contact surface between the screw and the
Acorn Archimedes family omitted either the Acorn or Archimedes part of the name; the first models were named "BBC Archimedes", yet the name "Acorn Archimedes" is commonly used to describe any of Acorn's contemporary designs based on the same architecture. Archimedes machines are no longer sold, but computers such as the Raspberry Pi can still run its operating system, RISC OS (at least later versions), as they use ARM chips that are (mostly) compatible. The Acorn Archimedes was the first RISC-based home computer. The first models were released in June 1987, as the 300 and 400 series. The 400 series included four